Music matters to so many people…
Music can change people in so many ways…
Music is so important and so impactful
to so many people that it can help create
a bubble of peace, joy, inclusivity,
and isolation from the rest of the world…
Music can draw so many people together
to share so many emotions, feelings,
and memories that will last forever -
that is why so many people buy tickets
to attend concerts and music festivals
that won’t take place a long time into the future…
Music speaks to something inside each and every one of us -
especially certain songs by certain artists,
musicians, and groups who captured
the imagination of their audience and their fans
at a time and at a place when they were
looking for a wave of inspiration to carry them forward
and through a particularly formative
and challenging time in their life…
Music should always come before everything else
when it comes to why people create it
and why people choose to listen
to some songs and to some music on repeat,
over all the countless others,
and beyond how an artist or a musician might appear;
however, artists and musicians do have
a duty to respect the boundaries of the stage,
and those who have paid to see them perform,
and not let their ego overshadow their art -
but some artists like to play a part for so long
that it is hard for them to change their ways…
Music and sound is obligatory, everlasting,
and ever-present in every moment of the universe -
and the more that we listen for what is always there
the more that we understand that music and sound
has always been a powerful driving force
for people to do what their heart tells them to do
and connect them with the music and the sounds
of the consciousness of the universe
that resonates with the heartbeats of everyone
and the pulse of every star and every world.
Blog
My Poem “Magic”
I have always been a fast writer…
I have always been a slow reader…
I have always been a fast typer…
I have always been a slow listener…
I have always been able to see, to hear,
to feel the sound and the rhythm of words
and be spellbound by their ability
to make sense of the world,
while being aware and fascinated
by the fact that each word
has their own story to tell of their origin…
I have always been curious about
how a word can come to mean
so much to so many -
even now, I am wondering:
What was the first word?
Who invented the first word?
When, where, and why
was the first word uttered?
What did the first word mean?
And, after it was first used,
was the first word used repeatedly
and to the extent that it was understood
and considered to be something
that someone generations in the future
would be wondering about?
I wonder - that is what I do…
I wander - that is also something that I do…
I watch, I wait, I weave silent tapestries
of poetry within my mind,
as the world races by…
I welcome the opportunity to be inspired
by whatever angel wishes to sit upon my shoulder
and whisper into my ears -
because I know how intense
and powerful an idea can be,
and I know what can be achieved
and where you can go
if you decide to make a move that you know
will influence the rest of your life.
In my time, I have met wizards…
in my life, I have met witches…
in my memories, I see things
that even now I am still trying to believe…
in my dreams is where and when
I face my fears, and every day I feel compelled
to bring people together
and to be a guide for others to follow -
just as the Messenger God, Hermes,
once instructed me to be one night
in a vision that I still remember so vividly…
in my heart I have always hoped for the best,
and I have always wanted the world to be
whatever those who work hard want it to be -
but my faith in some heroes and some role-models
renowned for their gift to touch humanity
with their artistic abilities
has on occasion been proven to have been misplaced,
and I have had to reexamine, reevaluate,
and revise my opinion on those
who have been exposed as devilish individuals…
I have always been known to be one who -
even when seemingly surrounded by uncertainty -
chooses to find a way out of wherever I find myself,
and I always start by choosing to never panic;
because I know that I always have a secret weapon
that will always keep me from
falling into a void of no return,
and there is no other word for what I know to be possible,
nor another way to describe what lies within me
and a select group of artistic individuals,
other than the ephemeral and overwhelming
sound and sensation that we have all felt
when we have witnessed something
that could only be captured, in a word,
to be nothing other than “magic”.
My Poem “New Conclusion”
When I began this journey,
I didn’t realise that I was on a path
that would change everything about me…
when I was young I didn’t realise
that everything has a time limit,
and I couldn’t conceive of the notion
that everything didn’t last forever…
when I used to read books,
when I used to watch movies,
when I used to go outside
and ride my bike around my neighbourhood,
I used to believe that I could continue to do
and to enjoy doing certain things without end -
because I was uneducated to the reality
of the last time you might get to do something,
as well as the last time you might get to see someone.
When I left school and I first heard the news
that someone I knew, a friend of mine, had died
I was so shocked, I couldn’t make sense
of what I was hearing -
especially after I was told that my friend
had taken his own life because he couldn’t take
any more of being bullied for how he looked;
and even after all these years
I still wish that there was something
that I could have done to prevent what happened…
when I think back upon all the things that I have done,
when I think back upon all the places that I have been,
when I think back upon all the people that I have met,
it is hard to remember everything
as well as hard to remember everybody -
however some things and some people
we could never forget, even if we tried,
because sometimes things happen in our life
that mean more to us than we think
and the memory of them remains
ingrained within our consciousness
and is brought back to life within our dreams.
When I sleep at night, I know that I always dream -
but when I awaken I do not always remember
what I saw, nor who I encountered,
while within the world between worlds
where we all go to and are connected to
every moment of every day,
whether we all realise it, or not.
When I started to feel like I was a part
of something bigger than myself,
when I started to see signs telling me
that things in life weren’t always
as random as they seemed to be,
when I started to get the feeling
that I had a purpose in life that was mine and mine alone -
but which would see me doing things
and meeting certain people for a reason -
that was when something happened to me
that made me want to go seek out, explore,
wonder, learn, be inspired,
and not take a moment for granted…
whenever I have found myself at a place
and at a time when I have been taken aback
by the fact that I have been in the same position before,
and I have realised that I am continuing a cycle
and a trend that I thought would never happen again -
the same as I had seen other people repeat also -
I always promise myself that I will learn
from my mistakes of the past
and not repeat them in the future,
and I do try to be better than I was
at predicting the outcome of something before it happens.
Whenever I think about life and my place in the world,
the reason why I am here, and why things happen,
I have learned to be as philosophical
in my thinking and in my reasoning as I possibly can -
but, as always, just when you think you know everything,
just when you think you have seen everything,
just when you think you have heard everything,
something or someone will inevitably surprise you
and make you question whether something was always what it was,
whether someone was who you always thought they were,
and then, as before, life asks you
to look again at what you think you know,
take another guess at what is really going on,
and see what new conclusion you can come up with.
My Poem “Dreams Come True”
As far back as I can remember,
I have always been a creator…
when I was younger,
I used to draw, I used to paint,
I used to use colour to express myself –
however, for some time now
I have used words and language
to paint a picture within someone’s mind
of what I see, what I believe, what I think about,
and what excites my imagination in such a way
that I am inspired to write about something
that I have never written before.
As far back as my memory goes,
I have always been someone who
can never stop asking questions
and looking for answers that I know
are there to be found –
like a detective, I have always believed
that if you keep going then every day
you will discover something new
that will further unveil a new layer
to life’s endless possibilities,
mysteries, secrets, and stories.
When I was younger,
I always gravitated towards,
and I was always spellbound by,
the characters that I saw in films and TV shows,
as well the songs that I heard on the radio
that all seemed to be conveying something
deep and profound about the human experience
that made me feel something akin to a spiritual awakening:
because what I saw, and what I heard,
touched and implanted something inside of me
that would take years to grow into
whatever it is that sustains me
and never stops inspiring me.
As far back as I can tell -
though I was not always as gifted
as I am these days at grasping the reasons
why things happen and why people do what they do –
I have always believed that
the best things in life are always
the things that make us happy
and fill us with joy and love,
and if we are lucky enough
to one day find certain people in the world
who are willing to take a chance on us,
and give us a little bit of their time,
to show them who we are
and what makes us different
from everyone else,
then anything is possible,
anything can happen,
and anything that can be imagined
can be made real and can change the way
that people perceive the world,
as well as the universe.
When I was a child, everything –
time in particular –
seemed to take forever to change;
however, these days it feels like
every moment seems to fly by
and I don’t get enough time
to take something for what it is,
or what it could be,
and see where it takes me,
because there is always
something else to do,
somewhere else to be,
and there is always news of someone else
who was there one minute
but who seemingly, in the blink of an eye,
left us without a word for the world to come.
As far back as any of us
can go back in our thoughts,
and as far back as any of us can sometimes
see echoes of what we have done,
where we have been,
and who we have known throughout our lives,
there is nothing that is more important, significant,
nor a more powerful part of our existence
than the fact that we get to live
and we are free to do
whatever we choose
with what we are gifted with
to make up our own minds about
what we want our future to be
and what we need to do to make
our words and our dreams come true.
My Poem “Square One”
Just like in the game of Monopoly
when everybody first arrives in this world
they start with the word “Go”,
and then they roll the dice
that will decide for them
where the game they are
involved in will take them –
and the rules of life
are similar to the rules of a game:
each of us start somewhere,
each of us are given a name,
each of us are given choices,
and as we learn more about
who we are and what motivates us
we find ourselves being pulled
down particular paths,
by particular things,
by particular people,
into making decisions
that will effect the rest of our lives.
No one in this life
is immune to influence –
because our brains are driven
by stimulation and information,
even from a young age…
no one can stop themselves
from making the “wrong choice” –
because up until a choice or a move
has been played to its conclusion
there is no way of knowing
the outcome of anything…
everybody dreams of becoming
something or someone when they are a child –
something or someone
who they see and want to emulate;
but I wonder how many people
actually became who they wanted to be
when they grew up,
if they did what they wanted to do,
and if they became who they wanted to be
when they were a kid?
Life has a way of making certain things happen,
while other things never get off the drawing-board…
people have a way of changing
their minds more frequently than they would think under certain circumstances…
the terrain that people think
will always stay the same
has a way of being remade
that cannot simply be returned
to how it used to be –
because nothing, no one,
and nowhere stays untouched
by outside influences.
From the moment that
the necessary components of our planet
coalesced and began to slowly
but surely evolve into
the wild testbed of experimentation
that it will always be,
even before humanity entered
the mix and started effecting
the world by any and all means,
Earth has been visited from space
many times by its fellow
celestial cousins
and it has continued to
thrive and go with the flow
of whatever course
plays out upon its surface.
Everything and everybody
begins their journey with
whatever and whomever
they have at their disposal,
and then, before long,
everything and everyone
finds themselves being
taken to places that they
do not choose to be –
but places where others want them to be;
and that is when the seeds
of rebellion are first sowen,
that is when the first ideas
of defiance start to get louder and louder –
until every individual decides to do something for them
and for no one else,
and that is when it starts:
that is when the power of chance
can start to change the map
of the world within our mind
and start to alter our opinion
of what we are here to do
and who we are supposed to be.
We all think that we will not
make the mistakes that similar people in our shoes have made in the past…
we all think that we can somehow
be different from other people
if we have “more” of something
than someone else…
we all think that we might get to see
something that no one else has ever seen,
or experience something
that no one has ever done before;
but each of us discover
that we are all constantly stuck
in a loop of repetition
that is hard to break free of –
especially when we find out that
there are powers in the world
that wish to control others
into thinking and believing
that one way is the only way
and supercedes all others…
we all think that there is a way
to see something before it happens,
and perhaps prevent the inevitable –
but time and time again
each of us are given a wake up call
that reminds us that some things
will always happen
because they were always meant to happen:
including proceeding down a path
for as long and for as far as we can
before realizing that we have
actually returned to where we were
and have to start over again
from Square One.
Mark The Poet 