Why clarity is often a form of erasure

on embracing ambiguity to let new meanings emerge

The Limits of Clarity

Clarity is not always kind. It asks for simplicity. For neat sentences. For ideas that fold in on themselves and land flat. But meaning is rarely flat. Ideas live in tension, in the spaces between words, in histories and lives that refuse tidy narrative.

Scholars and writers from Fred Moten to Saidiya Hartman remind us that meaning often emerges in gaps, in contradictions, in what is left unsaid. Lacan called this the gap, the space between signifier and signified, the opening where thought, desire, and creation reside. Without it, language risks rigidity.

When we insist on clarity above all, we risk erasing texture. Erasing nuance. A memory, a concept, a story can be smoothed into legibility while its edges, the parts that make it alive, get lost. We flatten. We simplify. We tidy away the voices that do not fit. Even in strategic communication, this is a danger. Clarity can quietly become a violence, subtle and invisible.

Clarity as Necessity

And yet clarity is necessary.

Readers, audiences, clients, they need orientation. They need the framework to engage with ideas. So the question is not whether to embrace clarity. It is how to do it without erasing what matters. How to translate complexity without flattening it.

Creativity, literature, and critical thought thrive on tension. Homi Bhabha’s third space speaks to hybridity, to the interstitial where meaning is negotiated. Gloria Anzaldúa writes of borderlands, sites of multiplicity where multiple truths coexist. Contradiction is not failure. It is generative. It opens possibilities. It allows stories to breathe.

Poetry: ambiguity

Poetry showcases this beautifully. A poem refuses to give one fixed meaning. It leaves room for ambiguity. It asks readers to co-create. Ocean Vuong and Claudia Rankine craft lines that insist on pauses, breaks, fragments. Each word carries weight. The spaces between words carry more. We learn to dwell there. To listen. To inhabit uncertainty.

In digital communication and brand storytelling, the lesson is the same. A brand message that smooths every nuance risks losing the depth that makes it distinctive. Over-sanitized content flattens identity. Narrative strategy that embraces gaps, pauses, and ambiguity preserves richness while still guiding the audience.

Recognizing Multiplicity

Clarity does not mean exhaustive understanding. Understanding is always interpretive. Always partial. Always relational. Each audience member approaches a message with their own context. The story, like a poem, must leave space for them to inhabit it.

Bakhtin’s heteroglossia is at play here. Multiple voices exist within a single text. Authority is never singular. Even in business, acknowledging multiplicity, through layered messaging, testimonials, reflections, creates resonance and authenticity. Brands, creators, and institutions that embrace this multiplicity do not simply communicate. They invite dialogue. Co-creation.

Think of the Lacanian gap again. In marketing, in storytelling, in brand work, the space between what is said and what is felt is where engagement emerges. Closing this space with excessive clarity sacrifices depth. Leaving it open allows for reflection, interpretation, and connection.

Practicing Attention and Care

So how do we work in this tension? How do we preserve nuance while still being understood? How do we translate complexity without oversimplifying? Not through formulas. Not through templates. Through deliberate attention. Through care for rhythm, tone, and structure. Through patience. Through curiosity about the audience, and about the material itself.

Literary attention informs strategic communication.

It shows how artists, creators, and institutions can carry meaning beyond surface-level messaging. It teaches that storytelling is relational. It is co-creation. It is engagement with contradiction and ambiguity. Clarity becomes a tool, not a weapon. A lens, not a cage.

Would you listen to someone who speaks non-stop? Who imposes conclusions at every turn? Or would you prefer someone who leaves space, who invites reflection, who trusts the gaps to carry meaning? Pause is not weakness. Ambiguity is not failure. The spaces between ideas are where insight emerges. Where connection forms.

Why It Matters

In the end, clarity is not about erasure. It is an evolving practice rather than a full stop. A discipline. A form of care. Those who make art or craft stories, whether in poetry, essays, or brand narratives, hold the privilege of attending to what lives in the spaces, in the gaps, in the contradictions. These are the places where meaning persists, resonates, and endures.

And that is why literary attention matters. And why thoughtful narrative strategy matters. They are not opposed. They are partners.

They remind us that words alone are not enough.

Meaning is crafted. Meaning is lived. Meaning is shared.

Looking Ahead

If you are interested in translating complexity into compelling narratives, and crafting a story that is both thoughtful and strategic, explore how Studio Shyama can help.