- Gertrude and Alice on a Trip Stateside -
A look came over Madame Stein.
“But there’s no THERE there!” she exclaimed.
Her words skimmed off the teary brine
which poured into a glass of wine
she drained.
The year was 1935.
Her place of birth was crossed and veined
with tubes that ribbed the cluttered hive
and kept its residents alive.
The skies were stained.
Miss Toklas offered her a towel,
and Gertrude’s torrent slowly waned.
A lecture trip to Oakland, Cal
with Alice B., her wife and pal –
her “Precious,” fondly named.
It sparkled then – a chromed array
of childhood memories unchained –
of chopping wood and making hay,
of youthful dreams and girlish play.
They looked at Gertrude – chastened, shamed –
who for the storied life she led
in “gay Paree” was broadly famed.
“There there, Miss Stein!” they comforted.
And Alice Toklas shook her head.
They couldn’t for their awkward gaffe be blamed!