If someone could give me advice, that would be good, but I suppose I'm just looking to vent. I've been struggling with my mental health the past few months (in case you couldn't tell from some of my comments on Conversing with Poets). As a result, I've had difficulty in writing poetry. I've written two and a half drafts this past month, and one and a half of those are really rough drafts. I've been having trouble getting things done, and on top of that I've been having anxiety about writing. I'm almost afraid to write, but I'm also afraid of losing my verse. I kind of want to give up writing, but I'm also terrified of losing such a big part of myself. I've stopped thinking of myself as a poet, and my Youtube name almost bothers me as a result. I used to love writing poetry and required being able to write. It bothers me that I don't fully want to write anymore. https://www.hwlongfellow.org/poems_poem.php?pid=130 And yes, I know it's because of my mental state. On one of the few days where I was genuinely happy, I could tell that I wanted to write and could have written if I had the means to do it. And the one non-rough draft I wrote this month was on one of my good days. At those times, it's like "I Broke the Spell that Held Me Long"--I look at the world and have to write verse in joy. However, those times are few and fleeting. I may be getting help soon. I finally told a teacher of mine the extent of my problems and she told me I need to get professional help. I realize that she is right, but in order to get help, I need to talk to my parents and I'm terrified of doing so. I told my teacher I would because I know that I need it. Do you have any advice for me on how to continue writing? I'm sorry if I'm burdening people with this or oversharing.

Something I have thought a lot about is how I usually see poetry defined as classical poetry, which I don't think is accurate. Poetry is the opposite of prose, right? Well, prose isn't a genre itself; it is a collection of genres, both in subject matter and length of writing. Accordingly, poetry isn't a genre either. And yes, within classical poetry there are genres such as epic poetry, free verse, and narrative poetry. But I think there are even more. Sometimes people say that not many people like poetry. I don't think that's true; I think everyone, or at least most people, likes poetry, but only a minority likes classical poetry. Most people like listening to songs. What are songs if not poems set to music? And would you say that Der Erlkoenig (Goethe+Schubert) or Ode to Joy (Schiller+Beethoven) aren't poetry just because they are set to music? No, you wouldn't. And poetry originally was sung; it only started to take on its written form I would guess during the Information Revolution around the Renaissance. Now, we have many genres of poetry. We have classical poetry (written), spoken word/slam poetry (which I think is relatively popular), children's verse (eg. Dr. Seuss), song lyrics (extremely popular), religious songs, cowboy poetry, etc. And I think that when we consider all the genres of poetry, it is actually very popular and even universal. If someone doesn't like reading classics like Austen or Dickens, would you say they don't like to read? No--chances are they like fantasy, or nonfiction, or graphic novels. Just like there is a kind of prose for everyone, there is a kind of poetry for everyone. So what do you think? Do you agree? This is something I feel very strongly about, and I would like to hear other people's thoughts on the subject.