I'm glad that this poem entertained some and sorry
that it seemed obscure to others.
For any one who's interested here's some background
for which I am largely indebted to Diane Souhami's
Gertrude and Alice (1991) ISBN 0 04 440833-1,
a fascinating read.

 The circumstances of the poem are that Ezra Pound had
been to visit and had been so animated in the
conversation that he had fallen off the Louis XV
chair, broken its back leg and also a table lamp.  I
imagined that he bruised himself in the process.
Gertrude remarked to Alice, 'Ez is fine but I can't
afford to have him in the house'. When he sought
another invitation a day or so later Gertrude came out
with the remarks about Alice's tooth and the wild
flowers.
A decade or so later Pound wrote some unflattering
comments about Gertrude.
The chair was repaired and with its pair was later
recovered by Alice,working to the pattern and colours
that Picasso devised for her. Picasso had originally
prepared the abstract design to celebrate his marriage
to the Russian ballerina and sent it to Gertrude.
He had nearly fallen foul of Gertrude when first being
entertained in her house when her hand had wandered
and he had said indignantly 'That's my bread'. Then he
had looked rueful and they were both amused.  She was
one of his first admirers, bought many paintings, and
persuaded her friends to do so.  She sat for her
portrait with him 1905-6. They had about ninety
sittings and he said when he looked at her face it was
impossible to paint it. So after the summer holiday he
blanked the whole face out and painted a mask through
which her eyes looked.  She always liked the portrait
but it marked a rupture with her brother Leo who said
that the artistic unity had been destroyed and the
whole painting should be done again.
Gertrude had fewer connections with European writers
than with American ex-pats.  She never learned any
French. Nor did she respect French literature. An
ex-pat American, Sylvia Beach, founder of Shakespeare
and Co, publishers, said she acted like a travel agent
for Gertrude Stein sice a continuous stream of young
American writers visited her asking to be introduced
to
Stein.  Stein distanced herself from Beach after Beach
published Joyce's Ulysses in 1922. (There's another
story of a bad encounter in relation to Joyce, too.)
cheers, cara

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