Dandelion
Christie
Clayton Valli that remains with me, he stands on stage in the closing seconds of his
performance of the poem, Dandelion. Those brilliant blue eyes look out at us and that secret
smile barely appears before he drops his hands. In that final second, he is reminding each
of us that we carry within us, those magic seeds.
ASL Poetry of Dandelion – Original Version
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xw41nzlf3xA)
Translations/Descriptions
Videoclip #1 - The poem, Dandelion, opens showing an expanse of yellow dandelions with
Valli’s dandelion body and hands rhythmically flowing back and forth as if in a breeze.
His facial expression tells us this is a typical dandelion day and his eyes look around in
calm acknowledgement of his fellow dandelions.
Videoclip #2 - Then, the dandelion briefly freezes, looking upward to the left as someone,
identified as a “man,” enters the scene. The man looks down, disgustedly, and yells
“DANDELIONS!” Thereafter, he begins tearing the dandelions out by the fistfuls, and later
mows them down until he has a smooth green lawn.
Videoclip #3 - As days pass by, days of sun and rain, a single dandelion cautiously sprouts
up from the green lawn. The dandelion begins to grow tall and looks about to its left and
right. It blossoms into a yellow flower and begins to dance back and forth in a gentle wind.
A bee visits carrying off sweet pollen. The flower opens and closes in rhythm with the
darkness and light of the days swelling into a white puffball. Bits of its fluff drift off to the
left and right. The man returns, shouting THERE, incensed to find the white puffed
dandelion. The dandelion stands its ground still defiantly swaying. The man grabs the
dandelion, ripping it out of the ground. Horrified, he watches as the white fluff drifts across
the field. There, the dandelion has scattered, a multitude of seeds.
SASLJ, Vol. 2, No.1 – Spring/Summer 2018
61