bite your tongue, genius!
musings on brevity, restraint, and self-control
poetry is like a sucker punch.
the ability to cram many a themes, materials, feelings, and details into a small amount of text, is what makes the medium so mouthwatering.
to make readers feel, so deeply, in just a handful of stanzas, words, and lines is the raw and real tangible effect of restraint.
the allure that we feel towards certain people, artists, industries, professions etc.—all lies in the ability of said people, places, or things to gatekeep information that would ‘break the veil of allure.’
that is why, in order to be good, and maybe even great, at anything, one must perfect the art of brevity, restraint, and control.
how does a painter determine that they’ve applied the finishing brushstroke?
how does an author know when they’ve dotted the last period onto the end of a sentence?
how do you know when you have put on the finishing touches to your outfit?
despite what you may believe, dear reader, there is a certain level of wisdom and experience that is needed in order to determine exactly when enough is enough.
editing is not just something you take on when writing a paper, book, or letter in this case.
it’s something that (should) seep into daily life, and is arguably necessary in order to get anything done, correctly.
as they say:
how you do one thing, is how you do everything
—zen buddhism
the discipline to control how far you’ll go, in anything, is life building, or life ending— artistic peak, or artistic flatline; restraint will get you everywhere, fast.
just because you could add more, do more, make more—doesn’t mean you should.
the first thing that comes to mind when discussing less being more is hidden within lyricism and songs.
the listener can almost always, immediately, tell when the chorus, verse, bridge etc. is packed with words tighter than a bunch of sardines in a can.
a bit of allusiveness is key
leave a little room for pondering, questions, epiphanies, assumptions, theories; you mustn’t confirm or deny everything.
& let’s be honest, in this day and age, people barely have the attention span to complete their daily, life sustaining, tasks without checking social media.
if you want to create, do, flourish, connect more…self-control is the way.
by holding back, you allow the space between to be your guiding light—your north star.
let’s face it:
most people don’t care as much, as you do, about the things that you do.
so by applying intentional brevity, you are able to take control of your narrative, experiences, feelings, beliefs, art…life.
you allow the cards to fall where they may.
therefore empowering you, to do what you would.
discipline is freedom, and brevity is solace; think twice before making things drawn out, and soulless.
thank you for restraining…
xxoo, gail
This is such a great way to put it. Sometimes a single sentence can hold more meaning than an entire paragraph. Thank you for sharing 🤍