The best reason to do anything is always for the love of doing something: giving someone a smile, asking someone how they are, giving someone the gift of your time, showing your appreciation to someone for sharing a small insight into who and what makes them just as worthy of taking an interest in as the nearest or the furthest of stars. Not everybody is lucky to be able to have a career doing what enlivens their thoughts and makes their heart throng like the thunder of a lightning storm... not everybody can do what everybody else can do as perfectly, proficiently, nor perhaps as poetically - but I guarantee that when someone is home alone, without any eyes upon them, everybody who has ever been as spellbound by something as extraordinary as a magic trick has been able to do and to mimic another person's talent and as a result has found their own individual hidden gift or secret accent. Everybody has that song that they secretly do a little dance to when no one else is around... everybody has that characteristic about someone else that they secretly admire and wish they could embody and emulate simply by feeling the vibration of someone's quintessential sound... everybody has that person, or a small group of people, who they believe they can see through to the soul of and who can return the favour because a bond of experience that was once forged and was destined to always be eternally rich... everybody has an indefinable electric eccentricity of wonder about them that they harbour within that occasionally sees the light of day when and where they have the opportunity to be and to do whatever they want, for no reason other than simply for the love of it.
eccentricity
My Poem “Brum”
I love walking around this city…
I live walking from one side to the other –
from the China Town on the East side
to the Jewellery Quarter on the West Side –
and exploring all the sights and sounds
that make this bustling city
the city of inclusion that it is,
that has waiting around every corner
a wealth of inspiration
to fuel the imagination
and drive the pen of any poet…
there are mesmerising murals
of artistic expression to be found
painted upon the walls.
There are diamonds of beauty
to be found in even the darkest
of alleyways and streets…
there are towers of metal and glass
standing alongside old brown brick
buildings that used to house
so many renowned staples of
manufacture and innovation
in many different and varied forms –
from transport to metallurgy –
that originated from the heart
of this great country
and to this day still drive
the engine of this country.
There are places of natural beauty…
There are places of sacredness…
There are landmarks that define this city
which every visitor is advised to see,
document, and share that cannot
be found anywhere else –
for example: the bronze statue of
“The Birmingham Bull” that stands outside
one of the entrances to
the Bullring shopping centre,
the sprawling canal system,
the world-renowned Birmingham
Indoor and Outdoor Markets,
as well as all the other quintessential
gifts that the city of Birmingham
adds to the British people’s
diverse mixture of history, culture,
languages, accents, and individuality.
Birmingham has been the birthplace
of many public figures who have risen
to a state of recognition over the years…
ever since it was founded
Birmingham’s many city streets
have been where all kinds
of people have entered the public
imagination and have made
a name for themselves…
Birmingham has always boasted
having several unique individuals
who have never been afraid to make their
uniquely sounding voice be heard
far and wide, morning, noon, and night –
and every day I have witnessed
the people and the different quarters
of this city sparkle, shine,
emanate, and embody what
puts the “Great” in Great Britain –
the city that I know and
which have walked many miles around:
the city of Birmingham.
My Poem ‘Eccentric’
Everybody has their own quirks of personality;
everybody has something about them
that wonderfully singles them out;
everybody has the rite
to wear the crown of their own reality;
everybody is like the weather of the world –
depending on the temperature,
depending on the colour,
depending on the time of the day, or the year,
the forces of nature
and the thoughts of everybody close by
can combine to reveal wonderful
and phenomenal personal eccentricities.
I love the eccentric;
I adore the quirky;
I love the one of a kind
that are poetic and epic;
I adore the thrill of discovering a new find;
I love the unconventional;
I adore the extraordinary;
I love the language of the true individual;
I adore an oddity.
Everybody in the world is sometimes obsessive;
everybody on the planet is sometimes compulsive;
everybody has their own version
and vision of perfection;
everybody knows how to bring an oasis of peace
to a tumultuous storm of disorder.
Life is an infinite spectrum;
free-spirited and care-free people
are a bubbling cocktail
of many infusions of taste and inspiration –
like a mirror of life
reflecting the world back on itself;
life is a never-ending exploration;
the more natural that something feels
can only be something that is good for your health.
Some people thrive when in the spotlight;
some people would rather live in the shade;
some people are secret masters of life;
some people just want to heal the world
one person at a time –
even if the only thing that they can offer
is a smile to anyone and everyone
who needs one every single day.
There are some people
who like formality and predictability,
over improbability;
there are some people who act with serenity
when everybody else may have already descended
into a state of unbridled panic;
there are some people
who will never change who they are,
who will be amazing in more ways
than they will ever know,
always and indefinitely;
there are some people who are magnetic,
energetic, synergetic, kinetic, poetic,
who are in their own way prophetic –
because they are so wonderfully eccentric.
Mark Hastings 