Gertrude Stein is notorious for her seemingly indecipherable poetry. In Tender Buttons, she cleverly explores the world of inanimate objects, food, and rooms through her prose poetry.
I wasn't sure, initially, what to make of her poems -- many of which are only two or three lines in length. At first, it seemed to be an exercise in haphazardly combining random words and then slapping a title on. However, as you get further into the reading and become used to her writing style, you do begin to see a method to it all, the juxtapositions and the relationships of the words and concepts.
In some of the longer poems, there are moments of lucidity amidst a playful barrage of wordplay, such as these lines from "Rooms":
"Dance a clean dream and an extravagant turn up, secure the steady rights and translate more than translate the authority, show the choice and make no more mistakes than yesterday . . .Why is there more craving than there is in a mountain. This does not seem strange to one, it does not seem strange to an echo and more surely is in there not being a habit. Why is there so much useless suffering. Why is there."
Stein had very inventive views of how language could be used, as opposed to the way it was commonly used. Whether or not you enjoy or understand her poetry, you can at least see why she is so well-known as a literary force.
Certainly, Stein had an influential vision, and that vision has resonated throughout not only the literary community, but -- considering the great circle of painters and artists she counted in her circle of friends in Paris -- through all of the arts.
