My Poem “The Leap Day”
Today is the 29th of February...
today is a day that will not
come again for another four years...
today is a day when women
traditionally "pop the question"
and propose to their significant other
and ask them to marry them...
today is an anomaly,
which also serves as
the solution to a problem...
today is a day that is celebrated
because it is only seen on a calendar
when it is a leap year...
today is when so many people
will be celebrating
the actual day of their birthday -
and not a day before or after it...
today is a day when so many people
will choose to do something
they have never done before...
today is a day when lives
will be changed forever...
today is a day that means more
than can be expressed in words...
today is a day when opportunities
will present themselves
that should be taken advantage of,
because what will follow
will only be known at a time in the future
when we are ready to see
and understand what happened and why...
today is not just any day,
because it gives us all
the gift of perspective
that time is not what we think it is -
because life is complicated and emotional
and sometimes not easily defined
in practical and understandable ways...
today is a day that has always fascinated me,
because it both exists and doesn't -
as if it were a part of
some kind of temporal experiment...
today is a day when the events of it
will not be marked again
for another four years -
so allow me to take this opportunity
to wish everyone reading this luck
for what is to come in their lives,
and also a very happy leap day!
The Pathfinder: Everything to Me
The Pathfinder: A Matter of Time
The Pathfinder: The Other Side of the World
My Poem “Flow State”
I have always compared
how I feel when I am writing
and I am inspired
with someone turning on a tap...
I have always thought
of the experience that I have
when I am creating something
with someone walking
or running down a path...
I have always felt as if
I am being connected
to something else while writing -
as if I am communicating,
sharing, and receiving a message,
or gaining a new insight
as a result of my consciousness
swimming, diving, feeling
and interpreting the energy
of an ocean of poetry around me
that brings to the surface
something that I did not was within me...
I have always been able to sit
in silence and feel my thoughts
drift away -
but while listening to music
I have also had the experience
of feeling as if my mind were
generating the landmases
of a whole new world of endless possibilities...
I have always known
that there were other realities
beyond the one that most people
see and are familiar with
since I was a child and I started
to silently speculate and continue
the stories of characters
others believed had come to an end...
I have always known
that I had a gift that I was meant
to share with others
that was too powerful
to be kept hidden
from familiar and friends...
I have always been someone
who honestly felt recharged
by feeling the touch of the sun
upon my skin, as if I were
a human solar-panel connected
to a renewable battery...
I have always been someone
who loved to read -
but I had no idea that I would
fall in love with being a writer
until I wrote that first poem of poetry...
I have always been able to slip in
and slip out of a moment of time
and explore many different
routes to where I need to get to
within a slip-second,
but also be inclined
to adapt to what I find
and be influenced
by whom I find along the way...
I have always been able
to let go of what I know
and see many different
sides to something,
and sometimes someone -
especially when I am in
my "flow state".
The Pathfinder: From Time to Time
The Pathfinder: The Embodiment of Poetry
My Poem “Someone to Talk To”
When we are young
we are told that we can do anything,
we are told that we can go anywhere,
and we are told that we can be
who and what we want to be
as long as we work hard
and don't give up, no matter what;
but, as we grow older,
as we experience
more of what life is all about,
we all discover that there are times
when we need others to help us -
because sometimes we can't
make it through life alone.
Everybody in their life
lives through times of joy,
love, beauty, optimism,
when there are times to be
happy and hopeful -
but, unfortunately, instances
and experiences can be like
water through someone's fingers,
and ultimately, over time,
everything and everyone
becomes a memory
that you must hold on to
a fragment of to allow
them to be preserved
in a meaningful and timeless way.
Everything changes...
everyone changes...
people lose their lives...
people lose their jobs...
people lose someone who
meant the world to them...
people find themselves in a crisis
from which they cannot see a way out of...
people lose hope -
and when that happens,
no matter who a person is, was,
what they were, and what they had,
everybody longs for and reaches to
those who have been there for them
in the past when they needed them;
however, as things change,
as people change,
so, too, do the relationships
between people -
but, sometimes, all that everyone needs
is the opportunity to speak,
to be heard, and, most importantly
to be listened to and understood -
and, in this life, the older you get
the more that you realise that
you don't need much more
than someone who you can trust
and the one person in the world
you would choose when you need
someone to talk to.
My Poem “The Pathfinder”
When we all start down
upon a new path
no one can know exactly
where it will lead
nor who they will meet
along the way...
when we all begin again
in our attempt to find where
we are meant to be and with whom
no one can know how much
of who they are will remain
nor what about them
will ultimately change.
I have been walking down
a path of poetry for as long
as I can remember...
I have been running
through a forest of imagination
since I was a child...
I have been listening
to the sounds of nature
for as long as I have
been able to hear...
I have been seeing
the infinite possibilities
of life and the universe
since my mind was opened wide
after asking questions
and being given answers
that brought to life my love
of the mysterious of the unknown
that, to this day, still continue
to energize my thoughts
like the waves of light and colour
that can be seen while witnessing
the Northern Lights.
Once I have been somewhere,
I never forget where I have been
nor what I have seen...
once I have been somewhere,
I never forget how to return there -
because I have always had this innate gift
to be able to create a map
of places within my mind...
once I have been somewhere -
even a place that I may not
visit again for days, weeks, months,
even years afterwards -
I have always been able to
accurately navigate myself
back to where I was
with more clarity of memory
than if I were to attempt
to recall a dream...
once I have been somewhere,
I always create a connection to somewhere
that I can use, whenever I need,
to guide me back, as if I could
literally, and effortlessly, step back in time.
I have always been a dreamer...
I have always been hopeful
that the future will be something
that is always worth living for...
I have always loved my family,
and I have always loved
being inspired by people,
and by extraordinary experiences
that I have shared with significant others...
I have always looked forwards,
and I have always looked backwards -
because the future and the past
are always communicating with
one another,
and it has always been at the intersection
between these two extremes
where I have always found
the words to describe
what I feel with every fibre of my being
at a given moment
of pure poetic power...
I have always wanted to give back
more than I have received -
and throughout my life's journey
I have given a part of myself
to those whom I have met,
whom I have known,
whom I have inspired,
who have inspired me in return,
whether they know it or not -
because, all my life, I have been,
and I always shall be,
someone who is meant to
shine a light for those to follow,
like a lighthouse keeper,
a messenger, a traveller,
a navigator, a pathfinder.
markthepoet.me 