Author: Mark Hastings

My Poem “Traverse”

Mark Hastings Poetry , , , , , , , , , , ,

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”

Mark Hastings Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 
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.

My Poem “Explorer”

Mark Hastings Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , 
Whenever I look up at the stars,
whenever I look towards the peak of a mountain,
whenever I look at an image of The Moon or Mars,
something within me is always awakened,
something within calls upon me
to want to venture towards the unknown,
something within longs to drive me to go
where I have never been before,
and I cannot stop myself from setting out
upon an open road -
one that might see me jump inside a cockpit,
one that might see me climb a rock face,
one that might see me put on a spacesuit
and be launched upon a rocket and into space.

I have always wondered what we will find above the clouds,
I have always been curious about
what lives below the surface of the sea,
I have always been fascinated by
what artists create and why,
and I have always been inspired by
the universe of countless points of life
and the possibilities that await us on
the journey of the future that humanity
will never cease to be enriched by
as we reach higher, farther, and faster
than even our dreams could imagine…
I have always been a dreamer -
but I am also someone who gravitates towards 
and likes to be surrounded by people
who are not afraid to be themselves
and who know they are different from
the majority of people they know,
because they are who influence and inspire me
to never stop doing what I do.

Exploration comes in many forms…
the reasons why we are all here
and why we want to be interconnected
so irrevocably to one another
speaks to something about us all
that manifests itself in the ways
that we seek out and look for answers,
because we are presented with a reality 
that makes us feel like we are in a mindset
in which everything we thought we knew
is now in question and must be explored…
since I was a child, I have been walking through forests,
I have been following the trail of discovery,
I have been watching the world and its people
and I have seen change happen
within the blink of an eye,
and as time has gone on I have become
increasingly more interested
in decoding the mysterious messages
left behind by nature and by our ancestors
who wished for us to understand what
we can achieve if we don’t stop pushing forwards
in whatever direction we want to go -
however what we might uncover might not be what, nor where,
we expected to find what have been unconsciously looking for.

I have never let anything, nor anybody,
stop me from being who I have always felt I should be:
someone who feels at home while outdoors;
someone who can be happy and content
while delving into my own thoughts
and wondering what I will do
with what will inevitably emerge
from the event of creation in my imagination;
someone who always remembers where I have been -
which is why I seldom feel lost;
someone who never stops finding something,
or someone, to be inspired by;
someone who can go somewhere
and repeatedly be struck by a deep
and profound feeling of awe.

I have always been, and I always will be,
someone who is a voyager,
someone who is a discoverer,
someone who is a wanderer,
someone who is the definition of an explorer.

My Poem “Hell on Earth”

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The fires of hell
have been visited upon
the “City of Angels”…
lives have been lost,
houses have been burned,
places of meaning have been destroyed,
life has been irrevocably changed
for the people of Los Angeles –
and no one can do anything to stop
what is still happening,
nor can anyone turn back the clock
and restore a community to what it was,
nor bring back the beauty that has been lost.

My heart goes out to those who have lost so much
to a force of nature that is notoriously hard to fight…
my thoughts and prayers go out to those mourning
the loss of friends and family members
who did not and could not leave their homes…
my hope is that when those
who were evacuated for their own safety
return to the place they never wanted to leave
will one day be able to recover
from the trauma of the nightmare
that they are having to endure…
my condolences and my deepest sympathy
goes out to those who may have lost everything
that meant the world to them
and that which symbolised their love of life.

As I write this, people from all around the world
watch on as images of the seemingly endless flames
of the devastating fire that continues to burn unabated
are shared with countless others…
as I write this, families who fled to save their lives
are returning to the charred remains of their homes
and are having to face the darkness
of their new reality as tears fill their eyes…
as I write this, I wish that a miracle would come to the rescue of the people of the haven of dreamers
and bring an end to the destruction, the death,
the suffering, and the misery of those who have been scared by what has befallen
one of the most beautiful places in the world
and which has always represented
hopefulness and prosperity…
as I write this, fire fighters, as well as ordinary citizens,
work together and attempt to do what they can
to douse the flames and prevent any further damage
to the place they call home
from the inferno that has raged for days on end –
and I hope that one day somewhere
that has for so long been thought of
as a place akin to “Heaven on Earth”
will rise again from the ashes
of how it appears at this moment: Hell.

My Poem “In my stride”

Mark Hastings Poetry , , , , , , , , , , 
When I was younger
I didn’t worry about anything -
I always assumed that everything
would turn out how it was supposed to,
and when it was supposed to…
as I got older, and as more pressure
was put upon me to try and find
a direction in life to proceed down,
I began to wonder what I was going to do,
where I was going to go,
and who I was going to be -
however, like always, I just presumed
that somehow, somewhere, something
would happen that would make the choices
that I had to make next simple and easy
to understand why I needed to make them,
and when I needed to make them…
when I finally began making a living
and doing what I had to do to make ends meet,
I just went with the flow and the wave
that I found myself riding
and eventually I was able to see
another avenue to venture down
that seemed more fulfilling, more exciting,
more inspiring, and more rewarding in ways
than I had known before.

As time went on, times of chaos and confusion
naturally overshadowed and influenced
the decisions that I made -
and I had to be both patient and humble
when it came to what I wanted to do,
who I wanted to be, and what I was willing
to give to reinvent myself and to receive
the necessary gifts I would require
to rise above the world of my present
and create a new version of my identity.

After I experienced the transformative
surge of feelings, emotions, and power
like that of the wonder of a child
when they see something or do something
they have never seen or done before,
I was never the same and I knew
I could never be the same again -
because what changed in me
allowed me to see, to hear, to taste, to smell,
to feel the world and the wider universe
in such a fundamentally different way
that altered me on a level that is
hard to explain and impossible to describe.

Every day whenever I look back,
or whenever I find myself somewhere new,
something within me is stirred,
something within me opens up,
something within me knows that
there is more than one way of thinking
and interpreting what presents itself to me:
something profound, something intense,
something that only I may be able to quantify initially,
until I can find a way to share and to communicate
what I know is true and what I do not need evidence of
to prove to me that more things than
could ever imagined are connected
in an infinite number of ways.

Though I know, and have always known,
that things would work out the way that are supposed to,
there have been times when my faith has been tested;
however, I have always tried to maintain my belief,
and I have always been hopeful,
that no matter what happens in life,
and no matter where I am,
things will always happen exactly
as they were intended to from the start -
so the best way to take what comes my way
is to take everything in my stride.

Coming Soon: The Storyteller

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

Hi everyone!

I am thrilled to announce that my ninth official poetry collection, ‘The Storyteller’, will be available to purchase on February 2, 2025, in hardback and as an ebook from Amazon.

Filled with over 60 previously unpublished poems, ‘The Storyteller’ is a collection of poetry, as well an insight into the mind and the life of a writer and an author of stories – not to mention an exploration and an explanation of why storytelling is important and has always been important to humanity, as well as to life itself.

From the back cover:

I always wanted to be a Storyteller…

As we all grow, we all change and we all realise that even our heroes can bleed, even our heroes can cry, even our heroes are sometimes tested to their limits, and even our heroes are unable to live forever.

I have always believed that I am here for a reason and I have a purpose to live, to explore, and to be inspired by what I find, and by whom I meet along my journey, and to tell the stories that I believe were always waiting for me to tell – because I believe I am the only one who can tell some stories as they have always been meant to be told.

You can check out ‘The Storyteller’ on Amazon now, and as soon as it is available to purchase physically, as well as digitally, on February 2nd, I will share a link to a purchase a copy right away.

-Mark

My Books

Mark Hastings books , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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 upcoming poetry collection The Outsider – all my published poetry and stories are all now available to buy from Amazon! Get yourself a copy now! 😎

My Poem “Tomorrow’s World”

Mark Hastings Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 
A new day, a new month, a new year
always heralds the arrival of a new generation
of new faces and new voices
that always bring new ideas and new perspectives
into the mix of art, music, culture, fashion,
entertainment, science, technology, and innovation
that the world is already familiar with and is known for -
but no one can know how the path of coexistence
will influence and change things and people
in ways that are hard to predict the outcome of…
as some things and some people grow
in popularity and in prominence
there are always, at first, subtle signs
that point towards a difference between two eras,
and before long a fusion of multiple states of being begins…
change is always a learning process,
and sometimes an opportunity to refocus
and what matters to you and where
you want to progress towards.

Change can be unpredictable,
and sometimes unsettling -
but as long as you keep a hold of who you are
and what you believe is your true calling in life
then the new world unveiling itself before you
will continue to welcome the inclusion
of your individual contributions…
whenever a puzzle is broken down
into its separate components,
at first, it can be hard to see the final picture
being represented -
however every detail, every shape, every colour
of everything eventually becomes more
and more recognisable and obviously
made to fit alongside one another,
but sometimes you have to push through
the barrier of frustration that can sometimes rise around you
and continue to persevere until you reach a point
where and when you realise that something new,
something interesting, something exciting,
something that has been waiting to emerge
is taking shape within your mind.

Light exists within darkness,
darkness exists within light -
because that is the way of the universe:
order and chaos, existing in a perpetual cycle
of mutual understanding that one cannot ultimately dominate the other
but both ultimately rely upon each other
for their very survival…
destruction and creation
are two sides of the same coin 
that when tossed into the air
could ultimately decide the fate of countless lives…
differences of opinions, clashes of personalities,
explosions of emotions, people of power,
weapons of war have been integral to reshaping
what life will look like for future generations
since the beginning of time,
and every so often we all have to stop
and remind ourselves of who we are
and what we are capable of if we all choose
to work together instead of against one another -
because I have always believed that good things
can come from doing the right thing
at the right time and for the right reasons,
as long as no one forgets
that the people and the things of the past
and the people and the things of the present
are what make the reality of the future
that will be tomorrow’s world.

My Poem “2024”

Mark Hastings Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , , , 
The strange and the unusual…
the extraordinary and the unexpected…
life has a way of making you feel
like you are in a different world
than the one you were in before
on a regular basis, sometimes daily -
especially when you awaken in your bed
and you get the feeling that something
important has changed,
or is on the verge of changing everything.

I sometimes wonder what an earlier version of myself
would think if they were given
a snapshot of the future, and my present,
and how they would feel if they were told
what had taken place between their time and mine -
I would look so much older, so much greyer,
so much more like my father in so many ways,
and so much of what my younger self would learn
would be a shock to them just as much as
what happened was to shock to me…
I always believed that I could predict
what was going to happen and where I would be -
however no one can ever predict the outcome
of anything,
nor know what will lead to something,
unless they have foreknowledge,
or perhaps a map of all the things
that we will all encounter along
our life’s paths of multiple possibilities…
I know that even if a younger version of me
were to be given a chance to see and know
who and what they would one day be,
then they would choose to block out
what they might have learned,
because not doing so -
knowing that they could never
change anything that will happen
and has already happened -
would be something that they
would not be able to live with
without being driven mad.

Once again, this year was a time when I had to
make choices about what I wanted to do
and who I wanted to be -
and, as always, I chose to be
who I have been for as long as I can remember:
who my father tried to prepare me to be,
who people I used to know have helped me to be,
who I have always known was within me…
my life has always been one
of rebelling against expectations,
of doing what others could not
imagine I was capable of,
and of being there for those I love,
as well as never forgetting
who did what to whom, when, where, and how -
because I know better than most
that actions have consequences,
the effects of past events catch up with you,
and our past, present, and future selves
are influencing one another, sometimes subtlety,
over the continuum of our existence,
and which is why we sometimes feel
as if we have been somewhere,
as if we have done something,
or as if we have met someone before…
this year has been one of those times in my life
which will, once again, redefine me
and how I see myself whenever I look back -
because this year, like most years,
was the beginning, the end, and the start
of a new era and chapter in the story of my life,
and I wonder what will happen tomorrow
and beyond this year of regeneration:
the year that was 2024.

My Poem “The Xmas Factor”

Mark Hastings Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , ,

No matter what happened in the hours,
in the days, and in the months before,
at the festive time of the year
those of us who are naturally
optimistic and altruistic
like to immerse ourselves
and fully embrace the Christmas spirit
and like to spread some Christmas cheer…
no matter how hard things may have been,
and no matter what has been endured,
Christmas time is always when
those young and old like to give,
and are given, gifts both big and small,
both fun and personal,
to show how much their presence
and their connection to one another matters.

No matter how old we may feel most of the year,
at Christmas time everybody can remember
what it was like to be a child –
especially when they look at the faces
of the children who are the next generation
and you see their eyes widen
and their smiles grow after they
unwrap the gifts that they have been given…
no matter who someone is,
and no matter where someone comes from,
it is always nice to be kind to those
who don’t have what you have
and also to remind people that –
though it may appear that we all live very different lives –
that does not mean that we aren’t
integral to each other’s happiness.

Christmas is more than Christmas trees,
Christmas songs, Christmas cards, Christmas crackers,
Christmas dinner, Christmas lights, even Christmas presents,
because Christmas is about family –
and not just the family of our genetic lineage,
because “family” can include the family
of friends that we have accumulated over the years
who have stuck by us no matter what –
and that is why we should never forget who we are,
and who each and every one of us
all around the world are to one another:
one, big, human, family –
even though some people sometimes
need to be reminded of that fact.

There are lots of ways to celebrate…
there are lots of ways to make
the world a better place to live in
for those who you know,
and for those who you may never meet…
giving the gift of your time matters more
than some people might realise –
as does the gift of thinking
about others before yourself
and being the reason that people feel included…
there are many reasons to feel grateful
for what, and for whom, you have in your life –
and some of the most important
and indefinable reasons
only become apparent when it is
the right time of the year
and there is a visceral feeling of hopefulness
that can be felt, and which lies
at the heart of what Christmas is all about.

Merry Christmas!