So I've been criticised a few times about me being "so young" and not knowing what love is. That is a silly generalisation. EVERYONE knows what love is. Yes, I know, they are referring to intimate love, and I admit that a lot of my past relationships were infatuation, not love. However, a reader should not be compelled to tell me what I do and do not know above love and so I shouldn't write any romantic poetry, because I'm young. Here's why:

Art is emotion, and art is emotional. Poetry is indubitably an art form. I'm sure all of you would agree. When an artist feels an emotion, he or she expresses that through their art. And as an artist — as a poet, I express those emotions through my poetry, be it anger, sorrow, or love. I mostly get this criticism from family, but they and many others don't realise what I just said. A reader should have the wisdom and the discernment to know what and what not to say. There are criticisms that one can express much more appropriately, and some criticisms are much better off being left unsaid, such as me "not knowing what love is." As a religious man, I base my opinion of love from I Corinthians 13:4-7, "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." I've even ended several relationships because of just two qualities we lacked, and it was always lacking the patience and not being easily angered aspect. (And Allison, I know you're reading this, and that's why I ended our relationship, so I'd appreciate it if you'd stop your silly gossip. I quote you from what Vicky told me, "I'm flattered that he still writes poems about me." Well, likewise, I'm flattered that you still talk and gossip about me. I expect you to hate me more for this, but forgive, just as Christ forgave you. It's in the Bible; look it up. Please stop being hypocritical. It makes me sad for our God we both worship.)

I stopped posting my romantic poetry on here for the longest time until I recently realised that it's absolutely ridiculous for people to criticise me for this. Let me share I Timothy 4:12, "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in LOVE, in faith and in purity" (CAPS added). Young people are supposed to set an example of love, and I just defined what love is a few moments ago. If you don't believe that I'm in love, that's your opinion; leave it to yourself. I agree that I am an opinionated individual, but if you criticise me for that also, don't be hypocritical and express your opinion the same way I have done inappropriately. Just keep it to yourself. (Also, it never hurts to be open minded.) I don't care if you're religious or not to fathom my reasoning, it's just how I cope with all these criticisms; this is my point of view. (Appreciate how every single person is different.)

All I'm doing as an ARTIST is expressing my emotions, just like every artist in the world does, so give me ONE legitimate, plausible reason as to why that's wrong for me to do. Imagine if you were openly criticised for expressing your love towards someone. Imagine how that'd feel. Terrible, right? I feel like that. It's like someone going up to a married couple and saying to the guy, "You don't love her!!! It's all based on LIES!!!" Ridiculous, right? Exactly; that's what this is like. I'm being criticised just as the world's most famous artists were criticised in their time, like Marcel Duchamp, Edgar Alan Poe, Van Gogh, and so on! And today, their art is HIGHLY appreciated in spite of what people thought in their time. So please, find something better to do than making a silly attempt to bring me down; you don't even know me. How inhuman is it to bring someone down when you don't know who they are and you've never even met them? This world we live in is so iniquitous and malicious.