this means business

in the form

of bagel bites

and

self-sabotage

I can do taxes

and a full-time job

on Xanax

and the bare minimum

don’t judge me

I’m not thirty

I’m twenty-nine

aged

and sinister

it is during games

where our emotions come out to play

and the screaming wars begin

(it is then

where we fight

about problems in real life).

i can not be contained

to a box

and i can not be categorized

like books on a shelf

i am dipped with thousands of rainbows

and hidden in the shadowed folds of time

i am a candlelit mystery

(yet even though i have given you the unexplainable answer, you will still wonder what i am)

I’m sorry I’m not whole anymore

I’m still giving you everything I have

I’m sorry I’m not whole anymore

All my life, been forced to wear

This God-awful apparel

'Cause Pa won't let me wear thongs

And My Mom's an oldschool woman

This town is full of dumb laws

Shops and cops and pompous standards

But I'll show who I am, They're gonna truly know me

I'm a streaker and a grower, yeah

Are you ready for the reveal

Are you ready for all this skin

Like I'm in the Garden of Eden

I'm done being so timid

On to the golden sunlight

I'll be basking in the warm rays

And if you puke, Boo-Hoo

Hey Look Ma, I'm Naked

Hey Look Ma, I'm Naked

Everything's hangin' and swayin' , swayin'

If it's nightmarish, keep gazin, gazin

I said Hey Look Ma, I'm Naked

Friends are scarred and scant

Or are they quite impressed

As they gawk at my jewels

Like they wanna give me clothing

Some are running far

While others look jealous of my unholy's

Then I'm sure you're shocked my bronie, oh

Are you ready for the reveal

Ain't you ready for this body

Like the Garden of Eden

I'll keep bein' the Free-ist

In the goldred sunset

I'll be chilling here all night

And if you snooze, you lose

Hey Look Ma, I'm Naked

Hey Look Ma, I'm Naked

Everything's hanging, all pasty

If it's a nightmare that's just you're taste yeah, taste yeah

I said Hey Look Ma, I'm Naked

I said Hey Look Ma, I'm Naked, Naked

I've got it, I'll flaunt it, it's swayin', swayin'

If you're scarred, there's no escapin'

I said Hey Look Ma, I'm Naked

(Mama best believe it, Mama best believe it) (Hey Look Ma, I'm Naked)

(Think I must be dreamin' . love this breeze I'm feelin') (Hey look Ma, I'm Naked)

(Mama best believe it, I'm feelin' so much free-er) (Hey Look Ma, I'm Naked)

(I think I hear sirens screamin')

Hey Look Ma, I'm Naked!

Another superstorm breached

Groceries tumbled

Shattered glass

Broken pasta

Spilt milk

Mayhem

In the chaos I'd cry out for you

"What's the matter?" You'd say

As if you didn't know…

And I believed you were my protector,

My knight in shining armour

My savior

My everything

And then one day I wondered….

Why did you leave me in the storm?

i thank you for your words

the kindness and well-wishes,

the openness and offerings,

and the way you say them

i thank you for the things you've

said to me thus far, each and every one--

they've brought me smiles and warmed me from the inside out (a little each day)

and turned me towards the Hope (i have in Him) when i forget which way is up

i thank you for your patience and your

grace with me, each and every poem and misspoken word of graditude

and even when i've fallen short to have the words to say the simplest of

thank yous

(because those two words aren't enough to show how much i want to thank you)

i thank you for your compliments and the words you say

that remind me of why i write (for you and you and you and you)

the ones that say 'this is what i needed today' or 'thank you' or even the ones of

'no words', 'this made me cry', 'lol', 'i can hear you'

i thank you for this place you have given me

and can only hope to one day

write my way to sanity, or Life, or feeling okay

and somehow show you the way

To answer this question, it's important to first ask another:

What is the essence of writing?

In my opinion as a novice writer, writing is a tool by which an individual documents and communicates something—a feeling, an emotion, a fantasy, a world, an idea, an inspiration, something that has the power to change another individual's mindset or their mood. Just as a copper wire conducts physical power from a source to a receiver, writing conducts an emotional power from an artist to someone whom that artist means to influence. The efficacy of a wire is determined by how well it conducts power, how much power it can conserve en route and deliver to its intended recipient. The efficacy of writing can be similarly determined.

Now, to get to the original question: what does it mean to be a good writer? Essentially, a good writer is someone who knows how to properly use writing to conduct their thoughts and feelings, a literary electrician, as it were. The better the writer is able to use these tools, the more their readers are able to peer into the writer's heart, into the writer's mind, and in turn be changed and energized by the ethereal power of a good story or a passionate argument. Writing, just like any physical vessel, is of course an imperfect conductor; however, the aim of any good writer is to continuously strive for better tools, better conductors that can deliver a larger share of that power.

I'd like to take issue with how the second question is posed. I don't subscribe to the school of thought that the two sides are binary or mutually exclusive; rather, good writing does not necessarily stand in opposition to social media. Like any tool, there is a proper way and an improper way to use such tools. Granted, the majority of society does not use modern day tools in a proper literary fashion. But good writers have rarely been in the majority. More often than not, good writers are born from the minority, a rarer breed than your everyday internet troll. Contemporary writers have the powerful opportunity to use social media (Prose. is an additional example of such a tool) in an elevated manner and influence their peers in a way that's unprecedented in human history.