Today is Poetry Friday and I have a message to those who shouldn't be writers. It's a poem from the late barfly Charles Bukowski. Here's the video:

So You Want To Be A Writer
by Charles Bukowski

If it doesn't come bursting out of you
in spite of everything,
don't do it.
Unless it comes unasked out of your
heart and your mind and your mouth
and your gut,
don't do it.
[read the entire poem here]

I disagree with Mr. Bukowski on some of the details. There are many mediocre poems that could be improved with some rewriting. But I agree with his main point that you need passion or what the calculus teacher Jaime Escalante called ganas. Writing because you have to, not because it will make you famous reminds me of my generation's Do It Yourself ethos.

Coming Next Time: Poems from the President Elect.

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