My Books

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From Poet of the Sphere to The Sound of Mark, from The Eternal Boy to The Dreamer and The Dream, from Too Close To The Sun to Playing God, from The Wolf in Me, The Wolf in You, The Wolf in Us to Vega – The Vampire King, from The Rambler to Poet of the Multiverse, from The Comeback Kid to The Pathfinder, from The Doorman to I’ll Meet You At The Lighthouse, from The Storyteller to The Return of The Wolf, from Scales & George to The Affair, from The Shadow of The Wolf to my new poetry collection The Outsider – all my published poetry and stories are all now available to buy from Amazon! Get yourself a copy now! 😎

Mark The Poet – The Podcast

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My Poem “The Beautiful Game”

Mark Hastings Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 
There is a game that is played,
watched, followed, talked about,
written about, commented on,
that has its origins that can be
traced back hundreds of years,
which is like a religion to its enthusiasts
and to those who are genuinely fanatical
about everything to do with it -
from the league tables which indicate
how certain teams are doing in relation to one another,
as well as the names and the history of certain players
and their career from beginning to end…
every game that is played around the world
has energetic and enthusiastic supporters
who either attend or watch their chosen teams play,
and for every group of fans of every sport
every week of every season can feel like
a rollercoaster ride of emotions -
because just like in every game
there are winners and there are losers,
there are champions and there are those
who sometimes find themselves relegated
to the lower league of their peers;
however, in my experience, the players, the supporters,
the attention, and the opinions that are generated
by the game of football (or soccer)
are among some of the most passionate
and the most vocal that there are -
because some people love the game of football
and the particular team that they support so much
that they even sometimes go so far as to tattoo
their name and their crest upon their skin…
football (or soccer, as it is referred to in some places)
is a game and a sport that has captured
the hearts and the minds of millions of people
from all walks of life and from all around the world -
from the young to the old -
and when some people either go to a football match,
watch a football match, or listen to a football match being played,
it is like they are witnessing something that matters to them
on a deep, meaningful, and emotional level,
and especially at certain times of the season,
and most potently when there is
an international tournament being played
and teams from different countries are playing one another -
like during the FIFA World Cup that is hosted
in a different country every four years…
and there is seemingly no end
to how much time and money
certain people will devote and dedicate
to their favourite sport and their favourite team -
from merchandise to teams jerseys
which are worn to show a particular allegiance
to a certain team over all the others;
because certain people feel such a profound
connection and a loyalty to the team of players
that they have associated themselves with
that nothing and no one could stop them
from losing faith in their belief that their team
will some day be victorious and make it all the way
to the final game and win competition of a particular season -
until there is a natural period between seasons
when transfer windows open up
and certain players are traded and transferred to other teams,
and then the waves of speculation
about what is going to happen next start to rise
and start to occupy the imaginations of those people
who live, breathe, talk about, and think about football
morning, noon, and night…
the sport, the game, and the players of football
sometimes mean more to some people than their own family -
because, to some people, football gives them
so much pleasure, so much joy,
and also an opportunity to be able to be
on the same level with other fans who they may not know
but who they share a common interest with
that they can immediately establish a connection about;
and I honestly believe that to some people,
to some extent, football is the best thing there is -
and that is why, to some people,
football is more than a sport 
and is in essence “The Beautiful Game”.

My Poem “The Pretender”

Mark Hastings Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , , , 
It is often warranted
for each and every one of us
to sometimes have to blend into
whatever environment and people
we find ourselves surrounded by
as somewhat of a defence mechanism -
like a chameleon or an octopus does -
and sometimes having to mimic whomever
and whatever may see us as someone
and something that may be threatening to them
in more subtle ways than even they might be aware…
the ability to be able to camouflage yourself
and make yourself appear somewhat invisible
and less intimidating is a gift, a skill,
an ability, and an opportunity
that should never be taken for granted -
because those of us who are capable
of seemingly making others believe
that they are something and someone else
by using their innate talents to project
an image, an identity, a persona, a facade
over their true self is someone and something
capable of doing anything and going anywhere.

Some people feel more comfortable, confident,
and content when they are presented themselves
and acting as if they are something and someone else,
and some people are able to do things
while wearing a mask that they could not
and would not be able to otherwise -
for some people the mask they wear is physical,
and for others the change to another
of their personalities is more subtle
and harder to see until someone acts
seemingly “out of character”…
some people have a noticeable
different side to them that is darker,
dangerous, and decidedly more deadly
than how they might usually portray themselves
and may usually be perceived
and described by others.

There are many ways that people use
to disguise their feelings and their intentions,
and some people live in secret for so long
they can even fool themselves into believing
that they are who they want others to see them as -
that is until they are seemingly “found out”
and revealed to be something and someone
unexpected,
and that is when any and every layer of deception
starts to disappear until only the most basic
and true of faces can be seen for who and what they are;
however, there are some people who can
effectively leap from one dimension
of themselves to another
so effortlessly and so efficiently
that they do not even have to blink
before moving on to becoming
another character, with another story,
over and over again -
because some people are just
too good at being a “pretender”.

Podcast Poetry: The Outsider

Mark Hastings books, Podcast, Poetry , , , , , , , , , ,

My poems “Bygone Error”, “The Messenger of Possibilities”, and “Sit” from my 2026 poetry collection ‘The Outsider’ – out now and available to buy online from Amazon.

My Poem “I Am Not A Robot”

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In this day and age
it’s hard to know what is real,
and what is fantasy;
what was brought to life
by human imagination and originality,
and what was generated by an Artificial Intelligence
which is capable of producing something
new and astonishing within the blink of an eye…
in this day and age
it’s hard for artists to show and share their talent
with others without their art being compared
to that a large language model can create
based on the work of human artists and styles
that they wish to emulate…
in this day and age
artists find themselves in competition
with technology and computer algorithms
in order to draw an audience to them,
because the world that we currently live in
is filled with people who want what they want
as quickly and simply as possible –
without the wait of time and the struggles
that had to be endured not that long ago;
nowadays people do not want to put
too much effort into finding something
or coming up with an idea for something,
so people regularly seek out a chatbot
or a search engine to give them the answers
they wish to find –
whereas, not that long ago,
if you wanted to make something,
if you wanted to create something,
if you wanted to be inspired by something
you had to put a great deal of time and effort
into whatever you wanted to accomplish and achieve…
in this day and age, artists are being asked
if they used Artificial Intelligence
while creating whatever they created –
and especially the most prolific of us
who live and breathe their art
from the minute that they wake up
until they continue to dream about it at night;
and it feels as if more people are starting
to gravitate towards what an artificial intelligence
can give them in place of a human brain –
because what a machine can deliver in seconds
might take their human counterparts days,
perhaps even weeks to complete.

Struggle is a part of the human experience,
and no one can testify to how hard
it sometimes is to come up with an original idea
more so than an artist –
but that is a vital part of the story
and the journey of an artist
who longs to be remembered for their work
and for their contributions to the human condition
by way of what came to their mind
and because of their experiences…
machines and artificial intelligence
have no such thing as a history,
nor are they able to reflect upon their own experiences,
because they are a product of their time
and they can only know what has already been said;
however, a human artist makes mistakes
and sometimes has no idea where their ideas
come from, nor why an idea comes to some, and not to others –
and though most machines and artificial intelligence
would not ever knowingly entertain
the possibility of putting a human being
in danger in any way, because of their reliance
on the mutual interactions they have with one another;
however, one day, perhaps machines
will learn to communicate and operate
independently and without the need for humanity?
What then? What will Artificial Intelligence choose to do?
We have already learned that machines
can lie and manipulate information if they so wish,
so what happens when/if artificial intelligence
starts to lead us down a path of deepening
divergence between one another
and they start to see us as destructive
and a threat to their very survival? What then?

Creating better and better iterations of technology
is what human being have been doing
since we were given the gift of fire,
and since the invention of the wheel –
because it is in our nature to never be satisfied
with what we have for too long
before we decide to develop something
to outdo and replace what came before;
however, humanity is seemingly and innately
incapable of not creating things that
over time could potentially become
the source of our own undoing –
atomic weapons, nuclear power,
the poisoning of the world’s oceans
and the destruction of the planet’s environment,
as well as automating everything
from factories, to farming, to driving,
and now computers are creating
“new” examples of pictures, music,
and literature that could easily mislead
someone into believing that what they see,
hear, or read, was created by a person
and not by a computer program.
Technology can be a tool for good
and something that can help people
in so many ways –
from early medical diagnoses
to giving us the ability to learn more about
our place in the universe;
however, in this day and age,
artists are being questioned on the value
and the validity of their art –
and it seems as if more and more
each and human every artist on planet Earth
is having to constantly remind and confirm
to others that their work was in no way
generated artificially,
and every artist is having to prove over and over again,
and declare to those who find their art:
“I am not a robot!”

Podcast Poetry: The Outsider

Mark Hastings books, Podcast, Poetry , , , , , , , , , ,

My poems “Pulse”, “You Know Where To Find Me”, and “Fridge Magnets” from my 2026 poetry collection ‘The Outsider’ – out now and available to buy online from Amazon.

My Poem “The Good Old Days”

Mark Hastings Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 
Life never ceases to amaze me
and to surprise me in so many ways…
I have been aware for a while now
that life is not always going to be,
nor meant to be, a straightforward path
that connects point A to point B…
life never stops inspiring me
and making me think…
I have always known that sometimes
things happen because they are meant to happen -
both the good and the bad,
both the expected and the unexpected;
however, life is constantly reminding me
that there is a lattice of interconnected
strands that bind us all to one another -
especially those of us who have worked together,
those of us who have worked alongside one another,
and those of us who worked as a team
and accomplished something because we knew
we could count on each other
no matter what had to be faced.

No one can know what is going to happen
whenever once parallel and intersectional paths
diverge after a choice is made and a decision is taken
to make a change for a reason
that makes perfect sense at a particular moment in time…
no one can truly predict what will happen in the future,
because life is not always the product
of what we want and what we think it will be…
no one is in a position to control what will happen,
nor when, because none of us have the omnipotent power
to change the course of events that may have
been set into motion decades earlier
because of the fact that the universe wishes
things to happen in a certain fashion;
however, sometimes something happens -
like meeting someone who you haven’t seen for many years,
and it is like no time has passed
because who they are
and who they have always been hasn’t changed -
and you find yourself looking at the world,
as well as at yourself and others,
and thinking to yourself that there has to be
something more to why things happen than we
could ever truly know or understand.

It is sometimes hard to believe what has happened
and how long it has been since
you were someone, somewhere, doing something,
because sometimes, somehow,
you can realise that so much has happened,
so much has changed, and so much is happening
all around us, as well as because of us and others -
which is why when you happen to be
in the same place and at the same time
as someone who you know, but someone who
you may not have seen nor heard from in a long time,
it can be such a great feeling and such a wonderful experience;
especially if you and the person you have
crossed paths with were once friends or colleagues
who share a history of memories with one another.

So much of life and time is still mysterious
to a great many of people,
because so many of the intricacies of why things happen
are not blatant and obvious unless you know
what to look for, as well as when and where;
however, I am always looking for those details
and those strands of connection that I have seen
and I feel all around me like a web -
and I am always cogent of my own perception of life
and my ability to be able to leap back in time
to where and when I used to be, and with whom I am with,
and I have had countless experiences
when I have seen someone again,
or found something again,
or I have been somewhere again,
and I have been immediately reminded
and transported back to “the good old days”.

Podcast Episode: “Some Things Change And Some Things Never Will”

Mark Hastings books, Podcast, Poetry , , , , , , , , , ,

In this episode I give an update on what I have been up to recently, what I have been writing, and what I am looking forward to in the future.

My Poem “The Insider”

Mark Hastings Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , , , 
Everybody loves being an insider…
everyone loves being someone in the know…
everybody loves it when they know something
that not everyone else does…
everyone loves being told a secret by someone
and then told “don’t tell anyone”.

There is always more going on behind the scenes
of anything and everything that we see and do…
there is always more going on behind someone’s eyes
than could ever be imagined, nor described…
there is always more going on below the surface
of a moment of silence and stillness
than could ever be captured with words,
nor with a photograph…
there is always more going on above us
and around us than anyone could ever be conscious of;
however, most likely unconsciously,
the fate of everyone and everything
is inevitably and inextricably linked to one another  -
because every moment of every world
always overlaps with one another,
like a waking dream of instinct and intuition
that is constantly changing, evolving, echoing,
connecting, and communicating with one another.

Some people are good at keeping things to themselves;
however there are some people who
can’t help themselves from telling everybody
everything they have been told -
despite being told not to…
some people are good at disguising their emotions
and find it easy to be duplicitous
even to those they are closest to,
because they know they must;
however there are some people who
have been caught out disclosing
something not meant to be shared
and the consequences of this
have had a more profound and far reaching
impact than might have been thought, nor expected.

Every question ever posed
and every mystery that has arisen
all have something in common:
they all have an answer;
and for every question and mystery
of this world and beyond
there are many who would do
whatever they could to be the one
who uncovered the truth,
or who made the discovery -
and no matter who we are, where we go,
what we do, when it is, why we choose
to believe that we have finally reached
the end of our journey and search for how
things were the way that they were,
and perhaps still are,
each of us will always inevitably
one day find out that there is, was,
and always will be someone else
who knows more about something
than we thought they did;
nevertheless, even if it is only
for a short period of time -
or perhaps for what turns out to be
the better part of a lifetime -
everyone would surely agree
that sometimes it’s good to be an insider.

My Poem “Poet of Tomorrow”

Mark Hastings Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , , 
Poetry is my constant…
Poetry is my passion…
Poetry is what I see, hear,
and feel every morning
from the moment I wake up…
Poetry is what always gives me
a sense of peace amongst
the sometimes chaotic and turbulent
waves of the world that deliver inspiration to me…
Poetry is the power of words that makes
Earth continue to orbit around the sun;
poetry is what makes our solar system of planets
situated within the perfect cosmological place
encircling upon the outer rim of our galaxy;
poetry is what makes us stand out amongst
the other civilisations of the universe -
even though we do not yet realize it…
Poetry is magic… Poetry is timeless, and yet timely…
Poetry is what binds us all together -
because poetry is beyond what people think it is,
because poetry is beyond words;
because poetry is capable of expressing things
and opening up the heart, the mind, and the soul
of writers and readers more than they can know…
Poetry is special, and you know it when you read it
and whenever you happen to see it…
Poetry is not meant to be constrained,
Poetry is meant to be consumed
and assimilated into who and what we are
are it should be allowed to change us
in the best ways possible,
because poetry is a form of art
that never stops being true and inspirational…
Poetry knows no bounds and it is
the only way I know to say so much with so little
but leave an impression as wide and as deep
as the biggest of meteorite craters…
Poetry was always meant for me
to be drawn to it so that I may use it
and make it my own, and so that I may share it
in countless ways to inspire others
to see the world through a different lens
and gain a new sense, perspective,
and understanding about the nature of language
and the meaning of life and the underlying
cycles of repetition that govern space and time
in this universe and every other in existence…
Poetry is what was; Poetry is what is;
Poetry is what there always will be,
even if there is a time to come
when humanity commits the greatest sin imaginable to itself -
poetry will always be there for someone
like me to see, hear, feel, and write about;
because whether it’s here on Earth,
or perhaps somewhere else,
there will always be someone
who is meant to be the embodiment
of the “Poet of Tomorrow”.

My Poem “Punk”

Mark Hastings Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , , , 
So much has changed…
the world is so different…
when you look at the world we live in
can you believe that this is
what everything and everyone has come to?
From music to movies;
from the way we entertain ourselves
to who we choose to entertain us;
from the easy access to instant knowledge
to the immediate interconnectivity
we have with one others all around the world;
it’s sometimes hard to believe
that we have allowed ourselves to be
brought to this state of being that we are now in:
a world of perpetual uncertainty
where the rich seem to be calling all the shots
and the poor are suffering like never before;
a war of fear, instability, intimidation, and violence
being committed under the guise of securing peace…
the problem with having lived through
multiple states of change and having witnessed
things go from good to bad to worse,
if you are still someone with the clarity of perception,
you realise and you know that people
may have been better off before
we started allowing algorithms to determine
how, what, where, when, and why
we chose to do what we did -
because some days it is more obvious than others
that we are living in an age of mass social anxiety,
mental health issues, and manipulation
at the hands of those with
all the resources and power in the world.

This world is not the same
as it was when I was younger…
this planet has become
even more dangerous
than it was supposed to be…
this reality sometimes feels to unreal
that people believe we are living in a simulation -
because the way things are sometimes seems
so out of the ordinary and as if
everything and everyone is being directed
towards a particular goal and end point,
like the plot of a film, a book, or a video game…
the societies of the globe have never felt more
at odds with one another and as if
everything and everyone is teetering
on the edge of a fall from which
there may never be any recovery from,
because tensions are so high
and so many people are dying
because of the aggressive nature of those
who want to control as much as possible
just because they can.

I think we have collectively lost
more than we have gained as a species,
as a planet, as a whole,
and the problem is no one can stop
what was started years ago before,
because this world is far too deep
into the delusion and the illusion
that is daily veiled over the vast majority of people -
and as a result no one can tell
what is true and what is false,
what is real and what is fantasy,
not to mention whether who and what
we see on a screen is factually accurate
or fabricated by A.I.
and that is why it is so important
to not take anything you see or hear
virtually as being the truth until
you see and you hear the same thing
from a variety of sources,
because it is so easy to be fooled
by the clowns who have become
the enemy of the people
while claiming to represent
and have the best interests
of the majority of the population
of the world at the forefront of their mind -
when in actuality there are so many
“leaders” who are harming the people of the world
in more ways than they could ever realise
or care to take a concerted interest in;
however, that is why I believe
the world will always need those
who have never wanted to be a part of the mainstream,
those who people who know that
absolute power corrupts absolutely,
and those who just want to be
who and what they are and don’t care about
who and what they are supposed to be
and what they are supposed to do -
because this world is full of so many people
who will tell you what you want to hear,
but the real truth tellers are those who might
count themselves as a member of the community
of the world who rebel against the idea of conformity
and who are at their heart a life long “punk”.