The work of FWP represents a vital contribution to the growing field of ASL performance. While many ASL poets are content to produce interesting, but predictable poems,the work of ASL poet Peter Cook and his hearing poet collaborator Kenny Lerner, consistently experiment with the possibilities of poetic language. They perceptively recognize and exploit the cinematic aspects of ASL in ways that often astound the viewer.

At the same time, they incorporate some

of the most ancient aspects of poetry-

-its embodied rhythms. Both the modern

and ancient aspects of their poetry work

together to produce an unforgettable visceral and visual experience for multicultural audiences.

Meeting in 1984, Peter Cook and Kenny Lerner were soon invited to perform and lecture at the first National Deaf Poetry Conference in 1987, in Rochester, NY.  Their success was immediate, and lead to a five week run at the Friends & Artists Theater in Los Angeles in 1989,and invitations to perform and lecture at

the Saskatchewan Writers Guild 21st  Annual Conference,” Writing:  The Future,” the Theatre de Lucernaire in Paris, France, as well as performances across the American Southwest.

In 1998, Mr. Cook and Mr. Lerner were

invited to deliver the keynote performance at the Ohio State University Conference,

"Disabilities Studies in Higher Education."

A partial list of Flying Words Project

performances at various theaters,

colleges, and poetry houses across the country include Manhattan Theater Club, NYC, Randolph Street Gallery, Chicago,

Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Nuyorican Poets Cafe, NYC, Cleveland Performance Arts Festival, Harvard University, Boston, Walker Art Center, Minn, Whitney Museum, NYC, Institute for Critical Thinking, Montclair   College, NJ, as well as the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind, CO Springs.

No more, not less." This is why Flying  Words Project was created--to educate the American mainstream poetry that there is a wonderful corner in the literary field and that is called ASL Literature.

Kenny Lerner                Peter Cook

Critical study about Flying Words Project has appeared in the Modern Language Association, Literature and Medicine, the Tactile Mind. An interview with FWP for NPR radio station WNYC aired on April 8, 2001, as well as Sunday Morning for CBS. Peter Cook was also the only deaf poet to be featured on the United States of Poetry: an award winning film highlighting the best of contemporary American poetry that premiered on PBS in 1996.

As Peter Cook has written, the significance of his work as a Deaf American poet is in his recognition

that ASL poetry isn't solely about Deafness, nor is it about the oppression of Deaf Culture. "Why not turn on

the poetry-engine and have it roam around country like what Ginsberg did to America with his Howl? . . . . Why not let ASL poetry be poetry?

Information for Flying Words Project performances:

Contact; flyingwordsproject@yahoo.com