STEIN WRITES IT ALL DOWN
On our way
not knowing
where we go
Poof! The past
gone. Abra ca
dab the door
to tomorrow still
shut as we stand
watching the hands
of the grandfather tick
tock. I say: delete
commas. Period!
Repeat for the daily
dilly demands
attention.
—Karren Alenier
____
First published in Looking For Divine Transportation, The Bunny
and the Crocodile Press (DC, 1999). This poem is also part of Alenier’s
libretto Gertrude Stein Invents A Jump Early On that premiered
June 15, 2005 by Encompass New Opera Theatre at Symphony Space
Leonard Nimoy Thalia in New York City.