a good writer should be able to write outside of one's self
A good writer
can write outside of themselves—
crawl out of their own skin
and wear another man’s shoes
until the soles burn through.
They sit at a bar
with a drunk they hate,
and still write his story straight.
They listen to a woman
they’ll never touch
and feel her loneliness anyway.
A bad writer
only polishes their own mirror,
keeps kissing their reflection,
keeps mistaking confession for courage.
But a good one
gets punched in the mouth by life
and writes from the floor,
from the gutter,
from the hospital hallway
where the lights never sleep.
They write the whore’s prayers,
the janitor’s philosophy,
the gambler’s last promise,
the child hiding under the table
when the shouting starts.
They don’t ask
if it’s pretty.
They ask if it’s true.
And if it hurts—
good.
That means it’s alive.
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