Original poem reprinted online here: "A Long Dress" By Gertrude Stein Originally read: October 30, 2013 More information about the Poet: Gertrude Stein Cinquains. The first stanza of the poem feels more of discussion on process, and the second stanza discusses more of the output of the process. In the first stanza, the word, "current" is punned upon many times in order to show the flow and question it: There is the current that makes machinery, that makes it crackle what is the current that presents a long line and a necessary waist What is this current What is the wind, what is it. Note the use of current that creates objects (machinery) and sound (crackle). And from this the production is a "long line" (which the line itself is a pun) and a "necessary waist." I think the key here is how the rhetorical questions work in this stanza. The lines question what curren...
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