Limits and Punctuality

Last night I spoke with a good friend Carl Miller. He is currently working on an album and going through some pretty big life changes. For various reasons Carl's time is quite constrained. This means that he only has bursts of time for creative work-- an hour here, two hours there. These restraints have led him to a number of realizations about the creative process. Less time for diddling means that there is a shit-or-get-off-the-pot imperative that is pushing him to make decisions faster. In our conversation I was reminded of many things I have read concerning the importance of limits and the punctuality that follows from working within them. One figure that is certainly an exemplar of this kind of work and of this way of working is William Carlos Williams. Williams was a committed physician and the greatest American Poet. He got his work done in the pockets between delivering babies, saving lives, and sitting beside the sick and dying. I highly recommended reading two of his essays: The Basis of Faith in Art and Against the Weather for more on Williams' view on the nature and relation of Art to reality.

(W.C. Williams)

Another great poet who has written widely about forms, limits, rhythms, and language is Paul Valery. In his book, The Art of Poetry, Valery talks about the limits of form being the only way to get free of the real limits put on the artist: the tired and the ordinary. Carl, in thinking about putting together an album, also talked about the importance of material limitations. In looking back, the great albums of the 60's and 70's were released to vinyl . This material limitation meant that an artist or a band had less time (10-12 songs) and had a necessary division in the overall structure (A-side, B-side). There was a punctual logic to the limits of the materials that made for classic albums. While Carl isn't going analog he is getting in touch with material limits that spring up from the profundity of the day to day. I wish him and his family all the best.