My Poem “Liberty will never fall”

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Humanity has lived through times
when we have looked at what was going on
around the world and we have had to
ask ourselves: what is going to happen next?
What does this all mean?
Is this the end of the world?
Times of plague and pandemic:
times of financial crisis; times of war;
times of terrorism – and in recent history,
apart from what we are all
living through right now,
I would have to say that the terrorist
attacks on the United States of America,
on September 11th, 2001, would have to be,
and will always be considered as,
one of the single most destructive
and world changing events
that we have ever known
and which will never be forgotten.

The events of that Tuesday afternoon
in September of 2001, when thousands
of people were killed as a result of terrorism,
have been ingrained within my mind,
and the world, for 19 years now –
and I can still remember exactly what I saw,
what I heard, and what I felt when
I witnessed, along with the world,
the last moments of life of innocent people;
and the subsequent attacks that have
taken place upon people who have done
nothing to nobody, as a result of a
ideology of fear, are deployable, cruel,
nonsensical, and grotesque.

One thing that should have been
made abundantly clear by now
to those who hate others so passionately,
by those who have been attacked
but who still continue to stand
and who still continue to the fight
the scurge of tyrrany that continues
to blight societies all around the world:
freedom is a gift, and nobody has the right
to spread fear, to intimidate others,
and to kill people who only want to be
who they were brought up
to want to be.

We all live on an interconnected world,
and we all have the right to think,
to dream, and to wish for things that we want;
but actions have consequences,
the world is not always simple to navigate,
and no one can do anything with impunity,
and if every peace-loving person works
together for the betterment of all mankind
then there will come a day
when the true gift of a free society,
liberty, will continue to rise
and will never fall.

Mark The Poet – The Podcast: Episode #34

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‘Me and My Ukulele’ by Mark Hastings

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There are times when I am in my room, thinking about what I am going to write about next, when I just reach for the hand-built DIY ukulele that I bought and I put together piece by piece, and just start strumming and creating whatever music I am inspired to play. It’s so invigorating! It’s so captivating! I never thought that I would get so attached to a musical instrument, but from the moment I built my ukulele, and I started plucking away at the strings, I began to feel this connection with it and with the music that I could produce… and I absolutely love playing my ukulele whenever I can, just for fun, just so that I can make some kind of music – music that I can feel on a subconscious level, and music that means something profound to me! 😊🤟🪕🎶🎵

My Poem “Strange New World”

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Every day is like a strange new world…
every day sometimes looks and feels
both similar and familiar,
and yet alien and extraordinary at the same time…
every day is like a journey into the unknown
for which we sometimes have no words…
every day sometimes feels so full of
the unexpected that we can come to
believe that we have slipped into
an existence that feels like another life.

Every day is an exploration of
the human condition…
every day we all have to venture
into the frontier of the world
that surrounds us sometimes with
no knowledge of who and what we will find…
every day can feel like a test, an exercise,
or a mission during which we all have to
make both big and small decisions…
every day can feel like a dream
or a creation of hope or fear of our mind.

We all need fantasy, just as much as
we all sometimes need a dose of reality…
we all need the wonder, the art, the joy,
the imagination, and the gift
of learning something, of seeing something,
of hearing something, and of going to somewhere
that we have never been before…
we all need to sometimes escape
within the pages to a book,
within the notes of a song,
or within the visual storytelling
of a TV show or a movie…
all that we can ask of ourselves,
especially in times when we feel like
we are living a life seemingly
beyond our control,
is to take one step at a time while we
learn how to live and to thrive
somewhere that feels like
a strange new world.

Mark The Poet – The Podcast: Episode #33

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Mark The Poet – The Podcast: Episode #32

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My Poem “The Microphone”

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Everyone’s voice is distinctive…
everyone’s voice can be poetic…
everyone’s voice is informative…
everyone’s voice is a gift that can
open doors and change minds –
whether that voice is audible, visual,
reflective, or creative;
but when anybody, no matter who they are
and no matter how much experience
they have, approaches a microphone
to share what they have to say
to an audience of listeners,
so many emotions can come
bubbling up to the surface –
even veterans of singing
and voice-acting find it easier
to adopt a performance persona
so that they can fully embrace
and embody the words that are in
their thoughts, from their heart,
or the words that they are
reading from a page.

Holding a microphone in your hand
can be invigorating,
putting the lips of your mouth
close to the head of a microphone
can be exciting;
but sometimes when you are talking about
something without a script to read from,
your mouth can become dry,
you can find yourself lost for words,
and you can find yourself
talking and talking and talking
because your train of thought
feels like it is stuck in reverse.

When you perform for a long time
something like a microphone can
almost feel like an extension of yourself
and a vital tool with which you use
to extend the reach of your voice…
some people live so many days
with a microphone in their hand
or in front of them that they can find
it hard to imagine a place and a time
without one present –
which is how a musician thinks
when they consider a future without
their musical instrument.

Not everybody is a born performer
and not everybody feels comfortable
expressing themselves face to face,
via video, or by communicating over the phone –
but then there are people who have
always been confident and who
always have something teetering
on the tip of their tongue
and for those people there is no better
gift to give them than that which
can allow them to transmit their voice
and their message to the masses:
an opportunity and a microphone.

My Poem “Vox”

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Who knew that there were
so many people with a story
to tell and with a voice
able to express itself
so easily and so effectively?
Who knew that there were
so many people who had this drive
to want to let people into their life
when they do not need to?
Who knew that there were
so many people with a dream
to be able to reach as many
people as possible?
Who knew that there were
so many people who would want to
listen to other people talk about
what interests them and what inspires them?

I have always known that I liked
expressing the joy and the energy
that I felt within me
ever since I was a child,
and I have always known that
I enjoy past times like sitting and listening
to the music that is being played
and being broadcast on the normal
F.M. radio stations that people listen to,
that have “Disc Jockeys” on them
who people think they know
because they are used to listening to
their particular voice on a regular basis;
however, these days fewer people
listen to the radio than they used to –
unless they are driving down
a long stretch of highway
with nothing else to do.

So many people these days frequently listen
to music and to podcasts via streaming
services and apps that deliver content
to people all around the world,
simultaneously, over the internet…
these days there are even podcasts
and interviews recorded and shared
visually as well as vocally
which add a greater depth of expression
than can be enjoyed if something
is merely a disembodied voice;
however, there is still something amazing,
evoking, wonderful, and personal
about the experience of just listening
to someone’s voice and being told
a story in one of the fastest ways
to capture and process an idea:
by closing your eyes, by pressing play,
and by seemingly being taken away
to another place – like being entranced
into a dream state – by one of the most
powerful gifts that each of us
have at our disposal:
a one of a kind voice with which
we can articulate.

Happy Star Trek Day: “Live long and Prosper”

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Happy Star Trek Day, everybody!

The first episode of Star Trek premiered 54 years ago today, on the 8th of September, 1966! Happy 54th Anniversary to one of my favourite TV shows and franchise’ – which to this day still remains a source of inspiration and hope and is a reminder to us all that if the human race works together we can accomplish anything: even journeying out into the final frontier, where no one has gone before! Live Long and Prosper, everyone! 😊🖖

Mark The Poet – The Podcast: Episode #31

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