Stepping on Tender Buttons: “Colored Hats.", “A Feather.", “A Brown."

BLOOMS IN THE BUTTONS BOX

THE BOOK ..........................-           TENDER BUTTONS

THE SUBBOOK ...................-           OBJECTS

THE SUBPOEM ...................-          COLORED HATS: NUMBER 43

WORD COUNT......................-           81

THE SUBPOEM ...................-          A FEATHER: NUMBER 44

WORD COUNT......................-           36

THE SUBPOEM ...................-          A BROWN: NUMBER 45

WORD COUNT......................-           21

STANZA(S)............................-           1 each

THE LEADER........................-           THE STEINY ROAD POET

CO-LLABORATORS..............-           MODPO STUDENTS/THE BUTTONS

GENRE..................................-           VIRTUAL OPERA

LOCATION............................-USA, UK, Australia, Philippines, S. Africa, Canada.

TIME......................................-           ALL HOURS OF EARTH’S CLOCK

TONE.....................................-           DEVIL MAY CARE

“Measuring, volumes, quantities run through these subpoems. Differences and change. Underneath the detail, a scientist at work?” Karren Alenier

 “You can't have ‘pearl necklaces’ if you use those colorful hats!” Claudia Schumann

COLORED HATS.

Colored hats are necessary to show that curls are worn by an addition of blank spaces, this makes the difference between single lines and broad stomachs, the least thing is lightening, the least thing means a little flower and a big delay a big delay that makes more nurses than little women really little women. So clean is a light that nearly all of it shows pearls and little ways. A large hat is tall and me and all custard whole.

A FEATHER.

A feather is trimmed, it is trimmed by the light and the bug and the post, it is trimmed by little leaning and by all sorts of mounted reserves and loud volumes. It is surely cohesive.

A BROWN.

A brown which is not liquid not more so is relaxed and yet there is a change, a news is pressing.

WHAT IS SAID IN THE BLANK SPACE

Mary Armour said both in jest and unwavering seriousness that “along with clitoral pearls and labial little ways, something here speaks to ekphrasis and Gertrude's perception of Modernist art, the blank spaces and volumes, proportions and relational perspectives.”

The Steiny Road Poet sees that discussion of the blank spaces (“Colored Hats.”) began in “In Between.” when Peter Treanor reflected on the separation of such words as “satin wood” and “foot path.” It led Karren [a.k.a. Steiny] to say, “I take this opening of space between certain words to be Stein protesting what she and Alice were not allowed to say in public—that they loved each other, that their love was a sacred trust.

THE CATALOG OF THINGS SAID

Among the associations made with this set of subpoems together and separately were: insects—a brown butterfly, a brown recluse spider, lightening bugs; signs of spring; sexual practice, pregnancy, and birth control; undergarments, cunnilingus, virgins; Civil war nurses, military caps and insignias; Little Women by Louisa May Alcott; the abolitionist John Brown; knitting; Penelope and weaving; black hatters (the headwear of Jewish Orthodox men); and writing and printing. Here is a mix of some of the highlights of the discussion and some thoughts from Steiny:

from Peter on “Colored Hats.”:

“Tall hats, curls that are worn, single lines, broad stomachs, (en) lightening, pearls of wisdom and little ways make me think big hats and curls.”

STEINY’S JEWISH ORTHODOX TAKE ON “COLORED HATS.”

Back in the 1950’s in America the word “colored” was a moniker applied to Black people in my not entirely assimilated Jewish community. So by that measure, Colored hats become Black hats, as in wide-brimmed felt hats with an exaggerated tall crowns worn by ultra-orthodox Jewish men who also wear side curls called payot. 

In Stein’s text, these hats and curls are accompanied by an addition of blank spaces, this makes the difference between single lines and broad stomachs. In defining Tzimtzum, Kabbalist Isaac Luria taught that God initiated creation by contracting his infinite light (making an empty/blank space) to allow for a conceptual space in which finite and spiritual could exist. Conceptually one might stretch the imagination here and say single lines could be the male sexual organ making the difference in a female to impregnate and cause a broad stomach (pregnancy).

Then in this passage: the least thing is lightening, the least thing means a little flower and a big delay a big delay that makes more nurses than little women, the inception of sperm (a flash of human chemical lightening) and egg flowers after a nine-month delay resulting in the female needing to nurse the child or children which might also be female and result in little women. So that clean light might indeed be God’s infinite light paving the way for the pearls of semen which create little children within the custard (a dish of milk and eggs) of the female orbit. Alternatively, lightening could also be (according to The Free Dictionary) “the sensation, experienced by many women late in pregnancy when the head of the fetus enters the pelvis, of a reduction in pressure on the diaphragm, making it easier to breathe.”

The large-brimmed hat with the tall crown contains an empty/blank space for the spiritual learning [(en)lightenment] that Jewish orthodox men acquire throughout their lives. Stein, who thought of herself as a male personae, might be saying this hat and what it represents may be how she thinks of herself (me) with all the observing, thinking, and writing she does.

Earlier in Tender Buttons, an association to Tzimtzum was made in the discussion of “Objects.” but on a more cosmic and spiritual level. Here Stein brings us in balance with the cosmic and physical world.

Stepping on Tender Buttons: “In Between.”

SPYING FROM THE BUTTONS BOX

THE BOOK ..........................-           TENDER BUTTONS

THE SUBBOOK ...................-           OBJECTS

THE SUBPOEM ...................-          IN BETWEEN: NUMBER 42

WORD COUNT......................-           70

STANZA(S)............................-           1

THE LEADER........................-           THE STEINY ROAD POET

CO-LLABORATORS..............-           MODPO STUDENTS/THE BUTTONS

GENRE..................................-           VIRTUAL OPERA

LOCATION............................-USA, UK, Australia, Philippines, S. Africa, Canada.

TIME......................................-           ALL HOURS OF EARTH’S CLOCK

TONE.....................................-           THEATRICAL

“Gertrude is transgressive and  determined to get away with it. Touching, tasting, mounting, saying, playing.” Mary Armour

IN BETWEEN.

In between a place and candy is a narrow foot path that shows more mounting than anything, so much really that a calling meaning a bolster measured a whole thing with that. A virgin a whole virgin is judged made and so between curves and outlines and real seasons and more out glasses and a perfectly unprecedented arrangement between old ladies and mild colds there is no satin wood shining.

Jumping ahead of the obvious sexual pointing, Mary Armour asserted, “what I detect here is the  subtle play on fetish: the narrow foot, licking or sucking candy, the fantasy of  pretending to be a virgin in bed, the narrow path to be explored, the space between pillowy breasts, between fleshy curves, a finger outlining the nipple, skin  soft as satin, silky as polished wood, erectile tissue of the nipple or button.”

Mary suggests reading “In Between.” in this excerpted way to fully appreciate the sexual innuendo:

IN BETWEEN. 

In between a place and candy

a narrow foot 

path that shows more mounting than anything

so much really

calling

a whole thing

A virgin

a whole virgin

so between curves

and outlines and

real seasons and more

a perfectly unprecedented arrangement

satin

wood shining.

Less obvious than the sexual content, the Buttons also discovered associations with the Leo-Gertrude-Alice situation, quilting, the Jewish wedding tradition of Aufruf, and the 1913 ballet The Rite of Spring and that theater experience as well as some grammatical issues. Here are highlights from the study session:

THREADING THE NEEDLE CALLED BETWEEN

Peter Treanor:

“The first thing I noticed though was the title "In Between.",  [Stein] seems to have broken with the use of concrete nouns.”

Tamboura Gaskins:

“Has she done away with concrete nouns?  I don't know...perhaps just on the surface of it all--

“between ==> a short needle with a rounded eye and a sharp point, used for fine hand stitchery in heavy fabric.

“Btw, Peter, in between is an idiom utilizing two juxtaposed prepositions.

“I spy a quilt...”

In Between ==> threading the needle

Definitions:

1) Technical definition: to put a piece of thread through a needle

2) Definition as an expression: to skillfully navigate a difficult problem (like putting a piece of thread through a needle, it has to be done very carefully and precisely)

3) Billiards definition: is to precisely shoot the object ball or the cue ball through a very tight or narrow pathway to it's intended destination. (Note this is an application of definition #2, using it for billiards)

“Some people believe 'thread the needle' is similar to the expression ‘walk a fine line’ which means to maintain a fragile balance between one extreme and another (e.g.: needing to be very careful not to annoy or anger two or more people or groups who have differing opinions).”

From quilting imagery, Tamboura moved to the situation between sister and brother Gertrude and Leo Stein once Alice moved into their apartment at 27 rue de Fleurus.

“Leo - Gertrude - Alice ==> the three layers of a quilt: backing, batting and decorative quilt top.

“And let's not forget the idiomatic phrase—“

in between

     a. situated in an intermediary area or on a line or imaginary line connecting two points, things, etc.

     b. in the way: I reached for the ball, but the dog got in between.

“Again, an allusion to Gertrude feeling caught in between Leo and Alice.

“This brings me to believe that underneath it all GS has written a subpoem with layers describing her precarious position caught between Leo and Alice as well as the qualities of a quilt and quilt construction.” 

GERTRUDE STEIN’S TIMELINE SHIFT

Because Judy Meibach asked why Stein was in Paris before World War I and there was some additional confusion among some of the Buttons about whether Tender Buttons was published before or after WWI began, the Steiny Road Poet offers this timeline taken for the most part from the catalog Seeing Gertrude Stein: Five Stories by Wanda Corn & Tirza True Latimer. What the timeline shows is Stein between her medical career and writing career and how the writing career took shape.

1901  Spring: Stein leaves Johns Hopkins University

without completing her medical degree.

           Summer: with Leo Stein in Morocco & Spain.

1902   Spring: with Leo Stein in Italy and in fall in London

1903   Winter: GS in NY

            Summer: in Italy

            Fall: moves into Leo's apartment 27 rue de Fleurus, Paris

1904    Spring: GS visits friends in NY & Boston

            Summer: in Florence with Leo

            Fall: Leo & Gertrude buy first modern painting

1905    First purchases of paintings by Matisse & Picasso;

  Saturday night salons begin

            Summer: with Leo in Italy

1906    Picasso portrait completed (begun in 1905)

1907    Alice B. Toklas arrives in Paris with Harriet Levy

1908    Summer: in Italy when GS courts to ABT

1909     Three Lives self published 

1910     Summer: GS, LS, ABT in Italy: GS & ABT celebrate

   their "marriage" in Venice

             Winter: Toklas moves into 27 rue de Fleurus

1911     Summer: GS & ABT in Italy, they visit Mabel Dodge

             in her Villa outside Florence

1912    Summer: GS & ABT in Spain & Morocco

            Word portraits of Matisse & Picasso published in

  Camera Work (a journal published by Alfred Stieglitz)

1913    January: GS & ABT in England looking for publishers

             Summer: GS & ABT in Spain

             Fall: GS & LS split up, LS moves to Italy

1914     April: LS completely moves out

             27 rue de Fleurus apartment undergoes renovations

             May: Tender Buttons published

             July: GS & ABT in England when WWI begins

             Fall: GS & ABT return to Paris after a prolonged stay

   in England due to WWI

Stepping on Tender Buttons: “A Fire.", “A Handkerchief.", “Red Roses."

LOOKING FOR MATCHES IN THE BUTTONS BOX

THE BOOK ..........................-           TENDER BUTTONS

THE SUBBOOK ...................-           OBJECTS

THE SUBPOEM ...................-          A FIRE: NUMBER 39

WORD COUNT......................-           32

THE SUBPOEM ...................-          A HANDKERCHIEF: NUMBER 40

WORD COUNT......................-           16

THE SUBPOEM ...................-          RED ROSES: NUMBER 41

WORD COUNT......................-           19

STANZA(S)............................-           1 each

THE LEADER........................-           THE STEINY ROAD POET

CO-LLABORATORS..............-           MODPO STUDENTS/THE BUTTONS

GENRE..................................-           VIRTUAL OPERA

LOCATION............................-USA, UK, Australia, Philippines, S. Africa, Canada.

TIME......................................-           ALL HOURS OF EARTH’S CLOCK

TONE.....................................-           READY TO PARRY

“Why are there three in this set?” Judy Meibach

A FIRE.

What was the use of a whole time to send and not send if there was to be the kind of thing that made that come in. A letter was nicely sent.

A HANDKERCHIEF.

A winning of all the blessings, a sample not a sample because there is no worry.

RED ROSES.

A cool red rose and a pink cut pink, a collapse and a sold hole, a little less hot.

Dave Green wondered:

“Could these poems represent the stages of a relationship?

“A FIRE. - This is the early uncertain phase of the relationship. GS is not sure whether to send a letter or not. She is sitting before a fire trying to decide, or perhaps the "fire" is the psychic discomfort she is feeling about the situation. But then that becomes moot because she receives a letter from the person she was thinking about, and the letter pleases her. She realizes her worry was unnecessary. 

“A HANDKERCHIEF. - The positive letter she has received means that she has won "all the blessings". The relationship she was hoping for has been confirmed. She can wave a handkerchief in celebration, or perhaps dab her eyes with it.

“RED ROSES. - Roses are a symbol of love. GS is the rose and her significant other is the pink. "A sold hole" - the relationship has allowed her to get rid of the hole of depression she was in.”

As leader of the Tender Buttons Massive Open Online Study Group within the Coursera Modern Poetry MOOC,  the Steiny Road Poet looks for ways to keep the discussion lively. While each subpoem of Tender Buttons seems to have its own strategy for its existence, consecutive clusters with related characteristics appear. In introducing this trio of subpoems, Steiny suggested, “In this run of poetic parts, Gertrude Stein is signaling to us.” Steiny thought of building a fire as a way to convey a message (e.g. as American Indians did), the waving of a handkerchief to signal a need for help or for truce from battle, and the sending of red roses as sign of passionate love.

Steiny finds the presentation of sets of subpoems appealing, particularly when subpoems are short. Because Steiny has no agenda for completing the discussion of Tender Buttons by a certain deadline and has no higher authority to please except the overall pleasure of working through this provocative poem with a congenial group of intelligent and witty people, she hopes never to run into the problem of “just going through the motions” and producing an assembly line of comments. And she loves that a member of the MOOSG has asked why study the poem with these three parts together.

In the end, whether the MOOSG accepts the choices for study that Steiny makes comes down to trust and faith. And same for herself, about the investment being made in a poem that continues to stump and excite the academic community. Here, there is no competition for tenure or leg-ups. Here is the joy of discovery and comradery.

Thinking outside the box as is her usual tack, Eleanor Smagarinsky said she had been thinking for four days about Judy’s question, particularly since the prevailing line of discussion had focused on the associations between “A Fire.” and “Red Roses.” Looking back in Tender Buttons, she saw “A Little Bit of a Tumbler.” leading “with all of that shining colour and necessary spreading, which sounds exactly like a fire to me” as a “rush straight into the first line of "A Fire." Eleanor questioned, “What was the use....’If something spreads into nothing, then what's the use? It's as if the fire from the little tumble Stein took has spread into her next poem.” However, what Dave saw set things into perspective, which Eleanor characterized as “the stages of a relationship.”

What did the Buttons see in reading these subpoems either separately or together in addition to the stages of relationship—pinking sheers (a pink cut pink),

four-letter words (fire-what-time-send-send-kind-that-made-that-come-sent), the Gertrude Stein-May Bookstaver affair, lies and letters, envelopes and boundaries, tracking the path of an oscillation function, the nature of how things exist, painting the town red in the early 20^th century, the rose garden of the Queen of Hearts into which Lewis Carroll sent his character Alice, the emotional highs and lows of weddings, the dance of courtship, hankies and courtship, tuberculosis and the handkerchief, masturbation. Here are some of the highlights:

Stepping on Tender Buttons: “A Little Bit of a Tumbler.”

A TUMBLE IN THE BUTTONS BOX

THE BOOK ..........................-           TENDER BUTTONS

THE SUBBOOK ...................-           OBJECTS

THE SUBPOEM ...................-          A LITTLE BIT OF A TUMBLER: NUMBER 38

WORD COUNT......................-           51

STANZA(S)............................-           1

THE LEADER........................-           THE STEINY ROAD POET

CO-LLABORATORS..............-           MODPO STUDENTS/THE BUTTONS

GENRE..................................-           VIRTUAL OPERA

LOCATION............................-USA, UK, Australia, Philippines, S. Africa, Canada.

TIME......................................-           ALL HOURS OF EARTH’S CLOCK

TONE.....................................-           PREPPED

A LITTLE BIT OF A TUMBLER.

A shining indication of yellow consists in there having been more of the same color than could have been expected when all four were bought. This was the hope which made the six and seven have no use for any more places and this necessarily spread into nothing. Spread into nothing.

While this subpoem seems to indicate the confusion of 6’s & 7’s, it also seems well anchored to the root subpoem that begins Tender Buttons (i.e. “The difference is spreading.”) So the Steiny Road Poet optimistically believes the "shining indication of yellow" will yield light.

Topics associated with “A Little Bit of a Tumbler.” were flat-bottomed drinking glasses,

the Stein family relationships (Tamboura Gaskins pointed out there were seven births to Daniel and Amelia Stein but two died in infancy), gymnasts, intoxication, lock mechanisms, an off-balance person falling, a machine for smoothing and polishing semi-precious stones, and a quick sexual encounter.

Most of the study focused on possible grammatical strategies that Stein might have been toying with.


THE TENDER-BARTER-CURRENCY TERRITORY

Using the word “four” as a methodological pointer, Sarah Maitland Parks came up empty on interesting four-letter words. The words been, more, same, than, have, when, four, were, hope, made, this, into “seem oddly bland when set one after another.” However, Eleanor Smagarinsky saw Sarah’s observation married with Tamboura Gaskin’s definition of “tumbler”—tumbler ==> def. (n), a part that moves a gear in a train of gears into and out of engagement as another way—as another possible way into Stein’s language play. Here is Eleanor working out the permutations of Steinian possibilities:

This "tumbler"— is it a part of language that moves a gear of meaning in and out of engagement? Is "a little bit of a tumbler" perhaps "a little bit of a word"?

"all four were bought"

OK

So what if these four are the first four words of the poem?

"A shining indication of"

I see IN, IN, IN, ON OF.

Continue to read the poem:

"....yellow consISts IN there havINg been mORe OF the same colOR than could have been expected when all four were bought."

Stein's defining the phrase "A shining indication of" as meaning "having more of the same color than could have been expected." It makes sense.....a shining color seems to have more color than a non-shiny color!

The 6th and 7th words of the poem are cONsISts IN -- 

ON IS IN— are these little bits of tumblers which engage language?

The phrase "consists in" is "the hope which made...no use for any more places." Again, Stein is defining "consists in" - when we say that something exists in a specific space, we are really tricking ourselves, hoping that the thing (word) has only one place (meaning)....but Stein won't allow us to trick ourselves. She shows us that language is never that simple - 

"this necessarily spread into nothing. Spread into nothing."

READ

IN

TO

NO

THING

READ

IN

TO

NO

THING

Eleanor also said:

“We've moved away from time now, and we seem to be in space. 

Something was bought—so we're in tender=barter=currency territory. 

“Like the game show, “Wheel of Fortune,” Eleanor asks:

Are we buying letters? words? their meanings? Does the sense of space here refer to the space between words or in words? in language? Do the letters have a numerical value?”

Steiny wanted to know if Eleanor was expecting to calculate a gematria value. She said,

Celebrating Poetry Month with Birmingham Poetry Review

This is National Poetry Month, a very intense and busy period for poets. More on that and how it plays with the Steiny Road Poet but first this—

Adam Vines has produced another lush issue of the Birmingham Poetry Review which I urge you, Dear Reader, to check out.  If you look at the list of contributors, you will see poems by such poets as: Andrew Hudgins (featured poet with an essay on Hudgins by Ned Balbo, Sheila Black (just hung out with her at Split This Rock Poetry Festival), Eamon Grennan, Stephen Priest translating Gergen Manstoff, Rachel Richardson, R. T. Smith, Joshua Weiner, Mike White (winner of The Word Works 2011 Washington Prize).

As you may recall, Steiny blogged a poem review from BPR 2013 for every day of April and then gave it prominence in a Scene4 article celebrating Gertrude Stein's poem "America."



So what I'm going to do here is just give you a few lines from the poets mentioned above to whet your appetite:



from "Mr. and Miss Bryce Hospital" by Andrew Hudgins

Batman hugged her tall guant Robin to her hip,
but their torsos twisted away into a gnarled
asymmetic Y against a backdrop
of black capes. They held, held, held


from "Paicambu Cemetery" by Sheila Black

So many of us: blind girl with tin
can, man with elephantiasis,
his leg a familiar monster.


from "Things in the Vicinity" by Eamon Grennan

White football of the moon going gradually transparent


"Studies in Postmodernism" Stephen Priest translating Gergen Manstoff

Clonazepam Sunday,
cigarette,
Internet-dawdle.

The squirrels
place their shells
on my stoop
for safekeeping.


from "A Change of Heart" by R. T. Smith

Sunday night a widow in Winslow, Arkansas
came home to find an owl's fully detailed
profile printed on her patio door as clear
as a photographic plate


from "The Firm" by Joshua Weiner

Among the firm, a questioning believer.


from "Snow Globe" by Mike White

Nothing that rough god
could do about the snow

but move it from place
to place.


Now I must go back to the slide showing I'm developing for my ephrastic-cliophrastic reading April 6 at the National Museum of Women in the Arts that includes B. K. Fischer (winner of The Word Works 2012 Washington Prize) and Jo Ann Clark (leader of the Hudson Valley Writers' Center).