>>Martha Graham, "If I could tell you what it meant, I wouldn't have to dance it"
* In my recollected version, it's Duke Ellington being asked to define jazz who says, "Lady, if I have to tell you, you'll never know."
* which may be like Wilde's, "How can I know what I think until I see what I've written?"
* or Sibelius having played an early 78 record of his Second Symphony to a pal who asks what it means, and Sibelius putting the record on again by way of reply.
* or Emily D's, "Tell all the truth but tell it slant, / Success in circuit lies,"* or the penultimate stanza in Auden's villanelle, "Perhaps the roses really want to grow, / The vision seriously intends to stay; / If I could tell you I would let you know."
* or even the tractable Ludwig's, "what we cannot talk about we must pass over in silence," which seems to have some counterargument in the above quotations ... at least as far as artistic expression goes ...
But if I knew what I was writing about ... I'd probably indicate it below.
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