Abstraction

For me, the concept of abstraction was far more difficult and complex than patterning or perceiving. The working definition I used was based on the one provided in the text by Werner Heisenberg: the consideration of a subject from one particular point of view or with one emphasis and focus that excludes all other considerations.

I chose the topic of writing and focused on the idea of diction. Writing is about communicating ideas, and good writing should illuminate a thought or concept for the reader. The onus is on the writer to choose just the right words to clearly convey the intended meaning to the reader; it is a daunting task.

In trying to capture the essence of my abstraction, I began with Sketchpad, a digital art tool beloved by my daughters, but which I had never tried to use myself. I began by trying to find an image that captured the mountain of words that resides in the mind of the writer, and then layered on the image of the tweezers. Often the attempt to choose the best word from all available choices can feel very much like plucking a tiny item from an immense landscape. I placed the word "choices" above the image to reinforce the idea that the words a writer employs comes down to a series of choices. To the left I played with a cascade of "precise"'s presented in an imprecise manner. I wanted to communicate the way in which writers strive for precision in word choice, but how the act of selecting words is often an imperfect science - an act relying on instinct and emotion. The lanterns on the water are meant to represent the way in which words provide an illumination of ideas in a sea of thoughts.

Notice of course that I was unable to engage in even an artistic endeavor without relying on words to communicate my ideas. In some ways, this project reminded me of Howard Gardner and the concept of multiple intelligences. I wonder to what degree our own intelligences dictated the way in which we approached our selection of mediums to capture our abstractions. I suppose it is obvious that I am verbal-linguistic. :-)

From digital art, I turned to poetry. I began with this attempt:

An array of options

Troops aligned:

Precision-crafted

Combat-ready

Battle-tested battalion

Choose.

One warrior word one

Advance

Solitary soldier

Among the unknown foreign faces

Messenger

Dropping bars of chocolate into outstretched hands

Winner of hearts

And minds.

But when my husband (and department chair) echoed my own thoughts that it resembled the work of a teenager, I set myself to reworking my idea as a sonnet. This attempt was stronger in that it reads like the work of an adult, but from an aesthetic standpoint is overwrought and forced. Still, in terms of considering the impact of a single word, I think it conveys the power that resides in a well-chosen word.

A Word

Selection so chosen to turn mind’s tide,

Wand’ring word in world of stranger’s mind’s eye,

Master of subterfuge slight of hand hide,

Pass unscathed within, sparking thought of why.

Slight silver pincer grasping thought’s fragment,

Plucking one piece of a crowded landscape

From the precipice of mind’s escarpment;

Prudently, perfectly giving thought shape.

Transgression unplanned, to force point of pain,

Fault found in syllables, unmeant, unkind.

Choking conscience, speaking heartless Villain!

Bespoken guilt; utterance makes me find

That power possessed for thought to refine

In the words well chosen: authority mine.

In examining each poem, I can see that my abstraction has honed in on language as power. I can also see the way in which my first medium impacted the second. The concept of a landscape of words residing in our mind traveled from the digital art piece to the sonnet. It is also interesting for me to notice the way in which audience is central to each of the poems in a way that it is not in the art piece. The image considers illumination through language without specifying whether the illumination that occurs is within the mind of the one choosing the word, or in the mind of the listener or reader. The poems make it evident that the power of language rests in the effect it has on the person or people who read or hear it.

Interestingly enough, when I completed the sonnet, I found myself driven to write just one more poem that brought together the idea of language and power that is present in the sonnet with the battle imagery that I used in the first.

If one evening I threw grenades at you

For an hour or two

Instead of watching the news -

Nothing catastrophic in terms of devastation

Just small incendiary devices -

Would you hear me?

Never mind.

You can’t answer a question

I’m not brave enough to pull the pin on.

I think I’ll spit in your coffee instead.

To be honest. I like this last poem the best. :-)