Detail View: Deaf Studies, Culture, and History Archives: Only 13

ds_0027_only13qtd_01.mp4

ds_0027_only13qtd_01.mp4

Only 13

Flying Words Projects

Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Poetry

American Sign Language literature

Deaf Poetry

American poetry 20th century

Deaf, Writings of the, American

ASL poetry

"Only 13" is a poem about a Deaf Jewish young man and his hearing sister caught up in the Holocaust. This piece came out of an experience when Peter and I were housemates. Our landlords, Nathan and Sala Biron, were a Jewish couple who had survived the Holocaust. They told us their story the first night we moved into our apartment and then never spoke of the Holocaust again in the five years we lived in their apartment. We also read a dozen Holocaust memoirs to prepare for this piece, before molding it with Deaf Quebecois poets Serge Briere and Johanna Boulanger. Some of the ideas, we took directly from these books and from Sala and Nathan. This is a poem that seeks only to show the horrors of what happened in those death camps during World War II and convey them to the world. With each generation, the past is forgotten. We hope that this story keeps a little bit of that past alive. The rise of intolerance, white supremacy, and extreme nationalism in the current era is glaring. It makes this story more important.

National Technical Institute for the Deaf

Rochester Institute of Technology - RIT Libraries - RIT Archive Collections

Cook, Peter S.

Lerner, Kenny

BriŠre, Serge

Boulanger, Johanne

Qu‚bec Theatre of the Deafs

Writers & Books (Firm) institution

1990

2018

moving image

mp4

VHS

27 minutes

American Sign Language

English

RITDSA.0027

Sculptures in the Air: An Accessible Online Video Repository of the American Sign Language (ASL) Poetry and Literature Collections

Miriam and Kenneth Lerner ASL Poetry Collection

2018-2019 CLIR Grant-ASL Poetry and Literature

https://albert.rit.edu/record=b3955816

https://archivesspace.rit.edu/repositories/2/resources/815

New York - Rochester

RIT Libraries makes materials from its collections available for educational and research purposes pursuant to U.S. Copyright Law. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. It is your responsibility to obtain permission from the copyright holder to publish or reproduce images in print or electronic form.

MAN: THE SHOW TITLE IS [INDISTINCT]. A MOUNTAINSIDE... AND THE ROLLING MIST. DEW DROPS. STREAM, ACROSS PEBBLES, ROCKS, BOULDERS. RIVERSIDE TREES SWIRLING. WIND BLOWN. FALCON. THROUGH TREES, UNDER CLOUDS. [MAN 2 BLOWING] MAN 1: TOWARDS A HOUSE. WINDOW. CLOSED. THE FARMER, SON. DAUGHTER... AND WIFE. WINDOW. BLOWN OPEN BY THE WIND. THEN SHUT. BIGGER STREAM. UNDER THE RIDGE. A PEBBLE. RIPPLES. AND THE TRAINS. THROUGH A SLAT, A LONE EYE. REMEMBERING. LONG AGO. DOWN THE STEPS... AND OUT THE DOOR... TO THE FIRE. [INDISTINCT] HA! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! GOTTA GO. OH, SORRY...GOTTA GO. GO. A BARBED WIRE FENCE SURROUNDS THEM. BEYOND, PEOPLE, HOUSES...HOME. NO MORE HOME. COME ON. LET'S GO IN THE TEMPLE. THE CARVED DOORWAY. LARGE, THICK, WOOD DOORS. ELIE WALKS THROUGH THE SWANS RESIDING IN THE TEMPLE. [MAN 2 WHISPERS INDISTINCTLY] MAN 1: SHE POURS A BOWL OF SOUP FROM HIS BOWL. MY BABY LOVES HIS SOUP. HE JUST LOVES HIS SOUP. LETS IT FALL, STRUCK BY A MEMORY OF A BABY BOY... HER DAUGHTER...AND HUSBAND. [BANGING] AND OPENS THE DOOR FOR A BLACK-SHIRTED SS. HE HANDS HER HIS REVOLVER. KILL THEM! OPENS THE LOCKET ON HER CHEST... AND CALLS FOR TWO SOLDIERS... WHO REACH OUT, GRAB HER BABY BOY, TURNING HIM UPSIDE DOWN, GRABBING EACH LEG LIKE A-- MAN 2: [INDISTINCT] MAN 1: KILL THEM! MEMORY...FROM A TRAIN. PEEK OUT THE CRACK AT THE RIVER BELOW. [MAN 2 WHOOSHING] MAN 1: UNDER WATER. CRAYFISH. FARMER PULLS OUT A BUCKET OF WATER OUT OF THE RIVER... AND POURS IT INTO THE TROUGH... AND GAZES DOWN AT THE TRAIN. [INDISTINCT] THE LOCKET. GO! GO! GO! GET IN THE TRAIN. [STOMP] [STOMPING] MY BABY. HE LOVES SOUP. I'M GONNA TEACH YOU HOW TO-- HOW TO COOK FOR HIM NOW, OK? JUST PRETEND. COME ON. HERE. HERE. THERE'S A POTATO. CHOP IT UP. DO YOU LIKE CORN? MY BABY LOVES CORN. ONIONS. SALT. FLYING PAST THE TREES OUTSIDE THE TRACKS. THE BRUSH SMOKE SWIRLING UP. TIES. THE MORNING...STARS. THE RISING SUN. A RISING SUN. SETTING SUN. DARK CLOUDS FORM. ANYONE NEED TO USE THE CAN? AND IT'S DUMPED THROUGH A CRACK ON THE SIDE OF THE CATTLE CAR. MY BABY... IS YOURS. IS YOURS. [BANG] RUN! RUN! RUN! OUT, OUT, OUT, OUT! HOW OLD ARE YOU? 13? YOU'RE 16. GOT IT? 16. [MAN 2 GROANING] TAKE CARE OF MY BABY! [BANGING] MAN: AAH! GO! [MAN IMITATES BANG] [MAN HISSING] MAN: IN 5. CLOUDS AND A BIRD AND A FARMER. AS TRAINS PULL UP AND RELEASE THEIR CARGO. STEPHEN. COME. LUNCH. WHERE'S GUY? GUY. GUY. WHERE? AND HE SMELLS PERFUMES. THE SMOKE. THAT. THAT'S GUY. GUY. 5s! THE FUCKING JEW STOLE SOME BREAD! EVERYONE, TAKE A LOOK IN TURN. YOU KNOW THE DEAF MAN IN CAMP. PLEASE GIVE THIS TO HIM, TO HIM, TO HIM. I'M ALIVE. I'M ALIVE. BARBED WIRE FENCE SURROUNDS ONE COMPOUND... AND SURROUNDS ANOTHER COMPOUND. OVER THE FENCE. HE WATCHES A PAIR OF BIRDS. MAN 2: LET'S GO! LET'S GO! [SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY] [NO AUDIO] [IMITATES EXPLOSION] MAN 1: EXPLOSIONS. PLANES FLYING OVERHEAD. [MAN 2 IMITATING AN ENGINE] MAN 1: MOTORCYCLES. OFF IN THE DISTANCE, PARATROOPERS LANDING. RUSSIAN PARATROOPERS LANDING. RUSSIAN. RUSSIAN. WE'RE SAFE? WE'RE SAFE? MAN 2: THEN, OUT, OUT. MAN 1: OUT! OUT OF THE TRAIN! OUT! OUT! OUT! MAN 2: GO...[INDISTINCT] MAN 1: RAUS! OUT OF THE TRAIN! BUT THEN...A MAN PRAYS. THERE'S A PLANE. HIS PRAYER... FOR DELIVERANCE. [IMITATING AN AIRPLANE] [WOMAN IMITATING DRUMS] MAN: A LONE EYE OBSERVES A FLEEING BIRD. THE WATERFALL. [PEOPLE WHOOSHING] MAN: AND THE FARMER GATHERS WATER. SEES IMAGES IN THE WATER, IN THE COWS... AND IN THE SWAYING TREES. [INDISTINCT] THEY CAME FOR MY SON. AND THE SON, HE TIGHTENS THE KNOT. HIS DAUGHTER AND HIS WIFE. AND THEN...HE JUMPS. OUTSIDE THE WINDOW, THE TRAIN. ELIE SEES A RED FLAG WITH A GOLD SICKLE. SHE STUFFS THE PRISON GARMENT THROUGH THE CRACKS IN THE CATTLE CAR. GAUNT, SKELETAL REMAINS... OF ELIE.

"This project is supported by a Digitizing Hidden Collections grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR). The grant program is made possible by funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation."