Everybody always remembers “The Fire-starters” –
the rebels, the ones who created their own path,
the ones who lived their life on the edge,
the truly unique, the individualistic,
the punks, the ground-breakers, the pioneers,
the ones who spoke their mind,
the ones whose heart beat to a different
rhythm than everyone else’s,
the artists, the ones with an inner voice
that hungered to be heard,
the prodigies, the impulsive, the unorthodox,
the ones who ventured to places
where angels sometimes fear to tread,
the ones who daily grappled with personal demons,
the ones who hoped to make a difference
by being themselves, by being different,
by exploring every avenue
of life that they could find,
the ones who walked a line,
the ones who wore black, white,
and every colour of the rainbow,
the radicals, the only one of their kind,
the ones who could have the deepest
and the most meaningful conversations
with anyone about every subject matter…
Our world would not be what we see
if it were not for those who understood
the power of change, music, madness,
love, revolution, redemption,
and the wave of rejuvenation
that you can experience through
a fit of laughter…
Our universe would not be what it is
without those who understand and realize
how important the gift of diversity is to all of us…
Our existence would not be what it is
and it would not be as tolerable to some people
if they could not be who they felt they should be,
who they feel they need to be,
who they are fated to be –
and some of the greatest minds,
the greatest teachers,
the greatest influences over humanity
throughout history,
have been what you could call
“Fire-starters”.
Year: 2019
My Poem “It’s not rocket science”
Some things – like poetry, art,
biology, chemistry – can be easy
if you possess the right key,
that fits the right lock,
at the right time,
to open the right gateway
to the way of understanding
that you need to comprehend what you find…
some things – like being a parent –
can seem easy when seen from far away;
however, the closer that you get to anything
the more that you discover that there are
more constantly moving parts
that need to be juggled
than can be observed with an observers eye…
some things seem so simple,
but at their heart they are more
complicated, chaotic, unpredictable,
and uncontrollable than can be put into words…
the sun rising in the sky every morning,
the moon orbiting the Earth,
the Earth orbiting the sun –
things that repeat day after day,
things that we believe we understand
and have an answer for,
but which are far from
as simplistic as they appear…
even a simple magic trick
takes many instances of practice
by a magician to make them seem effortless…
even the ability to stand up straight
and not fall over is something
that most people take for granted…
even the fact that we have clean air to breathe,
sunlight to brighten our day,
trees and flowers growing all around us…
even the fact that there are
insanely complicated cycles, systems,
and forms of life – like humanity –
is proof positive that sometimes
the things that appear so perfect
take time, perseverance, and patience…
the blue sky above, the epic peaks of mountains
that tower, which are constant draws
to adventurers and explorers to conquer,
the oceans of life that are the home
of some of the most diverse and amazing
forms of curiosity known to man,
space, the stars of the night-sky –
some things, especially the simplest of things,
are the most complicated of things;
however, it isn’t until you dig deeper
into what makes something what it is
that you realize that every thing
sings its own multi-layered song –
even silence – and everything is complex,
even it isn’t rocket science.
Listen to My Poem ‘It’s not rocket science’ by Mark The Poet on #SoundCloud
My Poem “Everything to me”
On February 24th, 2016,
you and I walked a train-line straight and true
and I was happier than I had ever been
because I was with you…
We were walking near the Nickajack cave,
in Marion County, Tennessee –
the same cave they say that Johnny Cash –
The Man in Black – entered to end his life,
and the same cave where he found divinity…
I can still remember every moment
that we walked alongside the Tennessee River,
holding hands, talking to each other,
and at one point me picking you up
and carrying you so that your shoes
wouldn’t get muddied…
You and I shared so much together
that day, and every day since…
You and I are more in love now
and are stronger than ever…
You and I are something special…
you and I are phenomenal,
and I have never known the love
that I feel for you before…
every day I feel born again
in your beautiful light –
which to me is stronger
and more incredible than that of the sun…
to be with you for the rest of my life
is all that I could ever want or ever need…
being with you is a blessing, a gift,
a dream come true that means
everything to me.
My Poem “Ideas don’t die”
You can bury ideas,
you can file them away for a rainy day,
you can hide ideas –
but one day those same ideas
will return to haunt you,
to keep you up at night,
and continue to make you think…
Ideas come from places, from things,
and from people – sometimes randomly…
Ideas are like sharks –
and sometimes they are just too big,
too fast, and too strong, to get away from,
because they are so imposing
and so overpowering…
Life itself is an idea,
and many people have different
and varying ideas and opinions
on how people should choose to live their lives…
Art is mostly a nexus of many ideas
coming together to form a unified idea
that surpasses and eclipses
all the others that made it…
The creation of ideas is like
engaging in an act of reproduction –
and just like every spawn or offspring,
a song, a piece of music, a story, a poem,
has an idea running through it
that binds every note, every word,
every picture of imagery,
like a strand of DNA…
Ideas make “something” out of “nothing” –
but “nothing” in my experience
is ever truly “nothing”,
because everything does mean something…
Perception is everything…
Ideas are born from experience,
and by seeing, listening, and feeling
something that creates a connection…
Ideas are the greatest and the most powerful
source of fuel for any creative person –
however, even if do not deliberately make art,
I believe that certain ideas have a way
of changing someone in such a way
that they are never the same
after they have come into contact with them –
because, for some reason, some ideas just won’t die.
Listen to My Poem “Ideas don’t die” by Mark The Poet on #SoundCloud
My Poem “Broad Daylight”
From the moment that sunlight touches something,
from the instant of sunrise
when the first waves of energy
crest above the horizon,
from the first golden halo
that shines like that of an angel’s light –
every day, everybody witnesses a miracle,
a new beginning, an encore, a beacon of truth,
a light as old as the universe,
a super-star in every sense of the word,
that gives everything and everybody on this planet
a means and a reason to be
who and what they want to be…
the sun that shines above us
is more powerful and more influential
than we sometimes realize…
the sun is so potent,
and yet so destructive in so many ways,
that when we are outside and we are incorporating
its energy into our biology –
similarly to how a plant uses the sun
to convert its light into chemical energy
by way of photosynthesis –
we sometimes have to protect our skin
and shield our eyes to protect our vision.
During the hours of moonlight
colour is at a premium
and the limited sources of light
that can be found
often make everything appear
as if they were straight out of a
black and white film or a photograph…
from morning to evening,
even on a cloudy afternoon,
the light of day is bright
and perfectly exemplifies
the beauty of nature in all its glory,
and the colour spectrum of the universe
truly comes into its own
and is able to display
so many things in so many ways.
Light is a means of survival…
light gives birth to life,
and life gives birth to light…
some people can live in some places
where it is dark and find contentment
surrounded by distant stars –
but the best time and the only time
to truly experience the kaleidoscope of life
is when you open your eyes
and the world opens up to you,
when there is blue sky above you,
when there are dreams coming true,
and when there is an unending
overabundance of broad daylight.
My Poem “Answers for Everything”
Getting back into
the swing of anything
is always hard, it’s always slow,
it’s always a work in progress,
especially in the beginning…
move to a new place,
filled with new people
who you do not yet know,
is always daunting…
getting used to a new way of doing things –
even when it involves a job
or an activity that you already know –
it can take you a while to get up to speed…
any time spent away from something
is time that you can’t make up for –
however, what you can choose to do
is to put your attention, your drive,
and your determination into learning
and perhaps re-learning something
that over time becomes second-nature,
releasing that intuitive gift
that has always been inside of you,
that has always been a part of you,
and letting your internal nature
and your internal voice speak…
I truly believe that some people
are meant to be who they are…
I truly believe that some people
are born with a particular destiny
and a path in life to follow
with particular things
that they are fated to achieve…
I truly believe that some people
are meant to be doctors, nurses, carers,
parents, artists, writers, fighters,
scientists, cafe owners, builders,
sculptures, truck drivers, cashiers,
messengers, movie theatre attendants –
because by doing what they do,
and while doing what they do,
they make a profound and fundamental
difference to the world that only they can…
I have always believed, ever since I was a child,
that I had a purpose, a meaning, a reason to be alive,
and to be someone and something
more than somebody with the depth to them
than that of a character from a dream…
I have always known, and I have always kept in my mind,
the fact of life that nobody in this world
is ever truly alone and that everybody
has a calling that fits perfectly into and with
whatever makes the universe what it is
and whatever the fundamental forces are
that govern the framework and the plan of existence
that was set into motion at the instant
of the universal big bang
and the answers to everything.
My Poem “Revolving Door”
Places change over time…
people come and people go…
most places that we visit
have virtual, and sometimes literal,
revolving doors through which
people enter and exit
every second of every day…
life itself is constantly
receiving and sending souls
to and from Earth…
our brain, our mind, our imagination,
our dreams have a constantly in use
gateway that connects them to our senses…
screens, books, one to one interactions
is how we send and receive messages
in this modern world…
pictures, graphics, and even methods
of communication that still involve words
daily communicate with and bind
everybody in a web from which
we sometimes find it hard to escape from
because it surrounds us in every direction…
our collective preoccupations
are constantly in a state of change…
our methods of exploration and discovery
become more advanced and revolutionary
every time a new idea spawns
a new wave of creativity
from a genius, an artist, a philanthropist
capable of thinking out of the box
and beyond the limits of understanding…
every day we as a species expand beyond
what we know, what we knew, and we uncover
the cloak of the unknown to reveal
a world of possibilities that has been there
in plain view the entire time
that we have been in our place
in the cosmos of stars, planets,
and phenomena that people are
constantly looking to and for
so that they can explore
what lies on the other side
and what there is to find when you choose
to venture through a revolving door.
My Poem “Dreaming in Colour”
Dreams are amazing…
dreams can be magical…
dreams are entrancing…
dreams can be wonderful –
but the thing about dreams
is that they are self-contained
worlds within a person’s mind…
dream can sometimes drive
what we think and what we do
while we are awake –
but dreams are just imaginary,
unless you use what you have dreamed about
and you make it real, you make it physical,
you make it something you can hear,
see, taste, touch, feel,
and give it a life beyond
the dream world of finite time…
some dreams can feel more real than reality
when you are at the centre of them…
some dreams seem so real sometimes
because we wish what we
experience within them was genuine…
some dreams come into being
because while we have been awake
we have been dwelling upon something
that we cannot immediately
come up with an answer to…
some dreams are like rainbows,
and while we are dreaming
we all regularly change the colour
and the tone of what we are dreaming about:
most of the time we dream and we go to places
within our mind that we do not choose…
our minds are magical in their own right…
our imagination is a playground
where anything is possible…
our knowledge and our experiences
are what fuel the fires, build the worlds,
keep the lights on, and inform
the personality traits of the characters
who we populate our dreams with…
our dreams are based upon
a certain personal perspective of reality
that we all keep secret from the rest of the world…
dreams keep us going…
our desires drive us to do what we do…
you have to venture down paths
and sometimes explore the twists and the turns
of the mazes that we find ourselves within
in order to find what keeps out heart beating,
what makes us who and what we are,
and what keeps us alive, living,
seeing, and dreaming in colour.
My Poem “Ghost Towns”
So many abandoned buildings…
so many empty shells…
so many places open
and exposed to the elements…
so many ghost towns
that once used to thrive
but have long since died…
so many towns and communities
that are still remembered
and thought of fondly by name
that are in desperate need
of being revived…
so many businesses, so many people,
so many livelihoods that have
had to close their doors and move on…
so many once proud industries
that have slowly but surely
become outdated and lost…
so many, too many, churches still standing
where congregations no longer pray…
so many, too many, schools and playground
where children are no longer taught
and no longer play…
so many, too many, houses
that were once homes to families
can be found with their doors open wide
that are no longer sanctuaries
where anybody chooses to live…
there are so many, too many, places
that have lost their identities
which could once again be
revitalized and exorcised
of the bad spirits that still
walk the streets and echo
throughout the empty spaces
that you can find
devoid of any human life
all around the world,
that are now nothing more than ghost towns.
My Poem “Love Is Like Dynamite”
Love is like dynamite…
love is a sometimes indefinable
feeling, energy, purpose,
connection, sensation, perfection,
that everybody knows and instantly recognizes
when they experience it coming over them…
love is like nothing else…
love is like a flash of light
that guides your way, day after day,
and keeps you wide awake at night…
love is true magic…
love is the true meaning behind the universe…
love can never be foretold, nor predicted…
love is a blessing and should
never be considered a curse…
love can make people do many things…
love only gets stronger as you commit further
and you dive deeper into the ocean of feelings
that you can’t deny that you feel for another…
love needs to be expressed…
love is a question, an answer, a test,
a way for someone to show themselves at their best…
love is a gift… love is infinite…
love transcends sex, colour, cities, countries,
distance, language, and worlds…
love is more than a word,
love is more than a feeling –
love, in its purest form,
is about finding bliss, joy, heaven on Earth,
when you aren’t looking for it,
and realizing the fundamental truth of the universe:
that nobody is ever truly alone,
and there is somebody out there in the world
for everybody to share an unbreakable bond with
who gives everything that someone has always wanted.
markthepoet.me 