from Stanzas in Meditation: Stanza I

By Gertrude Stein 1874–1946 Gertrude Stein

I caught a bird which made a ball

And they thought better of it.

But it is all of which they taught

That they were in a hurry yet

In a kind of a way they meant it best

That they should change in and on account

But they must not stare when they manage

Whatever they are occasionally liable to do

It is often easy to pursue them once in a while

And in a way there is no repose

They like it as well as they ever did

But it is very often just by the time

That they are able to separate

In which case in effect they could

Not only be very often present perfectly

In each way whichever they chose.

All of this never matters in authority

But this which they need as they are alike

Or in an especial case they will fulfill

Not only what they have at their instigation

Made for it as a decision in its entirety

Made that they minded as well as blinded

Lengthened for them welcome in repose

But which they open as a chance

But made it be perfectly their allowance

All which they antagonise as once for all

Kindly have it joined as they mind

Gertrude Stein, Stanza I from Stanzas in Meditation and Other Poems (Los Angeles: Sun and Moon Press, 1994). Reprinted with the permission of Mr. Stanford Gann Jr., Levin & Gann, P.A., Literary Executor of the Estate of Gertrude Stein.

Source: The Yale Gertrude Stein (Yale University Press, 1980)

Biography

From the time she moved to France in 1903 until her death in Neuilly-sur-Seine in 1946, American writer Gertrude Stein was a central figure in the Parisian art world. An advocate of the avant garde, Stein helped shape an artistic movement that demanded a novel form of expression and a conscious break with the past. The salon at 27 rue de Fleurus that she shared with Alice B. Toklas, her lifelong companion and secretary, became a . . .

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