It always feels good to reconnect... it always feels good to go back to somewhere you haven't been in a while... it is always good to see people who you have always felt a connection with... it always feels good to do something you haven't done for a while, but from the moment that you start doing something again, or from the moment that you see someone again, it feels like no time has passed - because almost immediately your muscle memory starts to kick in and deeply ingrained instincts begin to rise to the surface of your mind palpably fast. It always feels good to pick up and read a book that you haven't read since you were a child and instantly notice certain details about certain characters that you might have previously missed - and, because of the intervening time, it is as if the way that you once imagined people to appear in your minds eye has changed and evolved just as we all change throughout the many chapter of our life... it always feels good to hear a song that will always define an important moment in your life that ever time you hear it has the power to be able to transport you back in time to when and to where you felt affected by it for the first time. It always feels good to start a new adventure that you immediately know will be filled with experiences that will shape you, will mould you, and ultimately caste you in such a fundamental way that going forwards nothing will ever be the same... it always feels good to open your mind... it always feels good to let your thoughts and your ideas speak for themselves... it always feels good to find others like us so that we do not feel like we are alone... it always feels good to not have to worry and to feel free to let whatever is inside of us all out.
freedom
My Poem “Walk Free”
Beauty all around…
nature in full display…
the call of the wild…
as I stare at the blue sky,
the tall trees, the green fields,
I am once again inspired by everything
and by everyone who I meet
who have also chosen to take to the trail
and travel by using the strength
of their mind as well as their feet.
I feel like I know every blade of grass…
I feel like I recognise every leaf…
I feel like I have an emotional
connection to my path…
I never feel like I am walking alone –
because whenever and wherever I walk
I feel like I am walking alongside fellow
poets, artists, and philosophers
who have all shared at one time or another
a deep and a profound belief
that everything and everyone is inextricably linked.
There is more to what makes life
what it is than we could ever know…
there is more to the nature of the
universe
than anyone could ever accurately
conceive nor put into words…
there are things that we feel
deep inside of us that we do not show
until we are breathing in the fresh air
of nature, and who we are, who we were,
and who we will always be meet –
because there are times and there are places
when and where within our minds
we communicate with everything
and everyone around us in ways
that are engrained into our true nature,
like the rings of a tree –
which can be awakened at any time
that we choose to step outside and walk free.
My Poem “Liberty will never fall”
Humanity has lived through times
when we have looked at what was going on
around the world and we have had to
ask ourselves: what is going to happen next?
What does this all mean?
Is this the end of the world?
Times of plague and pandemic:
times of financial crisis; times of war;
times of terrorism – and in recent history,
apart from what we are all
living through right now,
I would have to say that the terrorist
attacks on the United States of America,
on September 11th, 2001, would have to be,
and will always be considered as,
one of the single most destructive
and world changing events
that we have ever known
and which will never be forgotten.
The events of that Tuesday afternoon
in September of 2001, when thousands
of people were killed as a result of terrorism,
have been ingrained within my mind,
and the world, for 19 years now –
and I can still remember exactly what I saw,
what I heard, and what I felt when
I witnessed, along with the world,
the last moments of life of innocent people;
and the subsequent attacks that have
taken place upon people who have done
nothing to nobody, as a result of a
ideology of fear, are deployable, cruel,
nonsensical, and grotesque.
One thing that should have been
made abundantly clear by now
to those who hate others so passionately,
by those who have been attacked
but who still continue to stand
and who still continue to the fight
the scurge of tyrrany that continues
to blight societies all around the world:
freedom is a gift, and nobody has the right
to spread fear, to intimidate others,
and to kill people who only want to be
who they were brought up
to want to be.
We all live on an interconnected world,
and we all have the right to think,
to dream, and to wish for things that we want;
but actions have consequences,
the world is not always simple to navigate,
and no one can do anything with impunity,
and if every peace-loving person works
together for the betterment of all mankind
then there will come a day
when the true gift of a free society,
liberty, will continue to rise
and will never fall.
My Poem “The Red Kites”
Against the bright blue of the morning sky
I see the dark silhouettes of many
birds of prey circling above
as they use the warm air currents
to fly, to glide, to quiver, and to hover
over the trees and the fields below –
and it took my a while to realise
who I was looking up at
and what I was looking up at,
however I instantly knew
that were not eagles, they were not hawks,
they were not seaguls, nor crows –
but it was not until I saw
the unmistakable reddish-brown
of the birds body and the black-streaked
pale grey feathers of their head,
and the forked feathers of their tail,
that I knew the identity of whom
and what I was looking at
and who and what were looking down upon me:
Red Kites, soaring like nothing
I had ever seen before,
gently drifting majestically
like princes and princesses of the air,
seemingly without a care, hunters,
acting on instinct and just being
who and what they were meant to be,
at the same time embodying the greatest
wish of life: the gift to be free –
and it was as I watched them
circle high above my head
that I wished I could be
just like the Red Kites,
because as they soared so effortlessly
they seemed as if they were like
something out of a dream
from my childhood and from a world
that my imagination brought to life
every day and every night.
My Poem “The Gift of Freedom”
The beat of the raindrops falling
outside my bedroom window
sounds like someone is playing
a drum solo of some kind,
and the tune that I hear
is one that is unique to my ears
because it is being slowly conducted,
created and performed by nature itself
randomly and yet beautifully
and at a time when individual
creativity and ingenuity
seems to be at its most prized.
Grey clouds obscure the blue sky above…
people queue in their droves to go
shopping at their preferred supermarkets
and convenience stores –
however, there are definitely less people
walking, cycling, and driving from place to place
than there normally would be…
people are naturally trying to use
their time inside their homes wisely
by making things and by doing daily chores
while spending the majority of their time
surrounded by the same familiar four walls.
It’s good to do things…
it’s good to have routines…
it’s good to focus your attention
on what you can do to keep
the light with you and within
everybody around you shining…
it’s good to start something,
it’s good to finish something,
it’s good to repeat something,
it’s good to find meaning in something –
because sometimes by doing something
you can discover that that which
you have been looking for
has been present in your life
and has been secretly
inspiring your dreams for some time…
sometimes it is not until people
have to surrender to living a life
of incarceration, lockdown,
isolation and quarantine
that they realize what the true gift
of freedom is and what it truly means.
My Poem “The Individual”
Some seasons are easier
to get through than others…
some periods in our lives
are easier to ride out than others…
some days are more eventful than others…
some people are more comfortable
being themselves when they feel
like they have nothing to prove,
no one to prove anything to,
and no one to be other than
a friend, or a brother,
or a sister, or a son, or a daughter,
or a lover, or just someone
who will listen to someone else
who needs nothing more than
to be heard, to be understood,
and to be given the opportunity
by another person to let
themselves breath and be seen
without any kind of a mask,
a façade, or a filter.
People love being free…
freedom means everything
to those who appreciate
and understand why being
free is such a gift,
because for some people
around the world freedom is not
an guaranteed…
being free to believe
what you want to believe,
being free to do what you want to do,
being free to say what you want to say
has been restricted in some parts
of the world because some people
have misused it, they have abused it,
and they have taken it for granted…
being given the opportunity
to be able to live, to breath,
to see, and to enjoy the natural gift
of infinite wonders that is our beautiful planet
is something that so many people
do not choose to recognise
until someone is awakened
to a particular vision that opens up
a door within them that leads
to a part of them that can grasp
what nature has been constantly
trying to tell them and show them.
Ignorance of something or someone
is one of the most important
components in spreading fear –
which is why ignorance and ignorant people
are usually the most uneducated of people
because they actively and deliberately
choose to switch off from what is happening
to other people and would rather
live in a bubble in which their version
of the world is all that matters.
We all live in one of the most
interconnected times in human history –
and yet there are still people
who choose to not see things
from another person’s just as valid
and perhaps opposing point of view
just in case they find out
that there is more common ground
than is believed possible,
which is why meeting people
who live completely different
lives from you is important in
gaining a more fuller world view
and to discover new and valid ideas
that they never knew…
there are always multiple sides
to an argument, to a story,
to a people, to a country –
and it is the responsibility
of all free thinking people
to be progressive enough,
to be evolved enough,
to be individualistic enough
to take everything as it comes to them and to strive to be uniquely themselves
instead of just being predictable
and never stopping to think, to do,
nor to be anything, or anybody,
other than one of a crowd.
My Poem “Train of Thought”
It’s never too late
to start doing something…
it’s never too late in the game
to change what you are already doing…
it’s never too late
to start behaving differently…
it’s never too late
to learn from your mistakes
and to make use of what you have learned –
because it is the act of being
transformed by what you may have seen,
felt, heard, and experienced
that is at the heart
of all forms of poetry.
There is no way to know everything,
there is no way to see everything,
there is no way to go everywhere –
but there is always a way and a time
to try your hand, to use your mind,
to feel with your heart
and with your soul at doing something
and give it all that you can,
if you are willing to live your life
as if by the roll of a dice
and choose to do as you dare.
It is in our nature as human beings
to want to learn and to explore…
it is an intrinsic motivation of many
to seek out, to share, to live,
and to implore others to follow
their lead and attempt to find
an outlet to drive the reasons
for all the choices that they make…
it is in all of our nature
to want what is best for ourselves
as well as for those around us
and to communicate our true intentions
to those who matter the most to us
before it is too late…
it is in the collective psyche
of humanity to want to be
free of judgement, anguish, and pain.
It is by following that voice,
that draw, that gravity, that call
that awakes us sometimes
in the middle of the night
that compels so many people
to make real and personify
their dreams in order to prove
to ourselves and the world
that though we may not all
think the same way all the time
we all have so much to gain
from occasionally switching lanes
in the way that we believe things are
and sometimes taking a chance
on a stream of consciousness
and stepping outside
of the frame of confinement
and by leaving the carriage
of the ordinary and the every
train of thought.
My Poem “Outlaws”
When I was a kid
I was always fascinated by
legendary heroes and characters
such as Dick Turpin, Robin Hood,
Sinbad, Zorro, and many other
renowned outlaws of their
respected times and societies,
who rebelled against what
they saw as a dictatorial
state of being that people
were being forced to live in,
who decided to rob from the rich,
deliver to the poor, and fight
for the right of the innocent
to live free and happy
and content in the knowledge
that there was someone
looking out for their interests
and watching over them.
Heroes of conscience
who live every day of their life
fueled by the hope that they can
make a difference and right
the wrongs of tyranny
have been featured in so many
of the tales that humanity
has been telling itself for centuries,
and even in our modern age
those same characters still
embody and have associated with them
a symbolism and an enduring example
of just how powerful the human spirit
can be when it finds itself facing off against injustice.
There will always be injustice in this world
and there will always be a place
in the stories that we all tell ourselves
for extraordinary individuals
who have the courage of their convictions
to put the needs of the many
before the needs of the few
and commit to enacting
their own form of rebellion
by staying true to a code of behaviour that in their eyes of the oppressor
might be considered
the actions of an outlaw.
My Poem “Between Sunrise and Sunset’
On Tuesday, September 11th, 2001,
the eyes of almost everyone on Earth
became fixed upon their television screens
which were showing the shocking
and horrific scenes that were being
played out in the land of the free,
the home of the brave –
and the population of the world,
especially the people of the
United States of America,
have not forgotten, nor will ever forget,
where they were and what they were
doing on the day that the two towers
of the World Trade Center,
in New York City, were attacked from above
and tragically fell to the ground
taking the lives of everybody within them.
Tuesday, September 11th, 2001,
is a day, a month, a year,
seared into my memory
and I will never forget the tears
that fell from my eyes
when I watched the last
moments of life of people whose
only crime was to wake up that morning
and wish to better their lives
and the lives of other people –
and from that day on,
and forevermore, we – the world –
have not been the same,
and every day we mourn.
Whenever we witness something devastating –
like the terrorists attacks of
Tuesday, September 11th, 2001 –
everybody always wishes
that they could turn back the clock
and change history in some way
so that all the people who were lost
could be brought back to life –
but, unfortunately, the terrorist
attacks that happened on
the East Coast of the United States
of America, on September 11th, 2001,
will forever leave a scar
of memory on all of us
who are living witnesses
to a world at war with itself;
however, I still remain hopeful
that one day the entire world
will wake up to the fact
that the true meaning of life is to love
and everybody deserves the gift
to be able to live in a world without fear
in which everybody is able
to do the best that they can,
to live freely, to live happily,
and to make the most
every moment of every day
between the first light of sunrise
and the last light of sunset.
Never forget.
Mark The Poet 