My Poem ‘From Scratch’

How do you build a house
without a blue-print?
How do you piece together a puzzle
without first seeing a picture
of how the completed image appears?
What makes a true friendship?
Where do you go
when you have caught all of your tears?

You can’t ever truly go back,
some things are meant to be broken and stay unmended;
some things are just not meant to last;
if we didn’t care,
then there wouldn’t be times when we feel offended.

I am like my Dad,
I am a man of deep feelings;
if I have been hurt by someone,
or something, I do feel sad;
if you start to believe what other people say
and think about you,
one day you might discover that while you were listening,
thinking, and obsessing, you were overlooking
the real thing that you have been missing.

If you had never heard music before,
and someone played you a song,
would you know what it was?
Would you still be able to feel
the same flood of emotions,
and be transported away in the only way
that music knows how to, and always does?

If you had never written a single poem before,
and then one day you sat down and wrote one for someone,
could you say what you wanted to say?
If someone meant the world to you,
how would you tell them, and in what way?

If I had to start from scratch,
if I had to reset and make the same choices over again,
if I could turn back time as easy as you can
with the hands of a clock, or a watch,
if I could talk to the dearly-departed who I once knew,
there are some things that I would love to say
for the very last time, and truly say a fitting goodbye
to an old friend.

Times must change;
everyone must meet their match;
you should never run away from a moment of rage;
when you think you have lost it all,
pick up the pieces that you can see scattered around you,
go home, and start again from scratch.

My Poem ‘I wish’

I wish I could put into words what I am thinking,
I wish my poetry could truly reflect what I am dreaming;
I wish I could express in greater depth what I am feeling;
I wish I had a voice for song,
because if I did I would not stop singing.

I wish I could live in a bookstore;
I wish I could replay my memories
on a blank wall in front of me,
like a movie projector;
I wish I could breath underwater
and explore the seafloor;
I wish I could go back in time
to my first day of school when I was four.

I wish I could relive the best of my life
over and over again;
I wish I could go anywhere,
and be with anyone, any time;
I wish I could change myself between who I am now,
and who I was then;
I wish I could explore the universe
and not be afraid for a second at what I might find.

I wish I could play an instrument;
I wish I could make the dreams of the most deserving come true;
I wish I could go camping, and sleep under the sky
of an infinite field of stars,
with a glowing fire next to me,
without the need for a bed or a tent;
I wish I could be reciting these wishes,
and living these hopes with you;
I wish we could all find great, new,
hopeful ways to coexist;
I want only the best for you who is reading this-
that is what I wish.

My Poem ‘Mark The Poet’

Mark, the Poet-
make sure this time you don’t blow it.
You are starting again-
new page, same pen.
Everything before was just preparation-
you went along for the ride,
because you were in need of love and connection.
You already had everything you needed,
you were just trying to be all things to all people-
but guess what? You found out you weren’t perfect.
It’s not a problem to be knocked down,
as long as you get back up;
it’s human to cry when something and someone
hits you by surprise and knocks you on your butt.
You are a lover, not a fighter-
but, at your heart,
you don’t want to just play your part;
you want to be happy-
that is your life-long wish;
you want to take your time and go gently,
but you also want to do everything right this second-
however, everything you want to do,
no one would ever be able to fit
on any bucket list.
That is your gift, that is your problem;
your intensity has inadvertently opened up rifts,
your overwhelming passion has blown up in your face
like a bomb.
You need to learn to listen to the right people
at the right time;
you need to stop worrying
about what you are going to write on the next line;
you need to go with the flow,
and trust who and what you know;
you need to keep being yourself;
you need to stop wanting to impress somebody else;
you need to keep things simple in your head,
because you know that you are not stupid;
you know who you are,
so don’t for a second forget it.
Be the Mark with the biggest heart;
be the Mark who you’ve been from the start;
be the Mark you’ve been destined to be
since you first breathed in the air,
and looked up at the sky of this planet;
be the Mark of music;
be Mark the favourite;
be the Mark of magic;
write a sonnet,
and be Mark The Poet.