Why Do Something If It Can Be Done: Quoting Gertrude Stein # 14

The question was: How do you read Gertrude Stein’s writing? And how do you read her body language? There seems to be a lot of confusion.

Do you think the woman with the head of an emperor, the body of a wet-nurse and the disposition of a happy baby was frigid?
Let me quote a few lines (not even particularly ecstatic ones) from her poetry and from the private love notes Gertrude used to exchange with Alice, and then tell me whether you see Gertrude as a participant in sexual fulfillment:

“I am fondest of all of lifting belly… Lifting belly is in bed/ and the bed has been made comfortable… Lifting belly/ so high/ And aiming. Exactly and making a cow come out.”
“Question and butter./ I find the butter very good./ Lifting belly is so kind./ Lifting belly fattily.”
“How we are tight/ Glue is our delight,/ What silky, Yes milky/ dear legs all alright…”
“Mrs. is a graceful fountain and she/ plays over Mr. who is certain that Mrs. is a grateful fountain which/ means that it is grateful to/ Mr. to have Mrs. play over him. Mr. is so grateful. Dear Mrs. Lovingly yours, Mr.”
Question and butter — food for thought.

Share
This entry was posted in Gertrude Stein. Bookmark the permalink.

One Response to Why Do Something If It Can Be Done: Quoting Gertrude Stein # 14

  1. Gerry says:

    The early blog posts are arriving in my mailbox and it is a delight to reread them.

Leave a Reply to Gerry Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>