Can Poets Write Prose?

Your words will rise once again. Here’s how.

Can poets write? 

It’s a silly notion, I know. But while I feel like a poet, the prose I write lately tends to meander in the sticks, the moss-covered ones, bad and okay, and without any kind of shelf-life. 

If I believed in listening to the judge in me, I may consider it downright shameful. It’s like someone took the learning-to-write first grader in me and the jack-of-all trades (diy-everything) adult in me, put them both inside a blender cup, shook it just hard enough so the words spewed in chunks of polite pigtails and heavy oil paints, with slivers of reminders of moments when I was able to write with some tendency of poignant thought. 

I know my words will rise once again. And, I know that if you’re stuck, so will yours. So the answer is a simple one.

Yes, of course.

As a poet, we write to convey specific messages – ones that are generally important to us. And same goes for prose. Writing a blog post trying to convince you (and myself) that we are both very capable, is just as pliable as writing a poem about the changing winds of Springtime.  

The words and flow are different, but in the end, writers are simply great convincers–sales people. I think the great writers of all times started writing to convince themselves of their own beliefs, convey specific messages to themselves. I know I still do this, often. 

There’s no denying that it’s hard to be a human. So, when we become influenced by the people and society we live in, to sit back with a pen (or today – a computer) and write our own experience and truth, can be carthartic and important for our health.

As I digress, here’s what I suggest you do to help with any writer’s block you may be experiencing. Convince someone else that they are not a bad writer. They, too, will rise once again to the call to write.

With love,

Jules