Wordgathering

A Journal of Disability Poetry and Literature

Volume 8     Issue 2     June 2014

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Essays in This Issue

Since its very first issue Wordgathering has included literary essays as an essential feature of the journal. The editors are frequently asked what types of essays Wordgathering is interested in publishing. The short answer is that there are really two kinds. The first are those essays that speak directly about disability literature investgating aspects of disability literature, especially poetry, in an attempt to broaden and make a contribution to disability literature as a field of study. The second are personal essays from writers'own experiences with disability whose style and quality mark them as literary. Obviously, there can frequently be an overlap as when a poet with a disability grapples with how to impact that field through her own work. This issue includes seven essays that together run the gamut.

John Lee Clark provides an example of the important process of going back to literary figures readers thought they knew to unearth what they might have to say about disability. Philip Dowd examines the idea of myth as a vehicle for disability poetry. Humorist Mike Ervin takes a look at the difference between "obviously crippled" and being "openly crippled. " Barbara Perez considers the impact of epilepsy on the concept of identity in a post-modern world. Emily Michael's essay takes us through the experiences a blind writer has to endure to enter mainstream publication. Jessica Penner's fiction-like personal essay tells of her odyssey though employment discrimination. Finally, Cynthia Hogue's elegiac narrative captures the emotional dilemma of watching parents approach death.

• John Lee Clark, "Jonathan Swift's Deaf Poems"
• Philip Dowd, "Logos, Mythos and Disability Poetry"
• Michael Ervin, "Openly Cripple"
• Cynthia Hogue, "Mother Cares"
• Emily Michael, "Answering Blindness: A Poet Makes Amends"
• Jessica Penner, "Almost Right"
• Barbara Perez, "The Body is Everything"

Wordgathering welcomes submissions of literary essays. Writers should check the submissions guidelines for details before sending their work.

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