The moment of first contact is very important... the moment of first contact is when everything is still new... the moment of every first contact is always different... the moment of first contact can be when the first links of a chain are forged together with something stronger than glue... the moment of first contact can be fraught with both mystery and sometimes confusion until all the waves and the creases of uncertainty have been smoothed out... the moment of first contact is when people first start finding out who someone else is - and sometimes first contact can also turn out to be last contact... the moment of first contact is a lesson for all the moments to follow... the moment of first contact can feel like forever, or it can be forgettable depending upon what interests and intentions are on a person's mind... the moment that you first meet someone you have never met before you have no idea, nor control, of how things will go, nor how things will turn out - but what you can do is hope for the best that whatever first contact you have will be memorable, in a good way, and will open the door for more contact in the future.
first
My Poem “First Christmas”
I don't remember my first Christmas; but then again, who does? However, I will always remember the first Christmases of others - and Christmas this year will always be special to me, because this year will be the first Christmas of the boy who smiles at me every time I smile at him: my new nephew, Milo. I envy my nephew, because every day he gets to experience things for the first time in his life - and very soon he will get to meet Father Christmas, he will get to receive his first Christmas presents, and he will be able to go out into the snow with his parents and help them build a snowman. This year will be the first time in a long time that our family has welcomed a new addition - and what better time is there for all of us to gather together and around the embodiment of our family's love and affection who is in our eyes nothing short of being an angel who we love nothing more than to see happy and smiling from ear to ear. This year has been a roller-coaster for many people around the world; but, for my family, my nephew Milo has been the miracle that I always knew he would be to us from the moment that he was born - and even though I know that he probably wont remember any of this time when he is older, I hope that he will always think back and know that he was always loved and that if our family had anything to say about it then Milo's first Christmas would be a time in all of our lives that we would never forget.
A Poem A Day #32: First Word
My Poem “Go!”
On your marks, get set, go!
Last year is now in the past,
the ball has dropped,
the fireworks have lit up the sky,
and now we all get to find out
more about the undiscovered
possibilities of life that do not yet know!
Living is what Life all about –
sometimes in life you have
got to go with flow and hold on
through all the twists and the turns
of the stream of time that wind
to eventually find what awaits you
on the other side of the new journey
that you started with a clear
and hopeful view of
where your thoughts,
your dreams, your choices,
and your actions would take you.
Life is a race that you can only
run at your own pace,
which you can only have an opinion of
if you choose to be a part of.
Life on planet Earth is a beautiful
sphere of infinite possibilities
spinning and hurtling through space
that everybody should learn to love
just like everybody should learn to except
the perfect uniqueness of their own face.
Life is not always a walk in the park,
and though you may not always be ready
for what it throws your way
as long as every day
you can say with your
hand on your heart that
you will try your hardest
to be the best version of yourself
that you can be then everything
that eventually happens
will absolutely have been won fairly
will have been well earned.
Like a runner at the instant
just after they hear
the BANG of a starting pistol,
everybody alive who has
the opportunity to live a good life
should always be fully committed,
ready, set, when they have to
tell themselves that they have got to
put their best foot forward and not stop
until they reach the finish line
of fulfilling their hopes and dreams,
from the moment that they hear the call: Go!
Happy New Year, everybody! 😊
My Poem “Birthplace”
After they are born,
most people do not return
to the place of their birth…
most people have no memory of,
nor any connection with,
the one place on Earth
where they arrived in this world…
it is only as we get older,
when we start asking questions
about who we are and where we come from,
that we find out more about
the place on our birth-certificate…
sometimes, for some people,
returning to the place where the first person
saw their newborn face is a difficult experience
and not one that they which to repeat…
where we are born is integral to who we will be,
how we will think, and the direction in life
that we will take…
everybody is shaped and molded by the world around them –
but the place where a person’s story begins
has an impact that cannot be overstated…
whether someone is born in a hospital,
on an airplane, in a forest,
in the back of a car, in a lift, or in a pool of water –
that first point of interaction with the world,
that first inhale of air,
the first sights, the first sounds,
the first light of life that we see
are the first things that welcome us
into this world of gravity,
meaning, purpose, interface –
and that is why I believe that there is
something special and meaningful
about the exact when and where
that was, and will always be,
our birthplace.
My Poem “American Princess”
Everybody has dreams when they are young
about who they want to be
and what they want to be when they are older…
everybody hopes and wishes to be happy in the future…
everybody has this perfect image in their mind
of who their perfect person is to them –
and to me the woman who I love is perfect
in every way and incomparable to anybody else,
because to me she is a princess,
and in my eyes she always will be
God’s gift to me and to the entire world.
Across a vast ocean, our eyes met for the first time…
over the vast distance between our two countries,
we first heard each others’ voice
and we first told one another that we loved each other…
I will never forget the moment
I first saw my American princess…
I will never forget how amazing, how magical,
and how incredible it felt when we touched each other
for the first time and we shared our first kiss…
I knew from the moment that I met my true soulmate
that I could never love another
and that we were meant to always be together.
Every day, people from all around the world,
who were born in different countries,
meet, become friends, and fall in love…
every day, people who come from different cultures
and who speak with different accents
find each other and instantly know
that they have found someone who lights up their life
like nobody else can, who they never want to live without…
every day, two people who are meant to be
have their unbreakable bond blessed…
every day, people find the one who for them
is like an angel from above…
every day, people feel things that they have never felt…
every day, people discover the meaning of their lives –
just as I did and just as I do over and over again
every day when I look into the eyes
of my gorgeous and beautiful American princess.
The Wolf in Me – “One Year Later…”
Hi there! 🙂
It has been a year to the day since my first novel, The Wolf In Me, was first published – and to mark the occasion, I thought that it would be fun to draw a sketch of my novel’s protagonist, Olivia Hunter, and also to the continue her story, in a way, in the form of a short journal entry that she would have written one year after the events that took place in the story that I wrote about her life and her struggle with finding her identity while also blessed with the gift/the curse of becoming a werewolf. The Wolf In Me is essentially a story about someone going through an extreme existential identity-crisis, you could say? However, it is also a story about survival, about loss, about actions and consequences, about spirit, and about holding on to and using the strength of your mind, your body, and your soul to overcome any and all of the testing situations that we all find ourselves in from time to time.
So, here is Olivia’s short journal entry, “One Year Later…”: *spoilers ahead for The Wolf In Me*
Happy The Wolf In Me Day! 🙂
-Mark
My Poem ‘Trailblazer’
Very few of us are the first
to do something…
most of us are following
in the footsteps of other people…
there are some people who can see things
that are beyond what they have always been taught
to believe in…
sometimes a one of a kind idea
can be enough to light
the touch-paper of consciousness
and reveal something so powerful
that in the wrong hands
could be truly lethal.
We are all the still pulsating and emanating light
of an epic spark – the moment of miracle
that began reality, a long time ago,
somewhere far-away…
orbs of fire, light, energy, and hope
shine every second in a dark-sky
all around us…
there are always signs,
there are always recommendations,
steering and influencing us all
to follow a certain path –
however, sometimes those paths
can be shrouded with the shadow of uncertainty…
the stars of the universe tell their own stories,
they have a life, and they burn brightly,
and they are secret keepers and teachers of all life –
and the most important lesson that they teach us is:
when life is as good as can possibly get,
then why would you rush any moment of it?
We follow others, others will follow us…
some roads are long and a clear-run
to a specific destination,
while others are bumpy and rough…
I have always wanted to be a pathfinder –
someone who knows how amazing
and intoxicating it can be
to be the discoverer of a thing
or a place of wonder…
it is always hard for anyone
to come up with a truly original idea –
however, I believe that in our own way,
and in our own fields of exploration,
with each step that we take
we become one of life’s true trailblazers.
‘The Wolf In Me’ by Mark Hastings, coming soon…
My first novel ‘The Wolf In Me’, coming soon…
My Poem ’35 years’
It’s been 35 years
since I first saw the light of the world…
it’s been 35 years
since I first made my first sound…
it’s been 35 years
since I first heard
and tried to say my first word…
it’s been 35 years
since I first looked up to the sky
and I saw the very first sculpture
that formed in the clouds…
35 years of thoughts,
35 years of dreams,
35 years of memories,
35 years of the Earth and me.
When I think back
there are things that happened
that now in retrospect
seem more like a dream than reality…
when I remember where I once was,
and with whom, it sometimes feels like
a story that I am thinking about writing,
or something that may one day be
the inspiration for future poetry…
when I see photos taken when I was a child,
or those taken just a year ago
on a bridge high above the Tennessee river,
every memory to me feels like
they just happened yesterday…
when I think about how things have changed for me,
and for everybody around the world,
I sometimes find myself speechless
and unable to know exactly what to say.
I cannot thank my amazing parents,
Bernadette and David Hastings,
for all that they have given me
every day since the day that I was born…
I cannot thank my beautiful fiance, Melissa,
enough for giving me the gift
every day of unlimited and unbounded love…
I cannot thank my loving family enough
for the smiles and for the world of happiness
that continues to refill
my floor-less ocean of emotion and happy tears…
I cannot thank everybody who I have known
throughout my life who have shared
moments with me over of the last 35 years.
Mark The Poet 