Category Archives: ResponsePaper
Music
When I started to read the poem I started to laugh because it clicked to me why Professor Kaufman would tell the class to just read it, and to not analyze it. Reading this poem was like a joke. It was laughing in my head all along just because nothing actually made sense. I enjoyed the poem more during the beginning and as I kept reading my focus was gone. I was just going along with it, and it felt like I was reading Plato again.The same feeling of reading and not knowing what I was reading came back. I was reading it but not understanding it; it didn’t make sense to me, but I kept going. Unlike Plato though, I didn’t even try to make sense of Stein because I was under the impression that it wasn’t suppose to make sense. So even though I read this in my head, my voice in my mind was very relaxed and patient. This patience didn’t last too long. By the time I was done with a whole page of the nonsense I got impatient. I wasn’t at a point where I was getting frustrated or angry, but I definitely noticed myself reading faster and missing certain words. To be honest when I was reading this, I didn’t actually know that Stein’s a woman. I tend to think that men are funnier people than women. So when I just assumed that the writer was a man I read it in a lighter mood and wasn’t intimidated. If I knew Stein’s a woman to begin with this might’ve changed. I probably would’ve read it with a more serious mood since I tend to think that women have more reasons behind everything they say, write, and do.
not meant to be deciphered
I read the first poem several times, and I could not figure out what she meant by it. It was frustrating nonetheless, and I was a little worried at how it would be discussed in class. What i found interesting reading other people’s blog posts, was that even though a majority of the class said they disliked it, most people followed Gertrude’s style and created pieces very similar to hers. Clearly, it is a very fun task.
I do not however, feel that the poem was made to be a puzzle that the public should figure out. Rather, it is a simple thought and collection of what Gertrude was thinking at the time, and because it is so unique it is regarded to be a great work. With that taken into consideration, we need to stop, or I do rather, thinking about what the words mean. I dont feel we will come to a conclusion.
The poem leaves you hanging, because you do not know what you just read. After reading it many times, you are just left with hints about what she might mean, but not really what she actually means. We discussed that she wanted to be famous and well known, maybe that is why the poem is written this way? I would hope not, it would be very disappointing. So I can continue to appreciate the work, I will imagine that it represents her thoughts and her aspects about people in her life, and I think that is what poetry is all about.
The Stein, Gertrude Experience
Reading Gertrude Stein was definitely not an easy task. I really had to sit and break apart every line from her poems and her essay. I re worded what I thought she was trying say for each of the pieces, and I looked up whatever caught my attention. I found myself getting really frustrated with all her pieces. I had to keep re reading her work because I would completely misunderstand what I first read. I decided to read everything aloud so I would minimize the times that I had to re-read it, and this worked!
When I read the first poem and saw the repetition about Napoleon at the beginning, I thought that I would have fun reading everything. I was wrong. After a while the repetition became a drag. I started to sound like a fool. “If I told him would he like it. Would he like it if I told him. Would he like it would Napoleon would Napoleon would would he like it.” Seriously, I can’t get her words out of my head. I had nightmares about it. But I have to give Stein her credit. Because her words are so repetitive, I can remember a good amount of things in her pieces. This technique she used was wise because readers are able to understand the message that Stein wants to convey. She probably does not care whether we are annoyed with her writings or not, she just wants us to remember what she is saying. I don’t know, I feel “bitter sweet” about Stein. I understand that she wants us to understand what she understands, but her trying so hard to get us to understand just makes it more difficult for us, well at least me, to fully understand. Understand?
Those are Broken!
Although “Objects” of Gertrude shows a little better in language, I prefer to go with the most destructive poem” If I told Him: A Completed Portrait of Picasso”. I listen few more times of sound recording on YouTube. All I can say is that echoing is everywhere and echoing, echoing, echoing, there is echoing on my ears, on my ears. Even though she continues she continues, I barely can remember barely can remember anything but “shutter shuts” but “shutter shuts” because “ shut” resonates” Shut Up”, shut it up.
This piece of reading is really repetitive, illogical, sparse, bizarre, repetitive, and really repetitive. I like poem, I really do do like poem, I understand I do understand that poem sometimes needs some unique imagination some unique imagination and goes beyond what our eyes can see and what our mind can “see”, it is not like this and it should not like this.
After brief introduction about her work in the class, I understand that she intents to do this. The question in my mind is why repetitive? How repetitive matters? What repetitive can bring to us? When I wrote some words repetitive as above, I feel fine and it is just fine. Even I kinda like that.
Cubism is the avenue for us to open the mystery. In cubism’s portrays, I know that objects are broken up, re-construct, analyzed in an abstracted form instead of showing them in a direct way. To use the limited space to explore the unlimited world, and also, the surface looks from seemly random angles, but actually not, and shows the perception depth so that the background and the targeted objects can interpenetrate one another to create a distinctive vague and ambiguous space.
Also, I get a sense of cubism, I still at a loss of Gertrude’s writing. But I feel better; especially I re-watch the body movement video. It is an expression of strength that grows stronger and stronger as I observe from the body movement. Their stretches are “square” or automatic which lack of humanized factors.
My thought pauses, but there is still echoing which comes from Gertrude. Still echoing, echoing. A broken language full of grammar mistakes, like a child, it is really like a child who speaks without boundary with limited vocabulary, but always tells what they really mean and who they really are.
She is she is she is as is she is driving me crazy, crazy to admire what she did to me, and what she did to me.
I Can’t Take It
I understand “If I Told Him” is a very complex poem and relates to cubism.
I guess I am not able to understand it and all it does is irritate
me. When reading it to myself at first I just noticed my mind rambling on. I
felt like she was saying a tongue twister.It sounds completely idiotic but I was then thinking about all the tongue twisters I knew. “She sells seashells by the seashore. The shellsshe sells are surely seashells. So if she sells shells on the seashore, I’m sure she sells seashore shells.” I just wanted to escape every part of Gertrude Stein.
When listening to her I noticed I became very angry. It sounded like a woman complaining about every little thing. Like my mother scolding me for
not picking up a little piece of dirt. It escalates from the dirt to not cleaning my room to not making my bed. How one little thing escalates to the one million other things I do wrong. She just did not stop speaking.
The last thing that I noticed I was doing while listening and doing the automatic
writing, was I was starting to write in that same annoying form. I was mocking her but it still made me angrier. I felt like she was nagging me and my writing was all about making her shut up. I know my whole opinion sounds really bad but I could not find
any deeper meaning. I was just so frustrated by what I was either reading or listening to my mind would not let me get anything useful out of it. I do know now that if I ever am a boxer before I go into the ring I will not listen to music to pump me up. I will play
this poem and I will get so angry I’d be more than ready to fight.
Gertrude Stein Is Gertrude Stein
If she told me would I get it. Would I get it if she told me. Would I get it would Lady Gaga would Lady Gaga would would I get it. If Lady Gaga if she told me if she told me if Lady Gaga. Would I get it if she if she told me. If she told me if Lady Gaga if Lady Gaga if she told me. If she told me would I get it would I get it if she told me.
The reading experience of Gertrude Stein is quite dramatic, even though it’s beyond my knowledge. But through our class discussion, it seems I am not alone. I don’t really think “If I Told Him: A Completed Portrait of Picasso” is a poem. I would rather consider it as an art form. It makes more sense when it is performed since I find it more and more interesting when listening to the audio then just reading the words. I remember Prof. Kaufman mentioned in last class, Gertrude Stein didn’t think grammar is important, therefore, if we try to understand from the words themselves, it’s supposed to be hard to understand. However, if we take out the key words which are repeated several times, there’s whole picture in our minds. This is the most interesting thing I’ve found when reading such a combination of random but related words. The symbols that are being used in the poem itself are quite common but there’s seems to be a story hidden behind the poem. Sometimes it also sounds like a conflict in one’s mind. It is like a dialogue. Most of the time, we are confined by our imagination but if we read Stein’s poems, we have to broaden our visions in order to portrait our own images. Again, it is so amazing and dramatic.
“Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose.” (Stein, Sacred Emily)
Gertrude Stein is Gertrude Stein.
I didn’t like it when you told me
Reading the Gertrude Stein piece “If I Told Him. A Completed Portrait of Picasso” was a very strange experience. I came into the reading with some reservations, which were mainly the result of hearing the professor say that her previous classes often became frustrated by the readings. It only took one line to understand what Professor Kaufman meant. From the first line, “If I told him would he like it.” I noticed that the punctuation was off. Why did the author put a period where there should be a question mark? That’s one of the very first rules of learning how to write in English, yet it was completely violated. I raised an eyebrow and shrugged it off, I ultimately continued through it. Mentally and automatically, I put question marks in place where I felt there needed to be question marks.
The second sentence seemed to be a play on words, simply forming a statement by switching words to say something similar. However, by the second line, I completely lost the vibe that the author intended to play around with a single sentence, and actually began to question what her intention was. Not only was the third statement poorly constructed, but it wasn’t even a sentence. I read it once, and was confused. I felt my tongue tripping on itself. I tried it again, it had the same effect. Then there was the fact that the name “Napoleon” came out of left field. At this point, I decided to look up information about the author and I found out that she worked alongside William James, one of the first American psychologists. Then I read about “automatic writing” and “stream of consciousness.” At this point, I probably got even more confused. Why would she be thinking about Napoleon of all people or things?
I had no idea, and still have no idea what she meant by her repeated statements involving “now” which were pretty contradictory. Honestly, at that point, I had given up hope in trying to find a deeper meaning. I didn’t want to bother trying to crawl inside of the head of a mad-woman. No rhyme, no reason, and I can’t even see an association of thoughts save for a possible link between “Napoleon,” “kings,” and later a mention of “queens.” But shutters? Couldn’t understand that in the slightest. The repetitions of these unrelated terms made me even more bewildered. At that point I was stumbling and stuttering my way through it. I was hacking my way through the poem–butchering it, as Stein hacked through my conventional knowledge of the English language. Unfortunately for me, there were more repetitions of seemingly unrelated terms (exactly, resemblance, he, and, as, is, presently, proportions, land). No more understanding, no more trying to find a meaning, I just read it (as disjointedly as the poem) until the end.
Say what again
By reading this, just this, my head pounds, just pounds and pounds. For each word ask why. By reading this my head pounds and I ask why. Repeat yourself more woman, I can’t fully understand, understand, understand me, understand you. Repeat repeat and ask why. What’s delightful? Delightful in the path I chose, chose, chose to walk. For each step I take I steal a star, there’s no moon here no moon, no moon here. Repeat yourself more till I strangle myself with this H&M scarf, what if I took and pumpkin, roses with thorns and threw it at you? What if I threw them, threw them straight to you. Eat both of them dry for your words are the same. The same words the same words, I repeat the same words. Repeat yourself till I dread the next seconds, seconds, and more seconds whiling writing this to you, to you and only you. Repeat, my head pounds, I rather being pushing up daisies, more daisies and more daisies then a dead man could.
My rant is done.
Lightly
Don’t bite
the hand
that feeds you
is good advice
from everyday life
Facts
Thinking about facts
the only thing that pops to mind
is snapple facts
there is a rumor
that the first one
says the rest are false
but we might never know
This is straight from my head
sitting in the library
in baruch college
in manhattan, NY, Planet earth
Some people come into our lives
leaving foot marks
in our lives
and some
making us
leave foot marks
on their bodies
Now i don’t know what will be
in my life while i deem to live free
a life with no obligations
complications
full of communication
Hope for the best,
and be prepared for the worse