Introducing Gertrude Tooley Buckingham

A few months ago I posted to The Quote Garden some excerpts from the poetry of Gertrude Tooley Buckingham. Mrs Buckingham was a friend of my family a few generations ago in New York. My parents inherited an inscribed copy of her 1948 book Poems at Random when my grandma passed away about eight years ago, but I had not heard of Gertrude until then. We also received a few unpublished poems, journal entries, and letters.

Gertrude was born on June 26th 1880 in New York City. Her maiden name was Tooley and she was an only child to very loving and hard-working parents, Spencer F. Tooley and Fanny Angell. When she was 17 she studied for one year at the Conservatory of Music in Detroit while staying at the home of her cousin. She became a music teacher. She and her husband were both engaged to other people when they fell in love. She married Samuel L. Buckingham (1875–1958) on October 21st 1903. They had two daughters, Doris (b.1909) and Lorraine (b.1912). All were born in New York, and they lived on Northern Avenue which in 1938 was renamed to Cabrini Boulevard. Gertrude became a housewife but maintained a lifelong interest in music; Sam liked sports and games; and Lorraine was a bank secretary.

In 1939, the family sustained a great loss when Doris was taken from them through an accident, at the young age of 29. A few months later, Gertrude received from Spirit the gift of poetic talent. She became what we could call a medium poet, as she heard the words spoken in her head and saw them pass in front of her eyes, sensing what she was to write. She was about age sixty at the time. Poems at Random is dedicated to Doris.

Gertrude and Sam, who was an undertaker, were married for 54 years before he passed away. She refers to them in her journal as soul mates, and six years after his death writes “My great love for Sam will never die as I’m sure his love for me will always live.” They had three grandchildren: two girls and a boy. Gertrude passed away on August 4th 1971.

Here are the name variations I’ve come across:  Gertrude Tooley, Gertrude A. Tooley, Gertrude Tooley Buckingham, Gertrude A. Buckingham, Gertrude E. Buckingham, Gertrude T. Buckingham, Gertrude Buckingham, Mrs. Sam Buckingham, Mrs. Samuel Buckingham, Gertie Buckingham

I’ve not yet been able to find any of Gertrude’s family, but I’d love to ask for a photograph of her and any other information they can provide. If you are related to this lovely author, please contact me.

Update, April 2020:  added Gertrude’s year of death, name of parents, profession, and daughters’ birth years

“My prayer is that many of the poems in this book may help to bring joy and peace and understanding to those souls who may be grieving for loved ones whom they call ‘dead’ but who, in reality, are still living in a real world of beauty, being able to manifest to their dear ones of earth when the door is opened for them to come in.” ~Gertrude Tooley Buckingham, Poems at Random, 1948

As is the generation of leaves

Apparently quotation collecting is genetic. Ten years ago, which was 18 years after I had already become obsessed with quotes, I learned that my great-grandmother Amy kept a notebook of inspirational quotations. She was born in 1896 and died before I was born. My grandma found the book and that is how it came to me. Based on the dates of the first items, it appears to be about a hundred years old. The first item that is dated is from 1919, and the last entry with a date is from 1969. Click photos to enlarge.

“As is the generation of leaves, so is that of humanity.
The wind scatters the leaves on the ground, but the live timber
Burgeons with leaves again in the season of spring returning.
So one generation of men will grow while another dies.”
—Homer

Altering prose

I remember in the mid-1980s doing blackout poetry (as it is now called — also known as found poetry, poetry in prose, altered prose, etc.) with my friends after learning about it from an English teacher. I’ve been a lover of words for as long as I can remember but somehow forgot about that fun hobby over the years. Recently I rediscovered it thanks to this beautiful thing called the world wide web, and so I grabbed my old falling-apart 50¢ paperback of The Scarlet Letter and started playing around again with these wordly treasure hunts after nearly three decades. And what a good time I’m having.

Here’s a photo of one of my first adventures. It reads: “Hester unadulterated. The end.” 🤣 Click to enlarge.

The problem with blackout poetry is the destruction of books which of course makes me cringe, but I’m intending to leave my books intact and not literally blackout many words so that the books are slowly turned into readable art. Some people make a copy of the page instead of modifying the actual book, which seems like a good idea as well.

This pastime is such a fulfilling creative outlet. To all the authors whose works I end up modifying, I offer sincerest of advance apologies. I will try my darndest to create new written art without disrespecting your original words (too much).

¡Viva la Oxford comma!

Professional editor Laura Poole

of Archer Editorial Services created

this “serial comma” hand signal.

¡Viva la Oxford comma!

“There are people who embrace the Oxford
comma, and people who don’t, and I’ll just say
this:  never get between these people when
drink has been taken.” —Lynne Truss

John Ruskin — first user of emoticons?

I’m pretty sure I see a winky face in Ruskin’s 1879 book Proserpina  ;)

Grinding us down to a single flat surface (iOS7 quotes)

iOS 7-inspired. Phooey! Flat means boring. Who wants flat champagne. Or a flat personality, or singer. Nobody. “They” say it means simple, clean, clear. Well, I much prefer the texture, the depth! Nature is the ultimate in simplicity, yet she is full of texture. Effervescence is life.

The death of skeuomorphism is a reflection of our newfound “simplicity” in life, which seems to me the opposite of simplicity — a glossing over of the beautiful details in life, to make more room in our minds for the irrelevant details that bog us down. What exactly are we replacing our time with, that we save by using txtspeak instead of real words, and what are we losing by transporting ourselves in metal machines over concrete and asphalt to flat office walls, and shopping in shiny supermarkets instead of pulling the vegetables from the land with our own hands, feet in the warm dirt, sun on our faces? We’re losing the Art that is Life.

The decline of design, the decline of society? Have our lives really gone from tapestry to glass? Imagine how quickly Michelangelo could’ve finished the Sistine Chapel ceiling in iOS 7‑style. And how speedily we could pass through a flattened Louvre.

Before I give the impression of a technological malcontent I will stop here and declare that even though I can’t get on board with this modern design, I am grateful for all the opportunities that technology gives us and all the ways it improves our lives — don’t get me wrong there. And I’m fully aware that this is a first-world problem. But I like shadows with my sun, and big billowy clouds in my sky, and leafy sprawling trees I can hug or climb — not ones I’d bump into then slide down like a cartoon character into a glass door. Keep your cloudless mono‑blue sky with backlit sunshine, thanks all the same.

“The longer I live, the more I am satisfied of two things: first, that the truest lives are those that are cut rose-diamond-fashion, with many facets answering to the many-planed aspects of the world about them; secondly, that society is always trying in some way or other to grind us down to a single flat surface. It is hard work to resist this grinding-down action.” ~Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Professor at the Breakfast-Table, 1859

“Life just seems so full of connections. Most of the time we don’t even pay attention to the depth of life. We only see flat surfaces.” ~Colin Neenan, Live a Little, 1996

“One’s life must seem extremely flat
With nothing whatever to grumble at!”
~W. S. Gilbert, Princess Ida, 1884

“I think miracles exist in part as gifts and in part as clues that there is something beyond the flat world we see.” ~Peggy Noonan, What I Saw at the Revolution, 1990

“Skeuomorphism isn’t the be-all, end-all of things, but after using [Apple iOS 7] for 24 hours now, I’m really not a fan of the bland and flat look at all. It feels almost soulless and has none of the personality I’ve loved since the first day I bought my 3G all those years ago.” ~Wayne Hunt, September 2013, comment at CultOfMac.com

“The speed and functionality is great. The look is dull and stupid — and the glaring, bright colors don’t fix that.” ~VirtualVisitor, September 2013, comment at CultOfMac.com about Apple’s iOS 7