“The Stuff of Dreams” is a poem taken from Mark’s 2025 poetry collection ‘The Storyteller‘ – now available to purchase in hardback and as an ebook from Amazon.
Year: 2025
The Storyteller: Train of Thought
“Train of Thought” is a poem taken from Mark’s 2025 poetry collection ‘The Storyteller‘ – now available to purchase in hardback and as an ebook from Amazon.
The Storyteller: Divergence
“Divergence” is a poem taken from Mark’s 2025 poetry collection ‘The Storyteller‘ – now available to purchase in hardback and as an ebook from Amazon.
The Storyteller: Warrior
“Warrior” is a poem taken from Mark’s 2025 poetry collection ‘The Storyteller‘ – now available to purchase in hardback and as an ebook from Amazon.
The Storyteller: Light and Dark
“Light and Dark” is a poem taken from Mark’s 2025 poetry collection ‘The Storyteller‘ – now available to purchase in hardback and as an ebook from Amazon.
The Storyteller: Once Upon a Time
“Once Upon a Time” is a poem taken from Mark’s 2025 poetry collection ‘The Storyteller’ – now available to purchase in hardback and as an ebook from Amazon.
The Storyteller – Out Now!
My new book ‘The Storyteller’ is out now and available to buy from Amazon!
The Storyteller is my ninth poetry collection, and it contains over 60 previously unpublished poems about life, love, loss, inspiration, imagination, exploration, discovery, storytelling, as well as reflections and musings from the experiences that I have had over the last year, which speak to who I am and who I always want to be.
You can get your copy of ‘The Storyteller’ in hardback and as an ebook from Amazon now!
My Poem “Once Upon a Time”
It is said that every story ever told
has a beginning, a middle, and an end -
which is true, from a certain point;
however, every story of everything
and everyone is connected…
no matter when, where, or why a story is told,
and no matter how a story is told,
what a story is about, and the reason it is
a story in the first place,
is always retained within it -
because at the heart of every story
there is always a reason that binds the many
elements and fragments of a story together
that all then fit together perfectly
like the pieces of a puzzle
or the strands of connectivity
that maintain a net.
All stories have certain things in common with one another…
all stories are different, and yet similar…
all stories are true, and all stories are false -
because perception of reality is key,
and sometimes multiple people
can have varying opinions on what happened,
as well as when and why something happened,
even though they might have all been witness
to the same thing happening…
all stories change and take on a life of their own
the more that they are heard and retold -
and sometimes a seemingly insignificant
aspect of a story that captures the essence
of the tale being told can grow to have more prominence
and can become what people remember
in greater detail more than most,
because of the manner and the demeanour
of the storyteller doing the retelling.
Stories are how life communicates
aspects of itself with future generations -
just as the DNA of humanity has being doing
even before we as species emerged
from the ocean of possibilities
and we were driven to become
what we have evolved into…
there are so many recurring motifs
that repeat throughout many of the chapters
of history that seem to demonstrate
a cycle and a rhythm of some sort of
underlying pattern and system -
which is why several stories
sound familiar when they are shared,
reconstructed, and sometimes given
a new name that is more contemporary
and easier to understand from a modern standpoint…
stories can be a source of inspiration, insight,
and a key to unlocking and understanding
why something, why someone,
or why somewhere is that way that they are -
because everything, everyone,
everywhere, never stays the same -
except for those things, people, and places
that exist in the middle of nowhere
and are only discovered by those not knowing
what, not whom, they are going to find…
things sometimes get lost,
people sometimes get forgotten about,
places something get abandoned;
however, then there are those things,
those people, those places,
that refuse to be taken for granted
and always find a way to be remembered,
to be recorded, to be given a special place
in the story of history and are allowed
to continue to exist in some form,
even though they might only be responsible
for something that they never have imagined,
nor ever expected, to be given the status
of becoming a story -
because what happened, when,
where, why, and how, only happened
once upon a time.
My Poem “Traverse”
Getting through life is not always
as straightforward as following a path…
getting through a world of darkness
is sometimes like trying to cross an ocean
without a compass or a guiding light…
getting through the pain of profound loss
is like proceeding across the wilderness of a desert
and seeing nothing but signs of what was…
getting back on your feet,
after being in a bad place
that you had come to believe
you might never return from,
is like trying to climb out of the darkest hole
ever to have opened up beneath
the surface of the Earth
and wondering why you were cursed
with what happened to you in life.
The only way to know
what is meant to happen,
and the only way to know
what is not meant to happen,
is to go where you are drawn to
and to not stop until you realise
something that you could only
have discovered by taking the steps
that you needed to make…
the only way to be sure
of your purpose in life,
and the only way to be sure
of what might be your undoing,
is to be honest with yourself
when you feel like you have reached a point
that may allow you to have
all that you have ever wanted –
but you may have to face up to the fact
that sometimes only a fragment of
what is put into something remains
before it too falls away like a leaf from a branch.
Winter is cold… winter is stark…
winter is a time when we cling on
to whatever and whomever we can
to get us through the present
before it becomes the past…
winter is a reminder of the importance
of being alive and not taking anything
not anyone for granted,
because nothing lasts forever in this universe…
winter is when the night sky
is its most striking and staggering,
and winter is also when we look up
and see the shining stars of our ancestors
and the light of those who we lost
but who we will always love,
as well as the place that one day
each of us will be called to travel to
and the divine divide that we will have to traverse.
My Poem “Continuity”
When it comes to transitioning
from one chapter of a story to another,
continuity is integral to maintaining
the overall narrative that has been established -
an unbroken line of connection
between the beginning and the end,
and whatever follows afterwards -
which acts as a structure
that keeps the world that has been established
from fragmenting into a reality of chaos
and inconsistencies that is hard to explain
and seemingly impossible to understand.
When it comes to a change between
two different stages of anything -
whether that is a change in a democratically
elected government and administration,
or a change in the motivation of
characters that have for years
been known to behave in a certain way -
the most important thing that anyone
who cares about what they are doing,
and are a part of, is to pay attention
and never attempt to erase all that came before,
because if the attempt to change something
happens too soon and too radically
then the after-effect of whatever change
has taken place will not only be jarring for many
but it may also be devastating to someone
who has a profound love for something,
for someone, or for somewhere that they have invested
a great detail of time and energy into.
Continuity is important… Continuity matters…
Continuity means that there is
a great amount of value to history,
as well as to the future…
Continuity is comforting -
which is what some people need
now more than ever…
Continuity is the key to the survival
of every species on the planet -
and, as we have learned the hard way over the years,
even if it is only a single voice that is silenced
then the entire chorus that they were a part of
can no longer sound the same,
and especially if the voice belongs to an individual
who has added more to the mix of the world
than they might have realised
because all they wanted to do was
to move people in a meaningful way.
New ideas are always welcome…
New ways of thinking about things
are always a good way to start the journey
of learning how to make something better -
as long as the new ways compliment
and are an evolution of the tried and the tested…
New people are always entering infamous arenas
of innovation and entrepreneurial growth
who hope to make their mark on something -
but because sometimes some people
have little to no connection to where
they find themselves and have such an insatiable
desire to make something completely different and unique,
instead of retaining what they originally saw the potential in,
they choose to destroy most of what is, what was,
and what has always been, and “start again” -
two words that leave a sower taste in the mouth
of those who hate to see something come to an end
for no reason other than someone
saw a opportunity for “progress”.
New things are always happening…
new realities, new opportunities, new challenges,
new relationships begin every instant
around the world, and beyond -
however what has repeatedly shown itself
to have a positive impact upon the lives of many
since its inception is what people will always return to,
because sometimes some things
and some people can grow to become
something far more indelible in the public consciousness
than at first might have been envisioned,
and one of the things that makes something
feel so special to so many is the ability of its material
to hold true to its original creators vision
and the sense of purpose that they led
to something starting in the first place,
and one of the things that brings people back,
and holds people together around something,
is a deep connection and understanding
of what something is and why,
and there is no better way to express
your respect for something
than to be faithful to the distinctive spirit,
the integrity, and the characteristics
of something’s continuity.
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