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The
Steiny Road Poet
(a.k.a. Karren Alenier)
announces the
completion of her three
book project From
the Belly: Poets
Respond to Gertrude
Stein’s Tender Buttons.
This set of anthologies collects the writings of over 90 poets in
relation to how they reacted to Stein’s most mysterious work. Volume III Rooms will officially launch at the AWP Conference &
Bookfair March 4 through 7, 2026, in Baltimore, Maryland, and is
available now to reviewers in advance copy.
Under the influence of Pablo Picasso’s cubism, Tender Buttons is
Stein’s experiment in simultaneously writing from multiple
perspectives. Her long poem, a declaration of love to her lifelong
partner Alice Babette Toklas, is divided in three sections: Objects, Food, and Rooms. Each section reveals different perspectives of
Gertrude Stein. In Objects, the reader meets Stein, the scientist
examining various things. In Food, the reader encounters Stein,
the lover, saturated with the five senses. In Rooms, the reader
experiences Stein, the storyteller as she incorporates the details
of things and the sensuality inherent in a living human being
while coming to terms with the environment where we all reside.
“from the belly: a dialectic” by Karren Alenier, the title poem of
the overall set of the three books, appears in Volume I Objects.
Alenier’s poem responds to Stein’s Object:
Peeled Pencil, Choke.
Rub her coke.
“ Peeled Pencil, Choke.” is a potent fragment that seems to
suggest how to overcome writer’s block and how to sexually
approach a stripped down woman who might be reluctant to
engage.
Here’s Alenier’s response:
from the belly: a dialectic
“I can lean upon a pencil.” Gertrude Stein
a pencil is my
crutch do you get the
point the sharpness dulls
with every thrust
I prefer
a slender
nib dipped
intensely
in what is
dark
in what is
indelible
the American lead
so soft hardly immortality
the pencil real
popular number two
fill in the box to count
I do we do
your vote
my preference a bateau
en flamme floating on the Seine
mon mari et moi hungry—his hair
afire by candlelight at midnight
in moonlight don’t drink
the ink rather
let it let
it flow
so
This poem suggests creativity might come via the belly and the
gut. It debates the merits of pencil versus pen and has strong
crosstalk with another Stein love poem entitled Lifting Belly.
Stein promoted the idea of creating conversation between her
works as well as among people reading her works. She often
repeated images and language across different compositions.
Steiny has always said don’t go into the Steinian woods
alone—take your friends and family. Make it fun! By inviting
other poets to participate in responding to Tender Buttons, Steiny
has expanded the possibilities for appreciating a work that
continues to lead the way for experimental Western literature.
The good news for readers of From the Belly is that they are
invited into the conversation by using the white space in the
books to write their own responses.
One final note is The Loophole of Retreat by Ellen Driscoll, the
cover artwork for Volume III Rooms, reimagines the hiding place
of Harriet Jacobs, a slave who eluded her master for seven years
by hiding in the eaves of a shed that was part of her
grandmother’s home. Driscoll art was an installation
commissioned by the Whitney Museum at Philip Morris and was
displayed December 4, 1991-February 8, 1992. Like the backstory
of The Loophole of Retreat, Tender Buttons has many hidden
nuggets to discover.
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Writings
