My Poem “Want to take a ride?”

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Some people love riding…
some people live to jump
on the saddle of a horse,
or on the saddle a bicycle,
on the seat of a scooter,
or on to the seat of a motorcycle –
especially on the weekend
when people feel like
time is on their side
and they can glide through
the quiet lanes of the countryside,
or down the open highways with
the wind blowing against their face,
while enjoying every moment
and every ounce of the feeling
of being unburduned by anything,
and some people also enjoy
the opportunity of the pure release
of their inner nature
that they get to make.

Some people have a great affection
for past times that make them feel rebellious –
as if they are doing something
that they shouldn’t be doing:
like disregarding a sign that says
“DO NOT ENTER” or “SLIPPERY WHEN WET”,
and they still decide to proceed
regardless to what awaits them within
the forbidden place before them…
some people are simply unable to fight
the feeling that rises within them
that makes them want to
face their fears, take a leap,
and expand the boundaries
of their imagination.

Some people sometimes do things
that they know other people
have died while doing…
some people sometimes do things
that are dangerous
because the experience of doing
certain activities is profoundly thrilling
and sometimes life-fulfilling…
some people who live near a beach
love to start their day by taking
their surfboard and riding the crests
of the early morning waves…
some people love being active,
being brave, and seeking out
their calling in life in many different ways.

Some people live to explore…
some people love to dive…
some people like the ritual
of waking up at dawn
and taking their dog for a long walk…
some people want nothing more
than to do what they want,
when they want, how they want –
especially those who wake up
every day when they do not have
anything in particular to do
and who can take the steps
to fully answer the question of:
“Where do you want to go?”…
some people experience
the feeling of being “more alive”
when they instively act upon
the question posed by
their adventurous side,
which is usually a variation
along the lines of:
“Want to take a ride?”

“Life should not be a journey to the grave
with the intention of arriving safely
in a pretty and well preserved body,
but rather to skid in broadside
in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up,
totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
“Wow! What a Ride!”
– Hunter S. Thompson

Mark The Poet: “My Nature”

Mark Hastings Blog, life, me, Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

My Poem “The Wolf Moon”

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As the Wolf Moon rose in the East
and immediately filled the dark night-sky –
just like a werewolf from a horror movie –
as soon as I looked up to the moonlight
I found myself unable to fight, nor deny,
that which I was feeling in that moment:
this instinctive urge
to howl like a wild animal
and let go of who I was, what I was,
where I was, and run off
into the woods and feel
the spirit that I knew was within me
drive me to a moment of transformation
from which there might be no coming back…
I could already perceive my senses
start to become more heightened,
and I swore that I could feel the sensation
of excess hair starting to grow upon my back;
however, then, in the same instant
that I was feeling almost overwhelmed
by my uncontrollable thoughts,
emotions, and racing heart,
as if planned from the start,
I heard in the distance the sound
of a Wolf’s howl and I knew immediately
that this cold January night was when
a fellow creature of the twilight
was calling out to anyone or anything
that had within them the heart,
the spirit, and the strength
that only a Wolf feels and knows
that they must express,
because of the explosion
of undeniable energy within them
that surges below their skin –
and that was what I felt
when the fuse inside me
was immediately ignited
by the sight of the glorious Wolf Moon.

Rest In Peace, David Bowie

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“The truth is, of course, that there is no journey. We are arriving and departing all at the same time.”
-David Bowie
1947-2016

“Inspirations Blog” #3: Mr. Robot

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“Inspirations Blog” #3: Mr. Robot

Happy Birthday, Bowie!

Mark Hastings David Bowie, me, playing god , , , , , , , , ,

It’s been 4 years since we lost David Bowie – on January 10th, 2016 – and today – January 8th, 2020 – would have been David Bowie’s 73rd birthday, and I wanted to write a post to wish one of the most interesting, inspirational, and influential artists the world has ever known a very Happy Birthday – who is hopefully looking down upon us all right now.

To celebrate David Bowie’s birthday today I wanted repost the poem that I wrote for him following his untimely death in 2016, called:

“Always the Starman”

Now it is you
who is the Starman in the sky;
now you know the answer
to the question “is there life of Mars?”;
now you can see just how much
you made us all smile
and how much you made us all dance;
now it will be the stardust of you
that will fall to Earth
and makes our minds sparkle
like the stars at night;
now and forever you will be a hero
for many and not just for one day;
now you can embark
on your own space-oddity;
now and forever through sound and vision
you will speak to us
and you will sing to us all from afar;
now that you have reached
the centre of life’s labyrinth,
and as you now look back
and touch Earth from heaven
with an outstretched hand –
from one poet to another,
this is my tribute to you,
the Starman of Magic in the sky,
who will always be the eternal
and the immortal artist of life David Bowie.

And I also wanted to repost my poem that I wrote last year which was inspired by a brand new piece of street art inspired by David Bowie, called:

“Bowie and Me”

Every day of the week
I head down to Dudley Street
to meet, to greet, and to speak
with the one and the only
David Bowie,
and every time I see him
he talks to me and
he communicates so much to me
without even having to say a word
how lucky we all are to be alive
and walking the streets and the paths
of this world –
and every time I see him
I get this instant flash
of inspiration,
like a bolt of lightning,
that I try to imbue
into the art that I create
which always follows
my divine-like encounter with “Bowie”
who waits tirelessly for me
against a wall of blue
on Dudley Street like a gate-keeper
and a guide to a world of
wonder, imagination, and self-discovery.


“Bowie” by Annatomix – Dudley Street, Birmingham, United Kingdom

And I also wanted to honour David Bowie once again by taking inspiration from his album Aladdin Sane and paying tribute to its iconic artwork by adorning the “Man in Black” who is the central character and who is on the cover of my book Playing God – which includes stories featuring a powerful hero who was also inspired by David Bowie and his timeless legacy of inspiring and motivating people to do unbelievably things… just as I was! Take a look at the Aladdin Sane-inspired cover of my book Playing God below:

And today is also the day when I have decided to start using my Collectors Edition David Bowie themed Moleskine notebook to begin writing who knows what? We shall see:

So, once again, I would like to wish the late great David Bowie a very happy birthday and I would like to thank him for all the inspiration that he has given me over the years!

Rest in peace, David!


1947-2016

-Mark

My Poem “My Hero”

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Family has always meant
everything to my Dad
and my Dad will always mean
everything to our family…
my Dad is the heart of our family,
the one that we take
all of our strength, our love,
and our inspiration from,
and he means more to all of us
than could ever be expressed…
my Dad has often had to suffer
the scars of all the battles
that he has found himself drawn into –
both physical and emotional;
however, my Dad has never given up,
my Dad has always put
everyone else’s thoughts, feelings,
and needs before his own,
and my Dad has always been there
for his children when they
needed him the most…
my Dad is such a phenomenal
role-model, a beacon hope,
and his natural blue eyes
and his magnetic smile
is always reason enough
to smile in return and believe
that even the darkest of days
can be turned around with a ray
of sunshine in the form
of someone selfless and special…
the gift that is my Dad
is the one that I have been blessed
to have in my life all my life,
and I would not be anything
without the super-human man
who will forever be an inspiration
to me in so many ways:
the one who first taught me
the meaning of working hard
for whatever it is that you desire,
and the one who daily shows me
that nothing is ever impossible,
because my Dad –
David William George Hastings –
is and always will be my hero.

My Poem “At Ease”

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At ease.
You cannot beat the feeling
of having nothing to do,
nowhere in particular to go,
and nothing that takes all
of your attention to do.
I never take the gift
of free time for granted –
those precious moments
when you can look at
the world around you
and truly see and pay attention
to so many of the small details
that go into making life so
fundamentally profound and poignant.
Seeking out peace and tranquility
is so essential when trying to recover
from the extremely tiring tasks
that we may be expected to perform
in our daily lives,
and finding a place and a time
where and when you can sit down
and take your ease
is wonderful beyond compare –
especially as we get older.
Time is never wasted –
even if someone appears
to be doing “nothing” –
because we are all constantly
interacting with life,
just as life is constantly
interacting with us,
and it truly does help to be
with your own thoughts sometimes
in order for you to reset, renew,
and refocus yourself.
We often take time for granted,
however I never get tired
of being out somewhere
and being inspired by what I see before me –
things which just call out to me
to see the poetry within them
that is just as free and just as powerful
as the light from the sun upon my face
or the feeling of a slight breeze
gently touching the back of my neck.
Life is poetry, and poetry is life.

My Poem “Go!”

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On your marks, get set, go!
Last year is now in the past,
the ball has dropped,
the fireworks have lit up the sky,
and now we all get to find out
more about the undiscovered
possibilities of life that do not yet know!

Living is what Life all about –
sometimes in life you have
got to go with flow and hold on
through all the twists and the turns
of the stream of time that wind
to eventually find what awaits you
on the other side of the new journey
that you started with a clear
and hopeful view of
where your thoughts,
your dreams, your choices,
and your actions would take you.

Life is a race that you can only
run at your own pace,
which you can only have an opinion of
if you choose to be a part of.

Life on planet Earth is a beautiful
sphere of infinite possibilities
spinning and hurtling through space
that everybody should learn to love
just like everybody should learn to except
the perfect uniqueness of their own face.

Life is not always a walk in the park,
and though you may not always be ready
for what it throws your way
as long as every day
you can say with your
hand on your heart that
you will try your hardest
to be the best version of yourself
that you can be then everything
that eventually happens
will absolutely have been won fairly
will have been well earned.

Like a runner at the instant
just after they hear
the BANG of a starting pistol,
everybody alive who has
the opportunity to live a good life
should always be fully committed,
ready, set, when they have to
tell themselves that they have got to
put their best foot forward and not stop
until they reach the finish line
of fulfilling their hopes and dreams,
from the moment that they hear the call: Go!

Happy New Year, everybody! 😊

My Poem “Countdown”

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Every countdown that always occurs
on the last seconds of New Year’s Eve
before the obligatory
“Happy New Year!”
is simultaneously the countdown
to the end of one year
as well as the countdown to
a brand new set of 365 days
that will see changes in the world
as well as changes in people
that will change the landscape
of humanity in so many ways.

Countdowns can be good,
countdowns can be exciting,
countdowns can be like heralds from above,
countdowns can lead to instances
that can be surprising…
countdowns can give people
something to look forward to…
countdowns can give people
the thrill of anticipation…
countdowns can give people
the courage to do something
that they have always wanted to do…
countdowns can give people hope
and are not always a ticking clock
ticking down to a moment of destruction.

Time and space is relative…
the universe and nature
has its own timetable
which does not require
any knowledge or understanding of it
by anybody or anything.

Memories and experiences
are precious and personal
to whomever recalls them…
humanity requires the ability
to preserve and measure time
to give their lives some
semblance of meaning and structure,
and countdowns are especially necessary
because people like climaxes
just as much as they enjoy new beginnings –
and there is no conclusion and restart
that people plan for and look forward to
like the instant on the 31st of December
every year when 23:59, or 11:59pm,
changes to 00:00, or 12:00am,
when those who are still awake
celebrate, wherever they are
and with whomever they are with –
sometimes with a handshake,
a hug, or a kiss –
as they declare: Happy New Year!