Art can be anything. When I was younger, I didn’t fully understand how to write poetry. It is one of those things that some people consider to have rules and some people tell you to be free on the page. In English class, they tell you to follow these 5 guidelines to write the perfect essay or perfect response, but when I write poetry everything feels so freeing and easy. I think some people struggle to take the easy way out of things because they wonder if they are going too easy or too safe. People like to live dangerously, always questioning things, but sometimes it is easier as authors put it to try to “Write what you know.” 

Writing poetry really helps to describe my emotions. When you want to scream or just let everything out or when you feel that you could burst into tears at any moment, maybe you should pick up a pen and start writing. I discovered this hobby by writing songs. I kept writing songs and realizing that it wasn’t exactly in the cards for me, so I turned it into poetry. I kept on writing and have filled up countless journals with my writings. Even if you want to write poetry and don’t feel the need to scream or cry or there is no particular emotion, you can always just write even if you have nothing to divulge into it. Sometimes when I write it is when I feel most calm but then the feelings can flow onto the page. 

Writing poetry is having power. It is not just something that is easy and over quickly because it can take a long time to become a skilled draftsman. I can safely say that I am nowhere near ready to perform at an open mic, just because it takes time to really get all of your feelings out and mold them into the draft you want to say. Sometimes the most challenging thing you can do is not even to write, but to figure out what you want to say. 

When I was just starting out, my feelings were so overwhelming I had no idea how to organize my thoughts into actual words. It was a long time afterwards that I realized maybe I can’t. Maybe poetry is not even something that I have to organize and I just felt the need to. There is a quote by Shakespeare which states “There is method in his madness” (Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2.) It took me a while to figure out what Shakespeare meant by this. Then I realized and connected it to my writing. There is truly a method in the madness I create. 

Art is not just picking up a paintbrush and painting a beautiful scenic world of your own, but also writing an elegant or simple piece about the hardships of love and loss. Words can be just as beautiful as pictures. Paragraphs of stories can be just as wonderful as a sunset drawn in markers. Nothing can be perfect but everything can be good enough. Everything can tell a story but not everything is meant to be a story. Anything you do is meant to be what you create it to be. Trying to write poetry was the best accident I could have made, but I understand how it is not for everyone. There are amazing people who can draw and create beautiful things all over the world, I just consider myself an artist just of a different passion. Anything can be art if you try hard enough. I am going to continue writing for hopefully a long time. 

If you don’t know what you’re good at yet keep trying because art can be found anywhere. Just because something is not what the simple definition of art is doesn’t mean it isn’t art. It just means that sometimes people need to open their minds to let more in. Sometimes it isn’t the hobby that has to change, it is people’s definition of the hobby. Not making room for creativity and change is one of the worst mistakes a person can make. There is always room for growth in society and in people’s minds.