The following poem by Christian Yde Frostholm has been translated from the Danish by Karen Havelin.
I want to give you something as if it were flowers,
but specifically not flowers.
A rose that for anything in the world is not a rose.
I see you against the light in the next room
and I know that in a photograph you would have become
an impenetrable flat shadow
or the view behind you would have faded,
but from where I sit,
I can just discern and return
your smile in the darkness,
and still get a glance of the city behind you.
I see the world partly through your silhouette.
I like a view but I like to sit with my back turned to it.
I think that if you know who wrote that
you might also know
where I found the quotation.
It is Stein quoted by Toklas written by Stein.
If you know who the flowers are meant for
you might also know that a rose
sometimes is just a rose.
I guess there are flowers on all kind of graves,
but there are none in any of the images of
Gertrude and Alice’s grave that you can find
on for instance FindAGrave.com:
Gertrude’s grave in one entry, and Alice’s in another,
and only a single cyclamen
on Stein’s side of the stone. A stone is a stein
is a rock is a boulder is a pebble.
I think that you might already know
that this is Hemingway, and that he is angry.
I think that if it’s really
on Alice B. Toklas’ and Gertrude Stein’s grave
that the flowers are growing
in the photograph by Felix Gonzalez-Torres
“Untitled” (Alice B. Toklas’ and Gertrude Stein’s Grave, Paris), 1992,
then Felix Gonzalez-Torres has also seen the headstone,
on the front of which it reads Gertrude Stein, and no year,
and on the back of which it reads “Alice B. Toklas,
San Francisco April 30, 1877 (in English)
and: “Paris, 7 mars 1967” (in French).
And thus the stone is also a part of the picture
the Felix Gonzalez-Torres way
somewhere in the space between photograph and non-title.
All other images show the stone
fronted by an empty, almost parched spot
where the flowers were growing according to Gonzalez-Torres,
but no one mentions Alice,
or they show the back of the stone,
not mentioning Gertrude,
not in connection to the grave at least,
only in connection to the fact
that Alice B. Toklas was Gertrude Stein’s
secretary, housekeeper, confidante, muse, editor, critic
and, let us perhaps try to find an even more adequate word –
like a footnote
just like her death is a footnote to the death of Stein,
behind her back.
Gonzalez-Torres photographed the flowers
and the dark brown soil between the plants,
in what in most reproductions appears to be twilight.
“The hues are saturated and the overall effect
is anything but lugubrious. It is an homage
to love made in the time of death,
to a same-sex couple in a time
when the right to be that was
– as it still is –
under continuous assault…”,
Robert Storr writes in his article
“When This You See Remember Me”.
I will give you something, as if it were flowers,
but specifically not flowers,
but there is no other word.
I will give you flowers as if they were flowers.
*
Jeg vil give dig noget, som om det var blomster,
men præcis ikke blomster.
En rose, som for alt i verden ikke er en rose.
Jeg ser dig i modlyset i det tilstødende rum
og ved at du på et fotografi
enten ville være blevet en uigennemtrængelig flad skygge
eller at udsigten bag dig ville være blevet udvasket
men herfra hvor jeg sidder kan jeg præcis
ane og gengælde dit smil inde i mørket
og se byen bag dig i det samme blik.
Jeg ser verden delvist igennem din silhuet.
I like a view but I like to sit with my back turned to it.
Jeg tænker at hvis du ved hvem det er
så ved du måske også allerede
hvor jeg har hentet dette citat.
Det er Stein citeret af Toklas skrevet af Stein.
Hvis du ved hvem blomsterne er til
så ved du måske også at en rose
nogle gange bare er en rose.
Jeg tænker at der er blomster på alle slags grave
men at der ikke er nogen på de billeder af
Gertrude og Alice’s grav som findes
for eksempel på FindAGrave.com:
Gertrudes grav for sig og Alice’s for sig
og kun en enkelt cyclamen
på Steins side af stenen. A stone is a stein
is a rock is a boulder is a pebble.
Jeg tænker du måske allerede ved
det er Hemingway, og at han er vred.
Jeg tænker at hvis virkelig det er
på Alice B. Toklas’ og Gertrude Stein’s grav
blomsterne vokser på Felix Gonzalez-Torres’ billede
“Untitled” (Alice B. Toklas’ and Gertrude Stein’s Grave, Paris), 1992,
så har Felix Gonzalez-Torres også set stenen
på hvis forside, der kun står Gertrude Stein og intet årstal,
og på hvis bagside der står: “Alice B. Toklas,
San Francisco April 30, 1877“ (på engelsk)
og: “Paris, 7 mars 1967” (på fransk).
Og så er stenen også med på billedet
the Felix Gonzalez-Torres way
et sted i mellemrummet mellem fotografi og ikke-titel.
Alle andre billeder viser stenen
med en bar, nærmest afsveden plet foran,
hvor blomsterne voksede ifølge Gonzalez-Torres,
men ingen nævner Alice,
eller også viser de stenens bagside
og nævner ikke Gertrude,
i al fald ikke i forbindelse med graven,
kun i forbindelse med
at Alice B. Toklas var Gertrude Steins’
sekretær, husholderske, fortrolige, muse, redaktør, kritiker
og, lad os nu bare prøve at finde et mere dækkende ord,
som en slags fodnote
ligesom hendes død er det til Steins død,
bag om ryggen.
Gonzalez-Torres fotograferer blomsterne
og den mørkebrune jord imellem planterne,
i et lys der i de fleste gengivelser
forekommer tusmørkeagtigt.
“The hues are saturated and the overall effect
is anything but lugubrious. It is an homage
to love made in the time of death,
to a same-sex couple in a time
when the right to be that was
– as it still is –
under continous assault…”
skriver Robert Storr i artiklen
“When This You See Remember Me”.
Jeg vil give dig noget, som om det var blomster,
men præcis ikke blomster,
men der findes ikke noget andet ord.
Jeg vil give dig blomster som om det var blomster.