Once upon a time the world was round and you could go on it around and around.
As a mere petal Betty had to part from the bosom of her blossoms as all little petals
must do to avoid fatal blows of their government. Governments are naturally larger
than petals but please don’t read too much into the largeness of things as it only leads to
something even larger—empire’s hello. At customs Betty had proper papers to prove
that her fabulous uterus, amniotic sacs of signs, placenta loops she sometimes jumped
through for fun, were all in their proper places. Would she have been Rose if her name
had not been Rose and would she have been Rose if she had been a twin. Betty was Betty
despite her name, origin, sharp teeth, tongue-nipple twoness, and paranoid-schizoid
position. Betty wore her magnificent halo of thoughts and petal traumas and answered
a question: What is the economic system in the United States? As Betty entered the
country she tore off her pistil hair and motherless umbilical cord, then skipped through
a few flowery loops while nodding to other expelled petals like herself. And in awe of
the giant empty breast floating in space, she shredded her cumulous uterus with her
own fingernails and became so sad that she cried and cried, phrenia phrenia!
italics: gertrude stein, THE WORLD IS ROUND
(barefoot books, 1993). the question is from the
u.s. citizenship and immigration services of the
u.s. department of homeland security. “paranoidschizoid
position” is melanie klein’s term.
