On a recent December evening, the iconic rotunda at Manhattan’s Guggenheim Museum filled with art enthusiasts and museum-goers, including members of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences community. They came for a provocative program featuring the work of Deaf and hard-of-hearing poets conceived by NC State English professor and the museum’s Poet-in-Residence Meg Day.
The program, ”Sound/Off: An Evening of Poetry,” celebrated the artistry of poetry: written, spoken and signed. It featured poets from across the U.S. writing in English or creating works in American Sign Language (ASL) and offered interpretation services in English and ASL, for hearing and deaf audience members.
Day described “Sound/Off” as a relief, a dream and an overdue joy.
“To have Deaf and hard-of-hearing poets writing poems in English share the stage with Deaf and hard-of-hearing poets making poems in sign language is a rare thing,” Day added. “To invite audiences of all kinds to consider their own access needs regarding these poems — while celebrating these world-renowned poets — felt exciting. I’m grateful to the Guggenheim for the opportunity.”
Deanna Dannels, dean of the college, who attended “Sound/Off,” said of the program: “It is a powerful example of our faculty’s expertise and commitment to meaningful community engagement. It also amplified the voices of Deaf and hard-of-hearing poets and created an inclusive space to foster understanding and inspire change.”
A poet and essayist, Day joined the Department of English in 2022 as a professor in the areas of creative writing (poetry) and literature. Day is the author of Last Psalm at Sea Level, which received the Publishing Triangle’s Audre Lorde Award. Day is also the winner of an Amy Lowell Poetry Travelling Scholarship and a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship in poetry.
Museum attendees could also view “Ekphrasis in Air,” another of Day’s initiatives on the rotunda’s sixth level. It is part of the installation “Sixth Stanza” and an exhibition viewing of “Harmony and Dissonance: Orphism in Paris: 1910-1930.”
For “Ekphrasis in Air,” Day invited six fellow poets to compose original works in American and British Sign Language in response to the Guggenheim’s architecture and permanent collection. Presented as a series of projected videos, these responses highlighted the visual artistry that poetry in sign language can bring to works of art, according to information from the museum.
“Sound/Off” and “Ekphrasis in Air” are part of Day’s residency at the museum. Called “All Ears,” Day’s residency has the dual goal of emphasizing Deaf poets and encouraging engagement with ASL.
To that end, the project includes readings by Deaf poets, responses in American Sign Language to works of art in the museum, and activations that capture the echoes, vibrations and movement of the museum’s architecture, according to information from the museum.
Of Day’s residency, Cyra Levenson, deputy director, education and public engagement at the Guggenheim, said: ”It has been an incredible experience working together. Partnering with Meg this year through programs, video installations and materials for young people has expanded the possibilities for how we understand our space, how we understand poetry, and how we engage our broad audience.”
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