Tender Buttons [A Long Dress]

There is no entirely standard or clear-cut way of looking at the structure of Tender Buttons, which may be considered a short work of experimental prose, a long, serial poem, or a collection of related prose poems. Because of this, the titles of the sub-sections of Tender Buttons take on special importance. Are they titles of individual poems, or are they themselves part of a longer poem? Even if we treat “A Long Dress” as a singular and contained prose poem, it is important to recognize the unique importance of the title to the rest of the text. Appearing under the “Objects” heading (the first of Tender Button’s three sections: “Objects,” “Food,” and “Rooms”), “A Long Dress” does indeed appear to be an object. The object in question is already infused with domesticity, especially placed as it is alongside other poems entitled “A Plate,” “A Seltzer Bottle,” “A Red Hat,” and “A Blue Coat.” Additionally, any dress invariably invokes femininity. Both domesticity and femininity are important overarching themes of Tender Buttons, which contains references to both in its title. Buttons, certainly, are mundane and domestic, but much has been said about the sly reference to female sexuality and anatomy in the phrase “tender buttons.