spring after winter,

warmth after the bitter cold,

eternally recurring.

. . . . .

do as you like

maybe you want

to do something

do it your way

for yourself

and do it because

you wanted to do it

make the decision

you want

don't let anyone

tell you what to do.

hope.

it’s powerful,

without it,

we would give up,

give in,

and stop fighting.

it’s empowering.

it’s like the one source of light

that shatters the darkness

which chokes and suffocates us.

it comforts.

like warm arms

wrapped around you

while paralysing lightning strikes

and deafening thunder claps

with raindrops pouring from heaven.

the world can go to hell,

but as long as you have hope,

you don’t have to go to hell with it.

10.12.2020

Before your shadow

became one with Thanatos',

I wish I could have told you

to meet me under the moonbow

away from society's gnashing jaws,

under a sky,

so black it shines blue.

What does it mean to be a good writer?

Simple. It means you write things that have worth. Worth. A worth of some sort. But who can properly define what “worth” means. It isn’t objective, its subjective. To someone, a piece of writing can be absolute rubbish, without any worth, but to another, a work of art. There’s no fence to bind this.

I believe it is important to see both sides of a story, so I’ll be arguing both sides and let you decide what you want to decide about this topic. You judge, I’ll just lay out the facts on the matter. But beware of confirmation bias-- agreeing with something wholeheartedly because it already matches your believes, but rejecting or “not liking” something you don’t personally “like” or agree with. Let’s not do that, let’s not take sides for a while, and look logically into this.

So I want to put it out there, that good writing does matter. But what does good writing mean again? Its subjective, and I say, to each person his/her view.

You listed out the various social media platforms out there- Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Snapchat, Tiktok etc. I personally am not a fan of social media, but let’s put my opinion aside for now. There’s always many sides to one entity, so I’ll be stating some arguments to say that, no, it hasn’t turned us into mindless zombies--or if you want me to be more precise, not all. Some. I know this personally.

During one literature lesson, we were just being introduced to poetry, and we just reading a few poems provided by the teacher for us. Turns out, one of the poems was found on Instagram. It’s called “Instapoetry”. Now let’s go back, is it worth? Yes. The writer poured out her heart in that short poem, and shared with so many others, impacted so many others. When I found out, I was thinking about Prose, this website, and was like, “Hey! That’s so similar!” Even better, dute to the many functions of Instagram, I learnt that writers were also able to design their posts, which they want to write the poem in. That meant that people could accompany related pictures/ drawings to that drawing to place even more emphasis/allow greater impact on the reader due to visuals.

Social media allows people to connect and provides budding writers, or just writers to have an audience, similarly to this website. Someone to read their works. Maybe you’re thinking, “But that is such a small few! Plus, I’ve never heard of it...” That’s the thing, we can’t condemn an entire thing because some sides of it can be quite deterring and bothering.

YouTube, is filled with music videos, these artists also write music--Lyrics are hold a different meaning each and it’s accompanied by sound, so it fascinates not just one sense, but two senses. Some of our own Prosers to spoken word on YouTube. “Writing” takes a different form there, people perform spoken word poetry, and it is a platform for writers to learn from others, professionals in fact. I myself have spent time on YouTube watching spoken word poets reciting their poems, and have been inspired and awed by their performances.

Additionally, social media provides this one thing, that is so important to all writers. Ideas. Ideas to write about. Or things that can trigger possible ideas to write about. Ideas spark creativity, allows room for creativity.

I know that you probably wasn’t thinking about this, and were more referring to the more common sight of social media--Tiktok dances, stupid dumb videos on YouTube, Narcasistic selfies by influences plastered on every page of social media. Let’s look more into that then. But I want to say, don’t throw out the baby with the bath water. Not everything of social media is toxic or just “useless” and mindless. I thought that too, so I sympathise.

This topic is also something I’ve been thinking especially into though. I have lost so many friends to social media. You actually described them perfectly, “mindless, unsophisticated zombies who no longer care for grammar, punctuation, vocabulary, or creativity”. If I’m going to honest, I wanted to argue that Social Media is in fact brainwashing people into the above, but I decided I shouldn’t.

You probably know enough, don’t you? That’s why you wrote this prompt. You’ve seen it, and probably are seeing it, even more in fact. You know Social Media HAS in fact damaged so many lives. I have, I know I have. Those mindless, unsophisticated zombies. I see them so damn often. I walk down the hallways of school, and man, am I terrified that you’ll become one of them. But are we thinking too highly of ourselves? Who gives us a right to think them “unsophisticated”? Who are we?

So I’ll just say, don’t be like them. You are aware of what could happen to you, but don’t completely cast out the idea of social media, dark and freaky as it is. Don’t let the people you love become like them. That I’ve learnt.

Always treasure good writing, and write things that have worth. And then, share it. Social Media is a tool, its not evil in itself. So why not use it impact others, since an audience has already been given to you? Share it, let your readers empathise with you, let them relate to it, who knows what kind of impact you’ll give them?

You really shouldn’t underestimate the power of words that have worth.

Hidden in the shadows,

the girl in the black hoodie

silently hides away from the chaos,

the crowd and buzz of the city.

Upon the rooftops,

above the skyline,

while the raindrops

fall from cloud nine.