My Poem “Redux”

Worlds collide all the time…
things change every day…
stories begin and then come to an end -
sometimes without warning,
and without a satisfying conclusion…
the last word of someone is spoken,
the line of a character is uttered -
and then the curtain falls,
the lights go out,
and everything goes dark…
however, when some worlds collide,
a brand new world dawns,
a new wave of energy rises,
a story is retold in a new way,
and someone’s last words echo
and follow them into the next world
and the new phase of existence
that they find themselves now living.

The end of one road does not mean
the end of the journey in its entirety -
because when you leave a road
you have been on for a long time
you discover new paths
that could not have been seen before,
because you were unable to find them…
it is only when we are asked to reevaluate
where we have been, what we have done,
where we want to go, what we want to do next,
that we get the opportunity to go back -
physically, or perhaps figuratively speaking -
and undo what, and perhaps to whom,
we have been bound to for so long
and renew our relationship with things,
and with people, that has come to a point
when a test is warranted to make sure that
we are not in a situation where we are on our way
to somewhere we will not feel fulfilled, happy,
nor able to grow, learn, and see
that who and what are,
and who we are meant to be,
requires us to take the steps
that need to be taken.

The renewal of something that has
always been profound to you
can happen if you want it to -
but ultimately you might have to resist
what your head is telling you
and go with what your heart
tells you to do instead…
if you feel as if the destruction
of something, or somewhere -
even if that place only exists in your own mind
and is a fantasy world within a story -
myths and legends tell of times of war,
of sacrifice, and of end times;
however, at the end of every tale
of the end of every world,
there is always a next life that is promised,
there is always a future state that awaits,
there is always a hope of finding answers
to all the questions that you have asked in the past,
which speaks to the need of humanity
to not fear the unknown and embrace
what always has to happen -
and that is why I believe that nothing is impossible,
and everything and everyone might one day find out
that the universe isn’t what we think it is,
because the cycle of existence may be
some sort of cosmic phenomenon
that everything experiences,
and we are constantly rejuvenated,
reincarnated, and regenerated,
in a repeating and continuous process of redux.

My Poem “Adrift”

I don't know what happened...
I don't know how whatever happened happened...
I don't know when whatever happened happened, exactly;
however what I do know is that where I am now
feels more than a little familiar -
which is probably why I do not feel
as discombobulated as I might have done
if I were somebody else, or anybody else.

I have somehow, over time,
become accustomed to change,
to having to adapt to things on the fly,
and to thinking on my feet...
I have somehow trained myself
to just go with the flow
and not be shocked by anything that I hear,
nor by anything that I see...
I have somehow got used to
being someone who has no fear
of where I might find myself,
because I believe -
as I have always believed -
that wherever the path of life takes you
you find yourself where you need to be
and where you are meant to be for a reason...
I have somehow, multiple times, found myself
at a place, at a time, with certain people
who I thought I would always be with,
and then -
as if I have suddenly been whipped away
by the winds of a cyclone -
I find myself, once again,
far away from where I originally began
and walking the road before me alone.

What can any of us do
when the world around us feels as if
it has become inverted and as if
up is down and down is up?
What can any of us do
when we find ourselves
unable to return to a previous stage of life
because we have long-since moved on from it?
What can any of us do
when we know we have lost someone who we loved,
but who we were not meant to stay alongside -
because something was always going to make us realise
that what we shared would not always be enough?
What can any of us do
when what we thought we knew
about the way life is supposed to be
is questioned and tested,
and ultimately, one day, repeatedly,
we all find ourselves somewhere new,
with someone new, after making ourselves believe
that we would never again return
to where we were and we would never again
do what we did before -
but no one and no thing in this life
can ever truly stay adrift.

‘The Wolf In You’ by Mark Hastings – audiobook – Chapter Nine: “The Morning After”

In this episode, Mark recites Chapter Nine of his 2019 novel, ‘The Wolf in You’: “The Morning After”. ‘The Wolf in You’ is the sequel novel to Mark’s 2017 novel, ‘The Wolf in Me’, and continues the story of Olivia Hunter – a mother, a teacher, a lover, a werewolf still trying to find a way to walk a line between two different and divergent worlds, who has to fight every day to find the strength to do what must do, and the strength to be who and what she is destined to be. When Olivia Hunter and her daughter, Melissa, begin a new life, in a new house, in a new place, new and dangerous threats reveal themselves from the shadows and push Olivia and the Wolf within her to the limit; however, along the way, Olivia finds a new love in the shape of a mysterious and enigmatic man who is not what he seems, and who himself is fighting a fight for survival. You can read Mark’s poetry on his website http://MarkThePoet.Me, and you can purchase all of Mark’s books of poetry, short-story anthologies, and novellas on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3HjAJMC

A Poem A Day #429: Equinox

“Equinox” by Mark Hastings was taken from Mark’s poetry collection ‘Poet of the Multiverse’ which was published in 2022 by Zeloo Media. Check out more of Mark’s poetry online @ http://MarkThePoet.Me – all poems © Mark Hastings ● Buy Me a coffee @ https://www.buymeacoffee.com/MarkThePoet ● Check out the merch store on Redbubble: https://rdbl.co/3xWa4Rw

My Poem “The Crow”

When I walked out of my house this morning
I immediately found myself
staring into the dark eyes of a crow -
it was as if the crow knew something
about me and about what was going
to happen to me that I did not know...
I stared at the crow, as they stared back at me,
and then when I started walking towards
them they let me get perhaps two feet
before they decided to flap their wings
and take flight as quietly, as quickly,
and as effortlessly as could be...
I didn't think anything else of the crow
until just now, as a matter of fact,
as I wonder how long it will take
before I once again feel whole again,
and just like the old me;
however, I know that it is too late
for some things and that there are some things
that will forever remain in the past...
we are all a product of the choices that we have made
and the road that we walk upon
that is built upon our hopes, our dreams,
as well as our fears and our actions
that we can't take back...
when I woke up this morning
I knew that I had something waiting for me -
something that I knew would leave a scar
upon me that only I will wear
and that only I would know...
when I woke up this morning
I was given a message meant only for me
that when I think about it now
was as clear as clear could be -
and the messenger of this message
was who was waiting for me
outside my house this morning:
none other than the black bird
that is smarter than you could know,
and symbolically considered to be
the herald of change, transition,
transformation and new beginnings
that is The Crow.

My Poem “Changing Voices”

The voice of a writer, an artist,
a singer, a director, or a storyteller
naturally changes over the course
of their career, because,
like every muscle that anyone uses regularly,
the more that someone uses
their gift of experience and imagination
the more that they are able
to act, to articulate, to show,
or to say something without
even having to think that much about it -
because over time some things become effortless
and as a result are able to grow
and to morph into a state of being
able to reform into any vision or personification
of anything or anyone imaginable...
the voice of people slowly but surely
gets deeper as they grow older...
the voice of people mostly
gets wiser as they mature...
the voice of a person's internal dialogue
with themselves can get more insightful
when attempting to answer life-long
questions of meaning, reason, and choice...
the way that people communicate
with one another has been evolving
since our ancestors used to spend
their time sitting around a fire
while sharing their beliefs and opinions
about what they saw above them
when they looked up at the night sky,
as well as wondering what or who
created them and everything -
so it should be of no surprise
for anyone that everybody
over the course of their life
will experience what it is like
to hear their own voice changing.


A Poem A Day #35: Things Change

“Things Change” by Mark Hastings was taken from Mark’s poetry collection ‘Poet of the Sphere’ which was published in 2012 by Zeloo Media. Check out more of Mark’s poetry online @ http://MarkThePoet.Me – all poems © Mark Hastings

Happy Birthday to “The Wolf In Me”

It’s been four years since my first novel “The Wolf In Me” was published! Wow! I can’t believe how time moves so fast! “The Wolf In Me” was my first book to feature my character Olivia Hunter, which I subsequently wrote a sequel to and got published via my great publisher Zeloo Media, in 2019 called “The Wolf In You”.

I consider both “The Wolf In Me” and “The Wolf In You” as Volume One and Volume Two in the extraordinary and supernatural story of Olivia Hunter and I still love and look back fondly on the journey of discovery that I took with the character of Olivia Hunter in both of those books.

Happy Birthday to “The Wolf In Me”! 😊🐺📖📚✒📝

My Poem “Unbreakable Bond”

On Christmas evening,
as my family and I gathered together
around the hearth of our burning fire,
while enjoying some family time with one another,
I knew that after this day
nothing would ever be the same again
and we would never again
be able do this in the same way:
enjoy a Christmas meal together,
pull crackers with one another,
sit watching a favourite Christmas film of ours –
because what is going to happen next
will be unlike anything that either of us
have felt, heard, or seen before.

Every moment is unique,
every family has their own story,
every new day is a new dawn,
every time you wake up every day
we all have to reset the clock –
just as every player has to do the same
after they move a piece on a chessboard –
and adapt to whatever life has in store:
all the twists, the turns, the corners,
and the constant lessons that we
have to learn from like the constant
students of life’s school that we are.

Next year will be both the end
of one long chapter as well as
the beginning of another stage in life
that will impact so many peoples’ fate…
very soon there will be a sea change
and all predictions of the future
that have been shared will have to be remade;
however, even though I know
some things will be different,
I know now more than ever
that my family and I will always
have an unbreakable bond between us
that is unlike any other in so many
phenomenal and wonderful ways.

Podcast Announcement: The Mark Hastings Experience