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My new book “The Wolf In You” is Out Now on Amazon and Barnes & Noble
books
Happy World Poetry Day!
Happy World Poetry Day, everybody! I have been writing poetry for over 11 years now, I have been publishing poetry books with my amazing publisher Zeloo Media for 7 years now, and in all that time I have written hundreds and hundreds of poems about absolutely everything – from Love to Life, from Birth to Death, about people still alive and well, and about those who we have sadly lost – and for me it has been a rollercoaster ride of inspiration and discovery during which I have learned a lot about life, the world, people, and myself. Writing is one of the most amazing expressions that an artist can commit to, and over time – like a musician – what you write changes and evolves, as does the writer in the process. I have changed, what I write about has changed – but what has never changed, and never will, is my passion for poetry. I was introduced to poetry by reading William Shakespeare’s sonnets – and after I read them all I was inspired to try my hand at writing my own poetry, and the rest (as they say) is history! I am a writer, and I will always be a poet… and over the years I have been fortunate to meet other poets and writers who are amazing in their own right. I write almost every day, everywhere I can… and I know for sure that when you are blessed with any kind of a gift I believe that you have to use your gift and practice your art every day to keep the instrument of your creativity sharp – even if you only write within your mind, in your dreams, on your phone, or in a notebook. I love writing! I love being a writer! I love writing poetry! And for me every day is World Poetry Day! But today is officially World Poetry Day – so, to everybody reading this, I would just like to say Happy World Poetry Day! 😊✏✒🖋🖊📝🗒📖
-Mark
Two years ago: ‘The Wolf In Me’
My book ‘The Wolf In Me’ came out two years ago this week, and I am still so proud of it and myself for writing it – because it was the first long form of fiction that I got published. Before ‘The Wolf In Me’, I had written hundreds and hundreds of poems and many short-stories – which ‘The Wolf In Me’ was supposed to be; however, when I was writing it, I just kept writing and writing and writing… because the story of Olivia Hunter and the Wolf compelled me to do so – to keep writing until I reached the end of this first chapter of her story. And who knows, there could be a second or a third chapter? We shall see! But, for now, ‘The Wolf In Me’ to me is a story of one woman/one werewolf’s journey and their struggle to survive through all the extraordinary, inexplicable, and supernatural entanglements that are thrown at them, not to mention the daily struggles of real life: losing your identity, finding an identity, bereavement, losing control, finding the strength within to carry on. ‘The Wolf In Me’ is the story of a woman who won’t give up no matter what, and it is a story that is close to my heart. Occasionally-dark, but full of strength and heart – that is how I would describe this first story of Olivia Hunter, which you can buy from Amazon today for the bargain price of $2.77 for the paperback and $1.25 for the Kindle version! Follow this link to get yourself a copy of ‘The Wolf In Me’ from Amazon.com! Enjoy! And say hello to Olivia for me when you meet her! 😊
Signed copies
If anyone reading this lives in the UK, near Birmingham City centre especially, if you are a fan of my work, and you would like a signed copy of either my book ‘The Dreamer and The Dream’ or ‘Playing God’ – then don’t hesitate to brave the rain and head to either Waterstones (where you will find a copy of ‘The Dreamer and The Dream’ near the Outdoor Pursuits section on the Ground Floor) or to the Library of Birmingham (where you may find a copy of my book ‘Playing God’ in the Metal & Metal Working Section, by a book about clocks). I’m not sure how long they will be where I left them – but perhaps, if you are lucky, you may be able to pick up a signed copy today on World Book Day! Happy finding! Happy reading! 😎 📖
*UPDATED*
And I Just made my own contribution to the Phone Box Library in Millisons Wood, near to where I live, by adding a signed copy of my books ‘Playing God’, ‘The Dreamer and The Dream’, and ‘The Eternal Boy’ for anybody who wishes to have a copy:
-Mark
My Poem “Reader’s World”
There are books about everything…
There are books about anything…
There are books of fiction,
and there are books of fact…
There are books about possible futures,
there are books about the past…
There are books about heroes…
There are books about aliens…
There are books about journeys…
There are books about friends…
There are books about food…
There are books about cars…
There are books about paths in life
that you should choose…
There are books about the planets
of our solar system,
and there are many books
about the question of whether
there was, and still is, life on Mars…
There are books about celebrities…
There are books about authors…
There are books about cities…
There are books about nature…
There are books about animals,
mammals, insects, reptiles,
forests, jungles, flowers, plants,
predators, herbivores, carnivores,
extinct species, and there are thousands of books
about history, about archaeology,
and about all the different big and small
varieties that there were of dinosaur…
There are books about films…
There are books about T.V. shows…
There are books about dreams…
There are books about clothes…
There are entire libraries filled
with books from floor to ceiling
that are a treasure troves
of different worlds…
There are second-hand bookstores
that are entrances to many different
places where you can find yourself,
where you can find someone, something,
somewhere to identify with…
There are bookshops which,
when you walk into them,
instantly give you this feeling
of being welcomed into a sanctuary
of fellow book-lovers, book-enthusiasts,
and book-buyers, who understand
why books and stories are so important to everybody –
from young to old, of every sex,
of every walk of life, of every skin colour…
Humanity is a species of storytellers…
Our world is planet of infinite stories…
Some humans are natural born artists
and sharers of feelings and experiences…
Earth and humanity have constantly
been living in a symbiotic relationship
with one another since the dawn of time –
and since our ancestors first looked up
to the stars of the night sky
we have imagined, dreamed, and told stories about
what else and who else could be out there
looking down upon us from above
as we look up at them –
and I have great confidence and optimism
that our fascination with what we know
and with what we don’t know
will never stop inspiring all of us
to seek and out discovery
something that we do not yet know…
It is our collective gift of curiosity
that has always driven the human heart
and soul to want to create worlds
and tell stories for others to read
and to learn from –
which is not a surprise to me,
since we know that since our species
first learned how to paint
and how to record what was on their mind for others to see
we have been members of a reader’s world.
Happy World Book Day!
Happy World Book Day, everybody! From me and my books – at least the books I have written – I just want to say thank you… thank you to anyone who has ever picked up a book, bought a book, read a book, read a story, read a poem – especially if you have read one of mine! I’m a writer, and I love to write both poetry and stories, because I am a dreamer – and just like John Lennon once said: “They say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one” – and, like John, I too believe that dreams, stories, poetry, art, music, can, and has, changed the world many times over… and one of the most enjoyable ways to go on a journey of imagination, and one of the most magical experiences you can ever partake in, you can find morning, noon, and night within a book. I believe that books are doorways to other worlds that we as a species need to read about, imagine, and dream about for our very survival on this planet. So, this World Book Day, and in the future, I would like everybody to occasionally put down their phones, their tablets, and pick up a book they have never read before, and discover a new world that is waiting to be found. Some of my favourite authors are Neil Gaiman (who I met in the 2014, and who I gave a copy of my first book ‘Poet of the Sphere’ to), Stephen king, Douglas Adams, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Lewis Carroll, C.S Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Ernest Cline, Stan Lee, and many many others – but I know that there are still an infinite number of writers and authors out there that I still need to discover. Anyway, have fun reading! And have a very Happy World Book Day! 😊 📖 📚
-Mark
My Poem “The Dark Tower”
I once spent an entire summer
with Roland Deschain,
“The Gunslinger”,
as we followed
the “Man in Black”
as he fled across the desert
of a world that had “moved on”,
in the pages of the books
of Stephen King’s epic
multi-novel adventure
“The Dark Tower” –
and it was as we journeyed
and followed the path
of the beams that led
to the tower that stands
and binds the worlds
of Stephen King’s stories together
that I discovered along the way
that the best stories
are like the most memorable dreams,
and that to find something
you may have been looking for
for as long as you can remember
sometimes the doorways
that we must walk through
we can only find
when we explore the world’s
that reveal themselves
under the covers –
and now I am preparing to enter
a movie-theatre so that I may return
to the world of Stephen King
and journey again across a desert
and through magical doors
with “The Gunslinger”
and return again to “The Dark Tower”.
My Poem ‘One Giant Leap’
Small steps… few words…
giant leaps… new worlds…
sometimes to do the extraordinary
we have to go to places
we have never been…
sometimes to see things
we have never seen
we have to rocket away
from what we know
until we feel the pull
of a new source of gravity…
writing and telling stories
is a gift that has always been me…
writing a poem is like expressing a daydream,
writing a story and inventing a brand new world
of unique characters and situations
is like nothing else:
to me it is like letting the inspiration wolf
inside me out so that it can howl loud and run free.
Things grow… things begin as one thing,
and when they are fully-formed
they are something else…
at first, when something or someone
is first learning to find their feet
and walk tall most of the time
they take things slow…
when something or someone looks
at their own reflection
and they recognize themselves for the first time
for what they are that is when
they know what they must do,
and they begin to feel things
that they have never felt about themselves.
An idea can start as a single sentence,
and then that sentence can grow into a poem,
and then that poem can grow
into being a short-story, a novella…
and then, before you know it,
that same single idea has become
a fully-fledged story of its own
of people, places, and experiences,
that are so potent and are so powerful
that they can fill an entire book…
it cannot be quantified,
there is no equation that you can follow…
a poem, a story, an idea can grow steadily
over time into being
a force of nature in and of itself
with its own ideas and voice
about where it should go…
when writing any kind of story
you need to allow whomever your story is about
to find their own heart, their own soul,
their own spirit…
every story has a beginning, and an end –
but, sometimes, there is no way of knowing
how, when, and where, until you take
a step back from it and you allow it
to talk to you from far away
as well as up-close and personal.
I have written a story…
I have written a book…
I have spent hours, days, months,
writing, reading, editing, understanding,
and learning about what who my characters are
and going on a journey of discovery and identity
exploring a different, but familiar, world –
and, most importantly, I have not been afraid
to take risks into a sometimes dark
ocean of imagination and wading deep…
some times you have to learn to not think
too much about what you don’t know
and stop worrying about what you might find
when the time comes for you
to let your mind, your pen, your fingers,
and your words do the talking
when you decide to take your life’s small steps
and turn them into one giant leap.
Mark The Poet 