from page 10 of tender buttons by gertrude stein

Gertrude Stein, "A Long Dress" from Tender Buttons (1914).

[Ryan McGinley]

* * * *

‘In the morning there is a meaning, in the evening there is feeling.’

- Gertrude Stein, Tender Buttons, 1914

...in the morning there is meaning, in the evening there is feeling. In the evening there is feeling.

Gertrude Stein, Tender Buttons

Tender Buttons is a fun thing to discuss in class because my middle aged professor and I both avoid eye contact as we nervously circle the potential meaning behind the phrase "rub her coke"

Spoiler: it's gay sex. It's all gay sex

i read near to the wild heart by clarice lispector today and asdjs;ldkfj;ldkfjs everything she writes is just so good, so torturously beautiful and intense and i love it

also that was book number 87 for the year

i'm trying to get through 3 more books and have an even 90 by the last day of 2023

We are mankind

We are manikin

With and without mind

With or without Darwin

Classify me

// the strings of my autonomy

— Broadcast, Tender Buttons. from Corporeal

[2005]

Gertrude Stein “Tender Buttons” & Broadcast “Tender Buttons” Daily Reminder 1️⃣9️⃣8️⃣4️⃣

A DRAWING

The meaning of this is entirely and best to say the mark, best to say it best to show sudden places, best to make bitter, best to make the length tall and nothing broader, anything between the half.

– Gertrude Stein

Gertrude Stein - Tender Buttons - 1914

Tender Buttons is a book that is not. A book called Tender Buttons was written in 1914, the same year as WWI, a year marked by tension, globalization, and abstraction. I do not think Gertrude Stein was thinking about the war. But the tension appears throughout the book, and I can't help but wonder what the war did to the book. First the language--it is near incomprehensible. It took me an hour to understand the first four line paragraph. I had to watch a youtube video about it. More than it it is incomprehensible it is play, Stein weaves words between her fingers, swaps tense, possession, sometimes just sticking them together almost haphazardly. But nothing about this book is haphazard. I think, at it's core, the book is about language, it's soft and imperfect capability. If language is water, craft is a carafe, and Stein's carafe might be a Klein bottle, of more dimension than most could see. And that makes me ask--how do we talk about the war. Maybe I am only thinking about the war because of the current and inauspicious global moment we find ourselves in, of genocide playing through tv screens, pandering politicians... how do we talk about the war, how do we shape the carafe, how to make the carafe a bullet...

By Raul Cantu.

* * * *

“When is there some discharge when. There never is.” ― Gertrude Stein, Tender Buttons

So did Gertrude Stein do crack? Or was she just like that? Do I have to do crack to be like that?

In the morning there is a meaning, in the evening there is feeling.

— Gertrude Stein, Tender Buttons (1914) (City Lights Publishers; April 8, 2014) (via Alive on All Channels)

Hello, all!

I'm EM Abatis, and I make words. This is my designated professional account, for my very serious not-at-all silly poetry and original fiction. (Maybe a couple reviews, too, if I'm so inclined.) I'll also reblog things that inspire me, whether it be poetry, visual art, music, or thousand-word infodumps about the bronzed cowbird. I'll tag my stuff with "my poetry" or "my fiction" and other people's stuff with "look! art!!!"

My work sometimes dips into dark or adult subject matter, but I've never written something that couldn't feasibly be read to a high school class. That being said, I'll tag possible triggers, even if the poem is vague and obscure about it, as it usually is.

I tend to write short, experimental things. Poetic inspirations include Gertrude Stein (especially Tender Buttons), Douglas Kearney (especially Patter), William Blake, Emily Dickinson, and many others I can't think of at the moment.

Real reactions to my work include "I have no idea what just happened, but I loved it," and "That was so funny - was that supposed to be funny?" and "You're like the reincarnation of Edgar Allen Poe, except as an alien." If that sounds like your jam, stick around! If you have questions about my process, or anything else really, please feel free to ask! 🦇

My instagram is em_abatis though I don't post there often and don't really know how the site works. I'm much more comfy on Tumblr.

My current big fiction project is a middle grade/children's/whatever chapter book about existentialist philosophy, the limitations of language, and grief, which I'm tentatively titling "Ruth, Windows, Wishes", but I'll tag anything about it with "the icy wip" Intro Here

I'm also working on a short story collection about monsters in everyday settings (Masterpost Here), something I've been calling "skeleton collect-a-thon," and a "Strawberry Shortcake-meets-DnD" fantasy novel.