Year: 2020
My Poem “Google it”
When we want to know
more about something,
when we want to know
more about somebody,
when we want to know
how to get somewhere,
when we want to find out
more about the author of a book,
when we want to find out
more about the singer of a song,
when we want to find out
more about the director of a movie,
we can simply type as much
as we already know
about something or someone
into the worlds most well known search-engine
and within moments we can explore
all the results that we are presented with…
when we want to do something,
when we want to watch something,
when we want to learn something,
when we want to be inspired by something,
in an instant, at any hour of the day or the night,
anybody with a computer or a mobile-phone
can conjure a wealth of unlimited knowledge and solutions…
whenever anybody does not know the answer to something,
in this modern day, all they need to do
is think of a question, and Google it.
My Poem “The Viking Way”
There are times when I look
at the face of someone
and for some reason I am
reminded of how the Vikings
have always been depicted to have looked
when they lived centuries ago –
when they were building their
impressive longboats
and when they were traversing
the oceans of the world –
at the same time they were raiding,
pillaging, as well as influencing
the early cultures of the European continent.
It was at the time that the Vikings
were worshiping the gods
of their Norse mythology –
such as Odin, Thor, and Loki –
that they were steaking their claim
to places which they discovered,
while also practicing a way of life
that stretched from telling stories,
to drinking mead, to perfecting
the art of the particular type of principles
that still define how their culture
is perceived and who they will continue
to be thought of to be.
I am sure that if some of the Vikings
who feature in so many of the
Scandinavian legends that have been
told and retold, over and over again,
were to learn that clear echoes
of their lineage live on
after a time that they might consider
resembled the prophecised “Ragnorok”,
or the “end of days” of their belief system,
then they would be happy –
because showing your attributes
and expressing your deeds so that
they are not forgotten is an example
of how some people used to live
a long time ago: when a certain
type of people used to live
the Viking way.
“There is so much
inspiration to be found
in a city like this,
by a poet like me,
every time I revisit.”
– Mark Hastings,
Birmingham,
National Poetry Day,
2020
My Poem “Visionary” – Happy National Poetry Day!
No matter what you see,
no matter how you feel,
no matter what you hear,
no matter what is going on
in the world around you,
no matter if the sky above
is cloudy instead of blue,
as long as you have within you
a vision and a view that you can
look to
every time you need to
to give your thoughts, your feelings,
and your emotions a boost –
whether what you look to is a place
like a beach or a city,
or whether who you look to a person
like someone who you love and who loves you:
that vision of hope, that may be a memory
from recently or from long ago,
that always has a power to enthrall,
to inspire, and to rejuvenate you
is the poetry of your mind and your soul
that has been brought into being
over the course of your life –
like a dream fueled by who and what
you imagine night after night –
which gives the gift of a voice
to everybody on Earth –
both old and young –
who have a story to be told
and a song to be heard
that continues, connects,
and contributes to epic experiment
of life and the poetic experience
that is the world within our universe.
Happy National Poetry Day! 😊
markthepoet.me 