is it possible to drop out of High School and....

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Become a professional poet? Or do you need a degree? or do you just need a High School diploma?

There's no such thing as a "professional poet."

You might get a book of poetry published, that would make you a professional writer in the most technical sense, but I cannot think of any poet who ever made a living out of writing poetry, unless you count song lyrics and plays. There's just not enough demand for pure poetry, to make a sustainable living at it.

As for dropping out of school to attempt it, again, you'd better be planning on writing lyrics for a successful rock band, because the Literary Publishing Industry is not likely to take you seriously for a second, if you're a High School dropout - at least not until you have years of life experience behind you.

Finish school - it's not that much time out of of your life, and it's not the toughest thing you'll ever face, but not having the dedication to complete such a simple task, will forever send a message to the rest of the world about how dependable you are, and your (lack of) ability to finish anything you start.

This is the very reason so many corporate employers have a pay scale structured in levels, such that if a high school diploma is your highest level of education, you can never rise above a certain pay grade - but, if you have a college degree, you make so much more and have more room for advancement, even if your degree is in Basket Weaving - because what you majored in is not as important as the proof that you have the ability to set yourself a goal, work out a plan and persevere until you achieve it. It doesn't matter so much what your degree is in, what matters is that you earned one.

if you want to write for a living, a bachelor's degree in English will get your foot in the door. that said, ray Bradbury never went to college. he supported himself driving cabs, and wrote and wrote and wrote and submitted over and over until he got published.

I agree with Willard, and not just professionally, but, also on a personal level.

My ex hid from me that he was a high school dropout.
I have known only a couple of people who did that because they were actually bored geniuses and later got a degree when they found a passion and a good school fit.
The rest of them? Sorry, many of them ended up in jail for various reasons and couldn't hold down a job without personal connections covering up their lack of attention. So, yeah, if he would have told me he was a dropout, I would never have gone out with him, then had to find out the hard way that he couldn't stick to anything and had a rap sheet a mile long. He didn't even have an excuse like life was hard and he had to get a job, he lived in the burbs, nice and safe, raised by two parents who loved him.

Not to diss on all dropouts, but, the majority leave a bad impression on the rest, so right or wrong, people will judge you based purely upon that fact.

I hated high school and the first two years of college and don't have the fond memories I see people reminisce about all the time, but, I did it because it must be done and I tried to take from it what I could...

I started writing before I completed my degree (in computer science, not that that's related). But, I write and edit technical manuals and articles, so, my industry experiece was far more valuable and important for the people I work for.

I hope you can get some support and find a way to deal with what is making you think about dropping out of high school. It's a hard job market even for people with formal education and experience.

If I were you, I'd put some thought into what I'd like to do as a day job and how I could support myself in a way that would not feel like soul-crushing drudgery and go after training for that, then write creatively on the side. (This is coming from someone with an English degree that's hardly ever put to use, other than writing the occasional grant proposal. )

Sometimes it takes some time and trial and error to find out what kind of career path is right for us. Taking your time and finishing up your education before you enter 'the real world' will give you more time to figure it out. Also, if you can, try to talk with people doing the day job job you'd like to be trained for before investing in education for it. Or, ideally, try to get an internship. Sometimes, a career can look great on paper, but the day-to-day reality of it can be very different.

You would not date someone solely because the person was a high school dropout? Maybe instead of dropping out of high school being the mark of a noncommittal criminal, personality and life circumstances are the determining factors...and you can't know about either of them until you get to know something about the person.

I wish you all the best with any creative activity. Just please kind in mind that there are luck, timing, and external factors.

In a separate post, I'm also going to give some advice I wish I would have received on school when younger.

Technically, you can do anything you want, high school diploma or not, if you have the skill, the talent, and the insane amounts of tenacity it takes to succeed.

That being said, there are easier & harder paths you might choose to get there.
Me, I only ever learn things the hard way.
That's ok though, I'm good with having a difficult, meandering, slow-path to a career type life.

If that sounds like it's for you, then go right ahead and forge your own path.
If not, you may want to consider a more traditional route if one is available to you.

Just my 2cents, of course...

Finish high school. You can't imagine at that age how much it will limit your opportunities if you don't have that diploma.

Some things I wish I would have known . . .

If you need a break right now, take a break right now. Just re-enter in 24 hours paying attention to your high energy periods, for example, whether you're a morning lark (whatever time you wake up) or a night owl.

If behind in a class, have some fun and try to jump ahead. A lot of fields are a lot less sequential than the ways they're typically presented.

Be open to adding some skills of skimming along with your diving deep skills.

Consider what type of thinker you might be: abstract thinker, story / narrative thinker, visual thinker, or perhaps some overlap of several preferred styles.

Sometimes college is a breath of fresh air with a professor caring more about his or her field than a high school teacher. Other times, professors are not this good.

In college, you can usually pick your own schedule.

You can sometimes even include one back-up class ready to drop by the full refund deadline.

If I personally had it to do all over again, I would try to take 9 hours or 12 hours, and also work 20 hours a week, with pre-studying and that might be the engine of the whole thing.

Don't drop out unless you're going straight into university. Too much of the world will be closed to you without the diploma, and trust me, you don't want to have to bother with the GED.

About writing: the only thing that matters is whether or not you can write. Talent still wins. The lit-establishment people will want to know where you got your MFA and will be very nervous if you haven't got one, but that's because most of them aren't very good writers. Expect to be deep in debt even if you're brilliant. It's not a cute condition to live in. Go be a banker instead if you can. Or an insurance agent. You can be a miserable human being like Wallace Stevens and write poetry and sell insurance.

I hear it's possible to go to high school and write poetry simultaneously, too.

I said precisely that in my initial post... since it's easy to know he came from a good area and a good family... that single factor was a big clue to his personality and capabilities.

Wallace Stevens rose to Vice President, eventually.

I got my ged and for me it was a much better option than graduating high school. Instead of years of misery and torment I just had to go spend part of a day taking an easy multiple choice test.

I never graduated school. Neither did my mother or my grandmother. That doesn't make you a bad person.

I didn't say it'll make you a bad person. I said that too much of the world winds up closed to you. Unless you're very unusual and have a top-level skill or talent that's in demand, or you're so brilliant that universities don't care how you arrived on their doorsteps. If you haven't got a massive trust fund or a rich husband and a great prenup, you probably need a BA, minimum.

A GED says to employers: there was trouble. And -- for salary jobs, unless they're in trades -- given a choice between an AA applicant and a BA/BS, they'll usually go for the BA/BS, or screen out AA apps altogether. My auto mechanic (and he's a wonderful mechanic) has a master's in geology. My kid's daycare main person had a BFA. I stood behind a lot of counters with an MFA. If you can go from community college to university, that's something else, but it's a difficult transition.

Also, the GED isn't what you remember. The new GED is considerably tougher than the old one.

If high school is a torment, there are other options now. You can go to high school online and get a diploma that way. Most districts also have homeschooling support at this point, too.