Not Waving but Drowning Not Waving but Drowning "Not Waving but Drowning" is a poem by the British poet Stevie Smith. It was published in 1957 as part of a collection of the same title. The most famous of Smith's poems, it gives an account of a drowned man whose distressed thrashing in the water had been mistaken for waving. The poem was accompanied by one of Smith's drawings, as was common in her work. The poem's personal significance has been the topic of several pieces of literary criticism because Smith was treated for psychological problems. She contemplated suicide at the age of eight
American Sign Language literature The National Theatre of the Deaf originated in 1967 and performs both classic and original works in American Sign Language. American Sign Language literature American Sign Language literature (or ASL literature) refers to stories, poetry, dramatic productions, folk tales, and songs in American Sign Language. ASL literature can denote works translated from other literatures into ASL, like Patrick Graybill's translation of the poem "Not Waving, but Drowning", or more often, works composed originally in ASL itself. Other notable performers of ASL literature include Ben Bahan, Ella Mae Lentz, Sam Supalla, and Clayton Valli. Every spoken language used today originated in