Originally Posted by The Shadow One
Stranger:
Good work, then. There is no more accurate measure of human character than the willingness to work and sacrifice towards a goal, even if it means revealing yourself and what you create to the criticism of the world.
With respect to Poetry v. Writing -- why limit yourself? If you like writing poetry, write poetry. It's harder (for me) than prose; the restrictions of poetry (less words, meter, balance) make it a more challenging form of expression. And writing poetry, forcing yourself to make each word count, will make you a better writer overall.
Note that many writers write in the poetic form as well as the prose form. I just finished reading Mo Yan's The Garlic Ballads, in which he started each chapter with a small poem. And don't forget Pasternack, who wrote Dr. Zhivago, and created the poety as well as the man.
For good measure, The Lord of the Rings is filled with poety, showing Tolkien's power as a poet as well as a storyteller.
Good luck, my friend, and let us see some of your stuff.