THE SUBBOOK
...................-
OBJECTS
THE SUBPOEM
...................- A
substance in a cushion: NUMBER 3
WORD
COUNT......................-
475
STANZA(S)............................-
10
THE
LEADER........................-
THE STEINY ROAD POET
“Is
[there] a callousness that overlooks individuality?” Pramila Venkateswaran
“what is
reason? what is reasonable? what is her reason? am I being unreasonable? for
sugar is not a vegetable, and would it not by any other name b as sweet?” Anthony
Watkins
A SUBSTANCE IN A CUSHION.
The change of color is likely and a
difference a very little difference is prepared. Sugar is not a vegetable.
Callous is something that hardening
leaves behind what will be soft if there is a genuine interest in there being
present as many girls as men. Does this change. It shows that dirt is clean
when there is a volume.
A cushion has that cover. Supposing you
do not like to change, supposing it is very clean that there is no change in
appearance, supposing that there is regularity and a costume is that any the
worse than an oyster and an exchange. Come to season that is there any extreme
use in feather and cotton. Is there not much more joy in a table and more
chairs and very likely roundness and a place to put them.
A circle of fine card board and a
chance to see a tassel.
What is the use of a violent kind of
delightfulness if there is no pleasure in not getting tired of it. The question
does not come before there is a quotation. In any kind of place there is a top
to covering and it is a pleasure at any rate there is some venturing in
refusing to believe nonsense. It shows what use there is in a whole piece if
one uses it and it is extreme and very likely the little things could be dearer
but in any case there is a bargain and if there is the best thing to do is to
take it away and wear it and then be reckless be reckless and resolved on
returning gratitude.
Light blue and the same red with purple
makes a change. It shows that there is no mistake. Any pink shows that and very
likely it is reasonable. Very likely there should not be a finer fancy present.
Some increase means a calamity and this is the best preparation for three and
more being together. A little calm is so ordinary and in any case there is
sweetness and some of that.
A seal and matches and a swan and ivy
and a suit.
A closet, a closet does not connect under
the bed. The band if it is white and black, the band has a green string. A
sight a whole sight and a little groan grinding makes a trimming such a sweet
singing trimming and a red thing not a round thing but a white thing, a red
thing and a white thing.
The disgrace is not in carelessness nor
even in sewing it comes out out of the way.
What is the sash like. The sash is not
like anything mustard it is not like a same thing that has stripes, it is not
even more hurt than that, it has a little top.
“A substance in a cushion.”
exhibits evidence (based on selected words) of these major themes: existence, appearance, gender, sexuality, morality, and
union. The Steiny Road Poet believes the
first five subpoems of Tender Buttons,
establish what the major themes of section 1 “Objects” are. In addition some of
the subpoems of “Objects” also address printing and writing as well as gaming.
Only a handful of subpoems in “Objects” address the six major themes but only
three address the six major and two auxiliary themes (printing-writing &
gaming): “A piece of coffee.”, “A plate.”, and “A seltzer bottle.”. In close
consideration “A substance in a cushion.”
might exhibit hints of gaming and writerly elements. In any case, this subpoem
is highly significant to the over all work of Tender Buttons.
The 2014
Buttons Collective discussion of “A
substance in a cushion.” includes highlights of
comments on: language from a lab report, intoxicants, kosher versus trayfe, periodic
elements, gossip, sewing, folk myths of ivy, connection to Shakespeare’s As You Like It.
WHAT COMES TO
STEIN’S TABLE…OR BED
To review the thematic path
into section 1 “Objects,”: “A carafe, that is a
blind glass.” seems to tackle existence (possibly Stein’s birth) and “Glazed
glitter.” complements with a version of Stein’s adult existence, that is, her
subsistence (her means for maintaining her life)—what her career path looked
like (the abandoned medical studies) and the anticipation of change. “A substance in a cushion.”
picks up the theme of change in daily living (existence) and subsistence (the
failed medical career) and meditates deeply on appearance (what is seen, what
is not). “A substance in a cushion.” plays
with sweetness (sugar) and color as life changers, such that we, as readers,
suspect the presence of a beloved who will come joyfully to Stein’s table, if
not her bed.
From historic
background, we know the unnamed lover is Alice B. Toklas but Stein has her way
of inserting signs of Toklas beginning with the article “a” which is used 40
times among the 470 words of “A substance in a cushion.”
DEFINING
SUBSTANCE
Peter Treanor pointed out that substance is “the essence
of something, a particular kind of matter, an intoxicating drug, the most
important part of something, the subject matter of a text/piece of work, having
a solid base in reality, being dependable, quality of being important, wealth
and possession.” Steiny interrupts to say substance
could be Stein characterizing Alice’s importance to herself (Stein). This is
Stein saying Alice is essential as a partner. Stein’s love for Alice is like an
intoxicating drug. Alice is her subject matter for Tender Buttons. Nothing else in Stein’s life at this time is more
important.
Peter said,
”One or all of these could be employed as meaning here, I like the
intoxicating drug one, especially in relation to the absinthe thread of thought
[see the 2014 discussion of “A carafe, that is a blind glass.”]. Absinthe could be seen as
cushioning the harsh realities of the world. Alcohol as a cushion to the
troubles of life.” Steiny interrupts here to say that alcohol would not be
Stein’s drug of choice.
ELEMENTS
PENNED INTO CUSHION
In a 2013
discussion of Tender Buttons, Peter
said Stein inserts instructions in her text. So taking that approach, Peter
asked, “Is there a substance in the word cushion
or in [the phrase] a cushion?”
At first, he was stymied, but then he saw “h is hydrogen, o is
oxygen, c carbon, n nitrogen, ni nickel, au gold, all substances ‘occurring’ in
‘cushion’ or ‘a cushion.’
MS Boase added copper, copper sulphate, tin and
bronze to this discussion:
“Just
focusing on the title... ‘A substance in a cushion.’ I loved Pete's idea that
the word cushion could encode
chemical symbols, the most obvious though is copper (Cu). A change in colour
suggests copper sulphate (CuSO4), which a kind of (inedible) salt that has a very
drastic colour change between blue and white depending on the presence of
water. Also copper sulphate is IONic because it's a compound of a metal and a
non-metal.
“But there's
another interesting and important substance that springs to mind and that is
bronze, an alloy of two metals, copper (Cu) and tin (Sn). They don't react but
blend to form a very hard substance that was very important to mankind, it's
discovery marked by the beginning of what we call the Bronze Age. Given this is
the third poem, we should wonder if there is a bronze quality to it. If so,
then we should expect to find gold (Au) in Tender
Buttons one (I don't see it) and silver (Ag) Tender Buttons 2. I think I do see the latter... Ag or silver is
very representative of the Alice-Gertrude partnership, A and G. I wonder if
these ideas will recur later.”
Karren Alenier (a.k.a. Steiny) responded:
“MS, I agree
that Pete's deconstruction of cushion into various chemical symbols is a
cause for looking deeper into the "Objects" section and what it
offers in a more overt way relative to elements like gold and silver.
“In the
Buttons initial look at "A method of a cloak."
(in 2013), Eleanor Smagarinsky saw that playful connection of silver Ag
as the Alice-Gertrude connection. Subsequently in my study of ‘Objects’ as a
whole this summer (while I was working on my chapter for a forthcoming book called
Forbidden Loves in the Jewish Tradition—lead
editor is Corinne Blackmer), I came to believe that overall, silver stands for
Alice and lead (also known as liquid
silver) stands for Gertrude. [Silver and lead come up in ‘A seltzer
bottle.’] Gold doesn't seem to be in ‘Objects.’ [Steiny inserts here that gold does appear once in section 2
‘Food.’)
“Your
discussion of copper, however, is quite interesting. In nature, silver can be
found in lead and copper as well as gold and zinc. Another aspect of Gertrude
is water. We see her aligning with water but not fire. Typically the male
symbol is fire, the female symbol is water. In Jewish lore, there is male
aspect to water that is involved with the Hebrew words for heaven shamayim
שָׁמַ֫יִם and water mayim מָ֫יִם. Eventually
we will get to this in ‘Water raining.’ and ‘Careless water.’.”
MS
answered, “The water ideas support the copper
sulphate connection…Maybe the s is the substance IN cushion.”
That MS saw
copper (cu) in cushion sent Peter researching copper with marked
enthusiasm: “Oh my heavens MS, copper (cu) that is brilliant! Copper from Wikipedia , has so many
associations with TBs…”
Because
Stein employs lots of specific colors in the subpoems of “Objects” (this
subpoem mentions blue, red, purple, pink, and green as well as black and white
but it also hints a yellow with the word mustard),
the Wikipedia copper citation, which details color and color changes, is highly
relevant.
Particularly
interest was the Wikipedia information about the s-orbital electron:
Copper, silver and gold are in group 11 of the periodic table, and they
share certain attributes: they have one s-orbital electron on top of a
filled d-electron shell and
are characterized by high ductility and electrical conductivity.
But there is,
there is that hope and that interpretation and sometime, surely any s is
unwelcome, sometime there is breath and there will be a sinecure and
charming very charming is that clean and cleansing.
MS added: “…the S which is unwelcome is black sulfide (Ag_2
S) which tarnishes silver over time (and has application in photography, not
sure if relevant, or since when), the polishing and cleansing referenced in the
previous poem could then mean to keep silver sparkling...”
Karren responded to MS relative to his
uncertainty whether photography figures into Tender Buttons, “The word silver comes up three times in the
‘Objects’ section of TB: ‘A seltzer bottle.’, ‘A method of a cloak.’,
and subpoem 11 ‘A box.’. Hints at photography (and printing) surface
in many of the subpoems, including subpoems 11 ‘A box.’, ‘A plate.’,
and ‘A seltzer bottle.’.
LAB TALK OR
PARENTAL ADMONISHMENT?
While Peter
and MS had many more things to say about copper, for now Steiny puts that
information on hold to move into stanzas 1 and 2 about which Pramila Venkateswaran said, “The first
two statements sound like what one would read in a lab experiment: ‘The change
of color...’ and ‘Callous...’ ‘Sugar is not a vegetable’ sounds tongue in
cheek—something a parent would tell a child. Callous—the hardening seems to
mark this piece. Do we harden because of our prescribed gender roles?
‘Soft’ ‘pink’ ‘tassel’ suggest women. ‘Feathers’ reminds me of feathers in
hats; also feathers in pillows and in mattresses. All these are prescribed
rituals of society--dining together, writing according to rules, vacationing
during ‘the season,’ which makes her [Stein] wonder if there is a callousness
that overlooks individuality.
Karren Alenier agreed saying, “It fits Stein's
experience as a scientist investigating objects, the life of objects, the
activities of said objects.
“And to see callous
in relation to gender roles and overlooked individuality captures the more
veiled details from ‘A carafe.’ like a kind in glass and a cousin
(something like finger pointing and accusatory—that type that I can see through and really? related to me?), a spectacle
(that kind of person standing out and not conforming), nothing strange
(oh, but not conforming demotes the strange person to nothingness), not
ordinary (why isn't that person like everyone else?), not resembling
(really that person couldn't possibly be my cousin!), the difference spreading.
“Intriguing
to hear sugar is not a vegetable as a parental rebuke. Or at least to me
it sounds disapproving which fits with what is callous.
“In ‘modern’
times—once people could do more than struggle to survive, that is, find food,
shelter, a way to procreate—folks sought diversions, a way to reduce the stress
of daily living. Then came these substances, like sugar, like absinthe.”
SUGARCANE
& PILLOW CASE
From
Wikipedia, Karren found this: Most sugar comes from sugarcane, which is a
tropical grass. The leavings from cane juice become the powder that makes
sugar.
Sugarcane
belongs to the grass family (Poaceae), an economically important seed plant
family that includes maize, wheat, rice, and sorghum and many forage crops.
In India,
between the sixth and fourth centuries BC, the Persians, followed by the
Greeks, discovered the famous “reeds that produce honey without bees.”
Karren concluded: “Of course sugar has a long
history tied up with slavery and wealth.”
Peter picked
up the on sugarcane being vegetable and Therese Pope offered that you can chew
on the cane but not eat it because it is tough and fibrous. Karren was doubtful
about its byproduct, sugar, being labeled vegetable. Peter said, “The flower top of sugar in the picture does look like
a feather and the link between sugar plantations and cotton plantations make me
wonder about Come to season that
is there any extreme use in feather and cotton..
Karren
answered, “yes that line Come to season… seems very socio-political.”
Breaching
the conversation, Steiny jumps in here to remind the reader that this subpoem
opens talk about the change of color, which might be associated with the
emancipation of slaves from the cotton fields of the American South. Now back
to what Karren said in the ModPo
forum, “The combo of cushion and feather always makes me think this is Stein's
pillow talk. As with any late night talk comes the ecstasy and agony.”
Surfacing
after a long absence, Claudia Schumann said, “I was just mulling over ‘come to
season’ and thinking that it sounded like…the expression ‘coming into heat’
when animals are becoming fertile for reproduction. So I … thought ‘come to
season’ may refer to a woman arriving at that time of the month. Then I also
thought about ‘extreme use’—sometimes having sex during this time may be
considered ‘extreme use.’ In reference to pillow talk, pillows are made of
feather & cotton ticking—hence ‘feather and cotton.’”
Come to season…brought up the issue of Jewish
woman and their cycle of menses and ritual bathing. The issue of making something
kosher after it has become unclean (trayfe) plays in Stein’s phrase dirt is clean when there is volume.
Karren commented, “Stein might be commenting obliquely
about the unkosher same-sex marriage which must be kept under cover despite
these ‘girls’ who have come to season (there being present as
many girls as men). This gives a new spin on oyster (a
costume is that any the worse than an oyster and an exchange), which is trayfe, unkosher, forbidden food.
Randy Parker associated cushion with a pincushion,
preferably a red one and found all the surrounding associations fraught with
sexual innuendo, especially the needle’s penetration of the cushion.
SWAN & IVY: A MARRIAGE
OF LONGETIVITY OR A RISK?
One of the most difficult
lines of this subpoem is this list that is merely a fragment but not a sentence:
A seal and
matches and a swan and ivy and a suit.
For seal, Claudia ruled out the
animal and suggested it was that mark of authority put on documents.
Peter offered this set of associations:
“I don’t know how it would
shoe horn in but a Google search of the terms popped up with a picture of Anna
Pavlova with her favourite pet swan, called Jack, taken at Ivy House
where she lived. There are various photos of them but some are early 1900s and
pre TBs time , so the images would
have been available to GS. Jack is the name of a playing card, [Jacks, as are
other cards] are ordered into suits, (bit tenuous I know).
Pavlova , Swan Lake, lovers suits , love matches? All the mythology
around Swans, Zeus as a swan, swan maidens,
swan songs?”
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