Friday, November 28, 2008

And then there's this sort of thing, also from Tender Buttons:

A no, a no since, a no since when, a no since when since, a no since when since a no since when since, a no since, a no since when since, a no since, a no, a no since a no since, a no since, a no since.

The only way I can read this is to speak it aloud, as a type of sound-poetry, somewhat along the lines of Hugo Ball and the DaDa movement, though Tender Buttons was published two years before the DaDa manifesto. Amazing. A true original.

2 comments:

John B-R said...

Tho GS is, perhaps, a true original, it always astounds me how impossible it seems to read/hear her and not attempt, consciously or otherwise, to bring some of what she does over into one's own writing ... has that been happening to you at all?

Alan Baker said...

Well, I haven't written much new stuff for a while, but, I'd say that whatever I'm reading tends to end up influencing what I write, provided I like it or it's good. Stein is so distinctive, it'd be hard not to seem like you're just imitating. But, we'll see.