listen.

i don't think

being popular on social media

has ever been a particularly

bad thing,

because if your words can

play people's heartstrings

like mozart played piano,

if your words can

draw masses of people to you

like holy cities draw the religious,

if your words can

shape the way we think

like revolutions shape the world,

that's something to be proud of.

but if you can't do that

without copying the greatest

writers of all time,

if you can't do that

without rearranging or recycling sentences

that have already been written,

if you can't do that

without worrying about likes

or reposts or follower counts,

that's something to be ashamed of.

how dare you encourage plagiarism

in exchange for popularity?

how dare you sacrifice originality

in exchange for fame?

how dare you make a mockery

out of one of the world's most beautiful

forms of art?

how dare you treat this like a joke?

poetry is better than this.

you are better than this.

at least, you should be.

-c.h.