This episode is a part of Mark’s A Journey Through Poetry – a personal reflection of his life as a poet, a writer, and a author – in which he recites a different poem from every one of his poetry collections.
In this episode Mark recites his poem ‘World’s Best Dad’, from his poetry collection The Comeback Kid, and he gives some insight and some context into why he was inspired to write this poem in particular.
An artist is always a storm of emotions...
an artist is never just inspired
by one source of inspiration...
an artist is always looking
to create something for a reason -
because their instincts
tell them that they must...
an artist is never bound
by a blueprint or a roadmap,
because what they want to say,
what they want to share,
and what they want to show
may ultimately become something
that can not be displayed upon one wall
nor contained within the confines
of a single canvas.
An artist is always finding
new energy to inspire new art...
an artist never forgets
what it was, or who it was,
that gave them the first link
of an idea that would
grow into becoming a chain -
sometimes made of a substance
as strong as steel
or as fragile as glass...
an artist always sees the world,
the universe, as if it were one, big,
limitless, gallery of infinite beauty
and infinite possibilities...
an artist never explains
why their creations are
the way that they are,
because, after their creation,
everything starts a new life
and becomes something different
to everyone who finds it.
An artist uses every colour, every word,
every sound, every sensation,
every taste, every aroma,
to create what they make...
an artist sometimes returns
to something that others
might have long-since left behind -
ncluding their so-called "mistakes"...
an artist, like a child, knows
what they are saying when they speak -
but because, sometimes, some things
need a little more time given
by their observers and admirers
in order to interpret the secrets of their meaning,
some creations reveal what they are
and why they are created
a long time after the passing
of the artist who took the time
to bestow them with
a splinter of who they will always be...
an artist has been capturing
the life around them
and the life within them
since the first human
watched their first bolt of lightning
streak across a dark sky
and create the sound of thunder
that echoed with the sound
of their heart beating in their chest...
an artist is able to show
all who discover their art
what humanity is capable of,
and also what is possible
when humanity unites -
and that is when an artist
is truly at their best.
Whenever a beam of sunlight touches us,
whenever a red-breasted robin
comes to visit us,
whenever we see a white feather
on the path before us,
whenever we feel someone
standing beside us,
whenever we see your face within our mind,
we know that you have returned to us
to make sure we are OK,
as you put your hand upon our shoulders,
as you continue to smile
your one of a kind smile,
as your blue eyes continue to shine
brighter than the stars of night sky,
as you continue to give us the gift of you,
as well as your amazing presence and radiating spirit,
as we all continue to feel
your everlasting love.
I can not believe that it has been
a year since I last saw you,
I can not believe that it has been
a year since I last heard your voice,
I can not believe that it has been
a year since I last held your hand;
every day, I still feel our bond and our connection...
every day, I can still feel your presence
and I have felt comforted by the knowledge
that I know you are now living a life
somewhere beyond what can be seen -
because you have visited me
and you have spoken to me
now multiple times in my dreams.
Life will never again
be the same as it was...
every day I think about you,
and I can still recall how
devastated and distraught
I was when I found out
that you had been taken from us...
I am not the same as I was,
nor could anyone hope to be
following the loss of someone
who meant the world to them,
as you will always mean to me...
I will always remember all that
you gave me and all that you taught me,
and I will continue your legacy
for as long as I live...
to me, you will always be
the best father anyone ever had
and you will always be
my inspiration and my hero,
my incredible and my always
near and dear Dad.
David William George Hastings
6th January 1949 - 8th December 2022
Sometimes, most of the time, to complete a task of great importance, you can only count on the best of the best to be able to achieve what must be achieved and to do what must be done... sometimes, most of the time, you need to call in an "A-Team" of consumate experts and professionals to push forwards, go beyond the limits, and not stop until the battle being faced has been won... sometimes, most of the time, there is only a small group of colleagues who have worked together for a long time who can work together to do the impossible and turn a bad situation into something good... sometimes, most of the time, a certain combination of souls are the only ones that can rise to the occasion and ride the waves of a flood... sometimes, most of the time, only those who have been sent far and wide, know what it is like to have to brave a storm of chaos and leave as they arrived with their heads held high with stories of what they have done, who they have met, and where they have been... sometimes, most of the time, when there is trouble happening somewhere that you know no one else can handle, why settle for anything less than The Best when you know that you can always call on, and you know that you can always count on, the unparalleled skills of the dream team.
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.
It can sometimes be hard
to find balance in your life…
it can sometimes feel like
you are walking a line
when trying to find
a happy medium in your life…
it can sometimes be like ice-skating
when you are trying to keep going
and attempting to stay upright…
it can sometimes be perilous
trying to please every side
of your own personality…
it can sometimes be hard
juggling your emotions
while trying to cater to
the feelings of other people…
knowing what side to choose
and what the best thing to do
can be a test of character
and a crossroads to what and to where
your heart and soul yearns for…
sometimes, in order to have a happy life,
you need to make compromises…
sometimes, in order to achieve peace
and reconciliation between two sides,
you have to find some kind of common ground…
sometimes, to realize happiness within yourself,
you need to find the right way to say
what sometimes cannot be expressed in words…
sometimes in this life you have got to make amends
with the things that you can’t control
and allow nature to take its course –
and, usually, at some point, you reach an impasse
where you discover the best of all worlds.
You are the greatest man I have ever known…
You have been one of the two most influential
and powerful forces in my life
since the day I was born…
You are the star I have been orbiting around
since I was young…
You have given me more than I could ever have wished for,
and you always have been and you always will be
the one who I look up to for strength and wisdom
from dawn ’til dusk, and from dusk ’til dawn.
I have learned so much from you…
to me and to everybody who knows you
you will always be unforgettable…
I have been to so many places
and I have seen so many magical
and incredible things in my life,
and thanks to you all those beautiful memories
live on and can be replayed any time of the day or night
in the form of videos and photographs
that you took when we were kids…
my childhood was a happy and wonderful time
because of you and Mum,
and I cannot thank you both enough,
and I cannot put into words
how lucky I feel to be your son.
Some things do last forever…
some people make you the person who you will be
for the rest of your life from the moment
that you look into their eyes and they look into yours…
I could never ask for a better Dad,
nor a more perfect father,
and when I look at your face,
and I think back on all the memories that we made together,
I know with all that I am
that I am the luckiest son in the world
to have as their Dad the greatest man
the world has ever known.
Everything begins with experimentation…
most of the things that we love the most
once began as something unknown…
most things we seemingly
stumble upon at random…
most of the things that we take with us wherever we go
are the things that remind us of the wonders
that we remember of our childhood home…
we grow up with certain things…
we grow up with people who we know, and who know us…
we lose things… we have to look in more than one direction
in order to find our focus.
When we start looking beyond our comfort-zone,
when we start following a voice
that calls to us like an S.O.S,
when we start caring about a people
and a world that is not our own,
when we start finding others who bring out our best…
a chain-reaction of events without-end forms…
a new thing is born…
a new way of exploring
the infinite possibilities of the universe is launched…
a new sword to defend you from the dark of the world is forged.
Everything is a continuation…
everybody is a DJ – and every day we all remix what we see,
what we hear, what we feel, in our mind and in our imagination…
when we look around, when we want to journey to somewhere
with a definitive-destination, and we stop to think
about why any of us are here and what should be
our new source of motivation…
when we want a bit of the old and a bit of the new,
when we want both the contemporary and the retro,
then it doesn’t hurt to spin the wheel of inspiration
and dabble in a bit of artistic experimentation.
My Angel, my world, my love, my light,
my heart, my soul, my day, my night,
the muse of my poetry, the magic of my dreams,
the best thing that has ever happened to me,
the one person in the entire world
who gives my life meaning,
my sun, my moon, my obsession,
my addiction, my best-friend,
I truly, madly, and deeply love you
more than you could ever know, Melissa.
I spend every minute of every day thinking about you,
imagining the perfection of your beautiful face,
looking into your eyes, holding your hands,
kissing your lips, feeling your heart beating with mine,
living and breathing as-one, forever and always,
loving each-other, making memories,
holding each-other and never letting go,
giving one-another all that we have to give.
You care so much, you love so deeply,
you make me smile and you make me so happy,
and every day with you in my life
has been the best days of my life,
and I never want to be without you,
because I see, I know, I feel,
that within you the divine light of heaven shines bright,
and every day I cherish you
and I want to give you gifts of my heart-
as if every day were Valentines day,
Christmas day, or your birthday,
from night until day and from day until night.
Mark The Poet 