Tuesday, March 5, 2024

canoe in which there is no there / Gertrude Stein adrift

Above This is a strange snapshot of a WWI-era canoe to which someone has applied an amateur camouflage pattern. I would have sworn that the figure on the left was Gertrude Stein, sitting quietly in the back, enjoying a cigarette. Who then is the person on the right? Is that Hemingway? The caption on the original newspaper article source (long lost) suggests otherwise. It reads: "Wearing the camouflage of a war canoe on the peaceful water of Delanco NJ [home of Joe Burk, who twice won the Henley Regatta]. Note how successfully the war paint blends with the shimmering water."