The Power of Less

"In a letter to the philosopher Sidney Hook, Robert Frost stressed that an essential difference existed between grammatically correct sentences, and a living sentence. He could not define the difference, but suggested that a living sentence could be identified by its undismissable effect... Living sentences allow us to listen with our whole selves and not just the eyebrows up. The words last as written words or speech because the unimitable knows no substitutes. It lets itself be known by the heart, which is the best form of knowledge because it confirms an ongoing presence...

I do not make this statement to denigrate the language of statement, which does serve a neccessary purpose. However, it is not language at its fullest. Once its serves its purpose, it evaporates. This is the language which dominates our public life...

The American poet Henry Carruth once identified poetry as "the great voice within us" - within all of us. Why is this voice missing in our public discourse?... After all, a society exists when human beings live not in isolation but in conjunction with one another and where they individually and collectively face all the trials that "flesh is heir to", while simultaneously striving to perfect those abilities whch distinguish them from all other creatures i.e. speech, imagination, reverence for life, etc...

It would seem that in such circumstances "the best words in the best arrangement" (T.S. Eliot) would help them live in harmony whilst inspiring them to live justly and fully. But as long as people see themselves not living in a society but in an economy, they become more prone to regard themselves simply as consumers, purchasers, assets... In time this language becomes the language of quantity, not quality - the language of abstraction and generality and not the language of felt thought. It becomes the language of inhumanity.

Caminante, no hay camino.
Se hace camino al andar.

"Wayfarer, there is no road.
You make the road as you go."

- Antonio Machado

Reading or hearing words in this way - experiencing these felt thoughts - eases something in us. It reassures us that we had the right to feel the way we do. We live, thereafter, quickened and deepened. It is, what Robert Frost called, "a momentary state against confusion." True language is a momentary intensity, like kisses or tears, they have no past or future tense. Like telegrams, they eschew the superfluous and treasure the vital. They emphasise the power of less."

- "Poetry and Public Speech: The Power of Less"
Samuel Hazo, Director of the International Poetry Forum
Speech delivered to the University of Pittsburg,
February 1, 2007