Building on the idea of a planted word, “clear” signals craftsmanship. Sappho’s surviving fragments show a poet who could compress vast emotional landscapes into a few images—like the famous “apple high on the highest branch” in Fragment 105a (Sappho, 7th–6th century BC), where a single object holds longing, distance, and desire. The quote reflects that same discipline: one word can carry a whole weather system of feeling when it’s chosen with care.
Moreover, clarity is social as well as aesthetic. A clear word is one others can grasp, repeat, and carry forward, which is exactly what a seed needs if it’s going to spread. [...]
