Videos of Eli's Work

Here’s a sample of Eli’s talks and poetry on video.

Defective, Deficient & Burdensome: Thinking About Bad Bodies

Notes on Cure, Disability & Natural Worlds

Patient No More: We Need a Great Flock of Stories

Eli wrote this poem for the Patient No More exhibit that recounts the history of the 1977 San Francisco sit-in to demand the signing of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. Predating the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act by 13 years, Section 504 is anti-discrimination legislation that began to protect disabled people’s civil rights. Eli’s poem was prompted by the Patient No More mural.

Check out the whole virtual exhibit, including Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha’s beautiful poem “cripstory.” The video is both captioned and signed in ASL.

Laura Hershey: Queer Disabled Poet to Queer Disabled Poet

In 2011, Arisa White asked Eli to make a short video about poetry and mentorship for an event called “Out of Necessity” at the San Francisco Queer Arts Festival. This video is what Eli made, honoring queer disability connection with disabled lesbian poet and activist Laura Hershey. It is captioned.

I Wanna Be With You Everywhere

Eli Clare at the Performance Space in New York on April 14, 2019. The video is both captioned and signed in ASL.