This episode is a part of Mark’s “A Journey Through Poetry” – a personal reflection of his life as a poet, a writer, and a author – in which he recites a different poem from every one of his poetry collections. In this episode Mark recites his poem ‘Wormhole’, from his poetry collection The Eternal Boy, and he gives some insight and some context into why he was inspired to write this poem in particular.
Imagination
My Poem “A Meeting of Minds”
Whether I am on holiday,
in the countryside,
or dashing through
the streets of a city,
I am always on the move
physically, mentally,
emotionally, temporally -
and as I move through space,
I also experience the sensation
of moving through time...
whether I am looking out across the sea
as the sun rises on the horizon,
or while watching the ripples
of the raindrops upon a pond,
I can remember instances
of insight from the past,
as well as feel this instinct
about what awaits to reveal itself
at a point in the future.
Whether I know it, or not,
every time a burst of sunlight
touches my face,
I believe that a message
from another reality of the universe
arrives and instills within me
a fragment of knowledge,
or perhaps a question to be answered
that I had not yet thought to ask...
whether I am looking out my bedroom window at the sky,
or whether I am looking down at the ground
far above the clouds
from my seat as a passenger on a plane,
I find myself able to connect
with something beyond me -
something extraordinary
that feels different from everything
and everyone else around me -
which makes me smile,
remain hopeful,
and never afraid.
Whenever I am using my imagination,
or whenever I am walking around
and I find myself somewhere
I did expect to be,
I am always aware that what
I am drawn to I arrive at
for a reason that I may not
immediately be able to explain -
but one that can definitely be explored...
whenever, wherever,
whatever I have learned about
something, someone, somewhere,
I always retain the most important,
the most inspiring,
the most poetically
meaningful impression of,
and whenever and wherever
I find myself with the luxury
of having the means and the moments
to interpret with words
what came to me originally
like a flash of light
made up of layers of colour,
I always take the time gifted to me
to share the details of what see,
what I know, and what has always
symbolised the one thing
that I have been certain of
since I first watched the sun become eclipsed and then shine once again.
Everything in life has a beginning,
everything in life has an end,
everything is what it is
so that everything and everyone
can remain synchronsly
and symbiotically linked -
more than anything or anyone
could possibly imagine,
or could ever see with their own eyes,
nor without a vision of something
that defies all that we think
we know about life;
however, there are moments when
stars and planets align,
and when those who are attuned
to a higher frequency of perception
are allowed to have a meeting of minds
with whatever, or whomever,
made everything that we know
and so much more than
could ever be dreamed.
The Pathfinder: The World of My Stories
My Poem “Follow Your Heart”
Follow your heart,
even if your head tells you not to...
Follow your heart,
even if you do not at first know
what it wants you to do...
Follow your heart,
because your heart is literally
what drives you...
Follow your heart,
because your heart is
the one thing about you
that has been there for you
and has kept you alive
throughout everything that you
have had to go through.
Our imagination is where we dream
and where we find our ideas
for what we want to make real...
our memories are the roots of the garden
where the flowers of the seasons
to come of our life will grow...
our relationships, how we are perceived,
and how we perceive others,
are what we use to build the picture
within our mind that we hold on to
and constantly refer back to...
our achievements -
personal, as well as professional -
are what act as lighting rods
that ground us whenever we may
find ourselves surrounded by
chaos on an unimaginable scale...
our intentions are not always
going to be selfless,
because everybody is human
and sometimes selfish -
but as long as no harm follows
in the wake of our actions
then we should all sometimes
explore opportunities with the same
enthusiasm of life as that of a child
that can sometimes manifest itself
spontaneously and out of the blue.
There is always a reason for everything...
There has to be more than meets the eye...
There is always something that
captures our imagination
more so than something else...
There has to be a first,
and there has to be a last -
but in between those two extremes
there will always exist a world
of possibilities and poetry
where and when so much can be
witnessed, felt, read, heard,
thought about, and dreamt of...
there is so much that you can learn
from simply listening...
there is always more to gain
by choosing to try...
there are so many people
who can empathise with the pain
and the suffering of someone else...
there are always going to be things
that happen to us that will shake
the ground beneath our feet,
that will disturb the equilibrium within our thoughts,
that will test us with the curse of uncertainty -
but everybody has to fight
every day to find the strength
to do what must be done,
to be able to feel what we have
always known we would have to feel,
to climb out of the darkness
where we can sometimes find ourselves,
and by following our heart
we can come to realise that
there are more things possible
than there are imaginable.
My Poem “The Poetry Only I Could Write”
No one is born with a pen in their hand... No one is born with experience in their head... No one is born with the knowledge of who they are and what they are supposed to do with their life... No one is born with all that they could ever need; however, everybody is born with the potential to become anything, or anyone, and if we are lucky then we get to be born to, and brought up with, parents and guardians who will give us more than we could ever dream. I was, I am, and I will always consider myself one of the lucky ones - because from the moment of my birth I was given uncontainable and unconditional love by my Mum and my Dad... I was, I am, and I will always be a dreamer who will do whatever I can to make whatever I can imagine a reality... I was, I am, and I will always be the one who will never allow darkness to eclipse to the light that throughout everything I have had to go through has kept me from going mad... I was, I am, and I will always be someone who will never give up on anything or on anyone whom to me beams with an ever-glowing essence of pure joy and poetry. I have always believed and I have always shared my belief that everything happens for a reason... from the moment that the wolf within my soul began howling as a result of the love that I felt, which eventually inspired my first poem and all that have followed, I knew that I was who and what I am for a reason... I have always loved making connections physically, intellectually, emotionally, and allowing myself to fall like a shooting star to Earth and find myself somewhere I have always been fated to be with people whom I have always been destined to meet... from the instant that the spark of inspiration within my mind was ignited, I have always known that only I could have seen what I have seen, only I could have been to where I have been, and only I can think, imagine, express, and write the poetry that only I could write.
My Poem “Tatters”
When you grow up with nothing you really do appreciate everything - however, everybody always has something, everybody always has someone, everybody always has moments that they look back on and people from their life that stand out because they had a profound effect on them... when some people are born they are surrounded by shiny things - but sometimes little to no love to be found; when some people are born they do not know that in comparison to other people of the same age their parents do not have the same means to give them what other children have - but it doesn't matter because what they have and what they will always have is a connection, a bond, a hidden but important history and a tapestry that only they know. When we want to discover more about ourselves we look in, we look out, we look back - just like astronomers looking up to the starlit sky of the cosmos and the infinity of space and the wonders to be revealed - and we try to recapture times, experiences, relationships, feelings; but once something has happened it is always hard to see and to recount every detail of everything, because our own internal storyteller has a way of dramatising and often romanticising things in such a way to make them seem better or worse than they were. When a person lives their life they always discard pieces of themselves that they have collected and acquired over the years - fingerprints that could be used to identify them, such as: messages, photographs, souvenirs, memories - things that though they may have wanted to lose, they kept a hold of because they still felt a longing to return to the same place and the same time, with the same people, they once visited, and loved, and might still love. When someone's world implodes there are always fragments of them and the world that they knew strewn in every direction and left for others to come along and pick up afterwards and continue their journey in some way - such as incorporating them into a story, or repurposing them and recycling them so that they can be used over and over again - and all my life I have witnessed this and I see the value in using what others no long have a reason to keep, and now that I am older and I fully understand what in life truly matters I know what it means to take the bits and the pieces of other people's lives and fold them into our own, because there is so much to be learned from picking up seemingly random things and putting together a new puzzle - especially to those who are adept at using their imagination and creating new stories from the tatters of others.
My Poem “In The Zone”
Usually when I am getting from A to B from the West Side to the East Side of one of my favourite cities, when I am alone, I am always in "The Zone"... usually I am quick on my feet - but all the while I am always looking around at what I see and what jumps out at me as I travel down the many interconnected paths and streets... usually I am thinking, listening, feeling, and taking in everything that every thing and every one is constantly transmitting and broadcasting like a megaphone... usually when I am making the most of my free time - when I am not watching a film at the cinema, when I am not shopping in an entertainment store or a bookstore, when I am not writing in my favourite cafe - I am just walking around somewhere I know like the back of my hand and somewhere I could navigate with my eyes closed, so much so I probably do just that in my dreams... usually I do not anticipate seeing someone I know; however, occasionally, because of mere chance, coincidence, or perhaps by design, I will be stopped in my tracks by the sound of my name being uttered by someone who knows me and I momentarily find myself at a loss for words until my racing thoughts catch up with the reality that I see... usually I do not have a definitive direction or a previously planned path that I wish to travel down - because like a bird that can sense the magnetic field of the Earth I use my instincts to draw me to where the universe is calling me to be... usually when I am doing anything - whether I am walking around a city, or sitting down writing with my pen or tapping away at the letters of a keyboard - I am on the hunt for inspiration in all it's multiple forms, and I am never left empty-handed or empty minded whenever I return to the sanctuary of my home... usually when I am on the move and making my time in the big wide world last I am unapologetically and occasionally oblivious to most things other than my thoughts, because most of the time I am in the zone.
Mark The Poet 