Poetry and song in a language without sound

We examine distinctive characteristics of a primary language (American Sign Language) which is manual-visual rather than oral-aural. It is proposed that attributes of the mode of this language predispose not only the language itself but also its art forms to certain special characteristics. An analysis is presented of some instances of ‘art-sign’, a poetic tradition developing within our own time, where gestural analogs are suggested to poetry and perhaps even to song.