The Complete Stein Poems
1998-2003
Published on 19. August 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
672 pages
978-0-262-55286-8 (ISBN)
Description
A landmark publication in computer-generated poetry drawn from the works of Gertrude Stein.
The Stein poems of Jackson Mac Low (1922-2004) were written between 1998 and 2003. Comprising more than 500 pages of text, this edited series of 161 poems-most of them never published-is the poet's last great work, composed during the final years of a lifetime of prolific creation.
The raw material of each poem was produced through Mac Low's diastic text-selection method of reading through passages of either Ulla E. Dydo's A Stein Reader or a corrected version of Gertrude Stein's Tender Buttons. Guided by Charles O. Hartman's 1994 DIASTEX5 computer program, which replicates the diastic method first developed by Mac Low in 1963, the process requires that words be drawn sequentially from the source text in accordance with their rule-driven, algorithmic correspondence with a seed text.
Taken as a whole, these poems are a breathtaking invitation to the reader into a space of creative possibilities and unforeseen encounters.
The Stein poems of Jackson Mac Low (1922-2004) were written between 1998 and 2003. Comprising more than 500 pages of text, this edited series of 161 poems-most of them never published-is the poet's last great work, composed during the final years of a lifetime of prolific creation.
The raw material of each poem was produced through Mac Low's diastic text-selection method of reading through passages of either Ulla E. Dydo's A Stein Reader or a corrected version of Gertrude Stein's Tender Buttons. Guided by Charles O. Hartman's 1994 DIASTEX5 computer program, which replicates the diastic method first developed by Mac Low in 1963, the process requires that words be drawn sequentially from the source text in accordance with their rule-driven, algorithmic correspondence with a seed text.
Taken as a whole, these poems are a breathtaking invitation to the reader into a space of creative possibilities and unforeseen encounters.
Reviews / Votes
"In his inventive interactions with Gertrude Stein on one side and his computer on the other, Mac Low brought Stein's modernist word composition into the digital twenty-first century. Michael O'Driscoll's commendable edition now makes these marvelous works fully accessible to artists and scholars."-Tyrus Miller, Distinguished Professor of Art History and English, University of California, Irvine
"A must for anybody interested in experimental poetry."
-Rosmarie Waldrop, poet, translator, editor
"'What are Masterpieces?' The Stein Poems are the culminating achievement of Mac Low's 'writingways,' a refunctioning of Stein's oeuvre by algorithmic and human decisions."
-Barrett Watten, poet and critic, Wayne State University
"Jackson Mac Low's love affair with Gertude Stein's minimalist language alchemy defies comparison. This collection is a cut-up of echoes with teeth, tenacity, homey wit, and aural revelation. Viva the excesses of the Post Modernism Liberation Experimental Revolution!"
-Anne Waldman, Poet, Founder and Artistic Director, Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, Summer Writing Program, Naropa University
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge (Massachusetts)
United States
Publishing group
MIT Press Ltd
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 203 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-262-55286-8 (9780262552868)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Jackson Mac Low | Michael O'Driscoll
The Complete Stein Poems, 1998-2003
E-Book
08/2025
MIT Press
€39.49
Available for download
Persons
Jackson Mac Low was a leading member of the Fluxus group, an innovator of procedural poetics and liminal compositional forms, and a progenitor of the Language Poets and other conceptual artists.
Michael O'Driscoll is Professor in the Department of English and Film Studies at the University of Alberta. Along with Anne Tardos, he is the coeditor of Jackson Mac Low's The Complete Light Poems.
Michael O'Driscoll is Professor in the Department of English and Film Studies at the University of Alberta. Along with Anne Tardos, he is the coeditor of Jackson Mac Low's The Complete Light Poems.
Content
Series Foreword
Foreword
Anne Tardos
"This shining makes revision of a string more strange": An Introduction
Michael O'Driscoll
A Talk about My Writingways
Jackson Mac Low
List of Abbreviations
Stein 1: Little Beginning
Stein 2: Pleasant Regular Neat and Gave That Much More
Stein 3: Little Lingering Pudding
Stein 4: Little Open Place
Stein 5: Father Soils
Stein 6: The Big Stay Away
Stein 7: Very Pleasant Soiling
Stein 8: Big Bites
Stein 9: Begin a Piece Of the Whole
Stein 10: The Whole Matter Is Better Half-Filled There than Here
Stein 11: And Sing More Very Loudly
Stein 12: Use and Choose
Stein 13: Green Completers So
Stein 14: Meaning Was Certainly Always This Him
Stein 15: And One That Clear
Stein 16: One Completely
Stein 17: Always One's Others'
Stein 18: Time That Something Something
Stein 19: Time Be We Going Then
Stein 20: Time to Be We
Stein 21: Time Pleases Understanding
Stein 22: Then What Thing Might Be?
Stein 23: Seat That One End
Stein 24: Stay There That One Sing
Stein 25: Something She Had Was Dancing
Stein 26: It Is a Difficult Thing Continuing
Stein 27: Enough of Them Who Walk Come Again
Stein 28: When He Came Again He Would Say What He Had Just Been Wearing
Stein 29: When is Enough?
Stein 30: Some Did Not See Who Had Come
.....
Stein 142/Titles 37: Hurt Stranger
Stein 143/Titles 38: A Blind Cousin? No.
Stein 144/Titles 39: Victory's Saving Bent Was Kind of Green And Very Rudimentary
Stein 145/Titles 40: Is of in Obligation Exchange
Stein 146/Titles 41: Glass Resembling Yesterday
Stein 147/Titles 42: A Different Red Resigning
Stein 148/Titles 43: Not a Single Spectacle in That Show Was Quite Visible
Stein 149/Titles 44: Ordinary Buttons Hurt the Plates
Stein 150/Titles 45: likely difference grinding suggesting
Stein 151/Titles 46: What Torches?
Stein 152/Titles 47: Scatter the Occasion
Stein 153/Titles 48: That Tender Spectacle Is Bitter
Stein 154/Titles 49: Groan, Redwood Pressed Together
Stein 155/Titles 50: Even Kindness Can Be Distant Noise
Stein 156/Titles 51: Mercy No More
Stein 157/Titles 52: Hurting Colors Pleasing Crackers
Stein 158: Is Has Breakfast The
Stein 159/Titles 53: That Orange
Stein 160/Titles 54: Is Adventure Feeling Being Connected with Others?
Stein 161/Titles 55: Disappointing Not Sweet Redness
Editing the Stein Poems
By Michael O'Driscoll
Notes and Acknowledgements
Foreword
Anne Tardos
"This shining makes revision of a string more strange": An Introduction
Michael O'Driscoll
A Talk about My Writingways
Jackson Mac Low
List of Abbreviations
Stein 1: Little Beginning
Stein 2: Pleasant Regular Neat and Gave That Much More
Stein 3: Little Lingering Pudding
Stein 4: Little Open Place
Stein 5: Father Soils
Stein 6: The Big Stay Away
Stein 7: Very Pleasant Soiling
Stein 8: Big Bites
Stein 9: Begin a Piece Of the Whole
Stein 10: The Whole Matter Is Better Half-Filled There than Here
Stein 11: And Sing More Very Loudly
Stein 12: Use and Choose
Stein 13: Green Completers So
Stein 14: Meaning Was Certainly Always This Him
Stein 15: And One That Clear
Stein 16: One Completely
Stein 17: Always One's Others'
Stein 18: Time That Something Something
Stein 19: Time Be We Going Then
Stein 20: Time to Be We
Stein 21: Time Pleases Understanding
Stein 22: Then What Thing Might Be?
Stein 23: Seat That One End
Stein 24: Stay There That One Sing
Stein 25: Something She Had Was Dancing
Stein 26: It Is a Difficult Thing Continuing
Stein 27: Enough of Them Who Walk Come Again
Stein 28: When He Came Again He Would Say What He Had Just Been Wearing
Stein 29: When is Enough?
Stein 30: Some Did Not See Who Had Come
.....
Stein 142/Titles 37: Hurt Stranger
Stein 143/Titles 38: A Blind Cousin? No.
Stein 144/Titles 39: Victory's Saving Bent Was Kind of Green And Very Rudimentary
Stein 145/Titles 40: Is of in Obligation Exchange
Stein 146/Titles 41: Glass Resembling Yesterday
Stein 147/Titles 42: A Different Red Resigning
Stein 148/Titles 43: Not a Single Spectacle in That Show Was Quite Visible
Stein 149/Titles 44: Ordinary Buttons Hurt the Plates
Stein 150/Titles 45: likely difference grinding suggesting
Stein 151/Titles 46: What Torches?
Stein 152/Titles 47: Scatter the Occasion
Stein 153/Titles 48: That Tender Spectacle Is Bitter
Stein 154/Titles 49: Groan, Redwood Pressed Together
Stein 155/Titles 50: Even Kindness Can Be Distant Noise
Stein 156/Titles 51: Mercy No More
Stein 157/Titles 52: Hurting Colors Pleasing Crackers
Stein 158: Is Has Breakfast The
Stein 159/Titles 53: That Orange
Stein 160/Titles 54: Is Adventure Feeling Being Connected with Others?
Stein 161/Titles 55: Disappointing Not Sweet Redness
Editing the Stein Poems
By Michael O'Driscoll
Notes and Acknowledgements