The most radical act in American poetry before Ginsberg. Stein's "Objects," "Food," and "Rooms" use language purely as musical and visual material, the meaning hovering between parody, cubism, and domestic lesbian eroticism. "A rose is a rose is a rose" is her most quoted line; the whole collection operates on the same principle, language freed from reference and given back to itself. Its influence on Language Poetry, conceptual poetry, and flarf is immeasurable.

The case for it, the case against, and the rest of the canon open with Pro.