inspiration

The Dreamer and The Dream – republished

Mark Hastings books, Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , ,

My fourth book, and my fourth poetry collection, ‘The Dreamer and The Dream’, is once again available to buy from Amazon in its new hardcover edition.

Originally published in 2015, my book ‘The Dreamer and The Dream’, contains some of my favourite poems that I have written – poems that tell you so much about what matters to me on a personal level, what drives me every day, why I am a poet, and also allowing me to express my feelings for those who mean the most to me, and who inspire me every second of every day.

‘The Dreamer and The Dream’, and its poems within, is the book, and the poetry of mine, that I have shared with more people than all others, because there is so much to discover about me within, as well as so much that I wanted to say. It’s also the book that, when I wrote and I published the poems within, made me realise who I was and who I always wanted to be: a poetry, a writer, not to mention a storyteller.

Get your copy of ‘The Dreamer and The Dream’ from Amazon now and here! 😊

My Poem “Remake”

Mark Hastings Poetry , , , , , , , , ,

Usually, I am not a fan of redoing
something that has already been done…
typically, I do not like the thought of
attempting to capture something again
that has already been defined…
I have repeatedly stated that
the original of anything is always superior
to the sequel of something,
or any instance at trying to reinvent
what worked and why from the start…
however, as time has gone by,
as things have happened,
as I have witnessed numerous beginnings,
endings, rebirths, and renewals –
both literal and metaphorical –
I have become convinced that
there is a reason why we, sometimes, need
“to go back to the well”, so to speak,
and see what we can make
of what remains of what was.

Someone once said:
“Destruction is a form of creation” –
meaning: the act of destroying something
is also the act of creating something in its place…
I am not someone who likes to destroy anything,
and I never enjoy watching someone’s life
fall to pieces around them
because of the mistakes that they may have made…
I believe that no one has a right to judge
anything or anyone until you find out
more about them and why they are
who and what they are,
and who and what helped to make them a certain way…
I never thought I would see the day
when something that I created
was destroyed and came to an end –
love, art, relationships, partnerships –
but no one can ever truly imagine something
happening before it happens.

All things end – even the things that feel
as if there is no way they could ever
stop being what they have always been,
and would always be forever…
nothing can remain the same –
people, places, even things can change over time,
and sometimes some things can be destroyed
before your very eyes and you can’t do anything to stop it,
and you could not have done anything to prevent it…
stars, planets, civilisations, people, stories,
go through a period of life, death,
and then, eventually, they find themselves
in a state, in place, at a time that they could
never have foreseen themselves in before
they arrived and became aware that
the end of something is not what people think it is –
because, most of the time, there is an opportunity
to start over again with the same mindset as before,
perhaps with the same method –
but slightly, or substantially, different than before…
even the most hardened and stoic of people
would give anything to be able to go back
and revisit a time from their lives
when things were the best that they have ever been,
because, as time goes by, even the best of things
can deteriorate into the worst of things –
but we can only return to somewhere in the past
very briefly and not as substantially as we would hope to,
and in such a way to change things
that we wish we could do-over.


However, sometimes, if we care about something,
or if we can’t let go of the feelings that we have
which are associated with someone in particular –
so deeply and so profoundly –
then we might all choose the route of resurrection
to bring something, or someone, back to life –
but, in doing so, we might have to face to fact
that when something, or someone, returns
they might somehow be a different version of themselves
than they used to be,
because they have been reborn, revived, rekindled,
reinvented, rewritten, recreated, and remade.

The Eternal Boy – republished

Mark Hastings books, Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Get your copy of the republished version (hardcover version) of my third book, and my third poetry collection, ‘The Eternal Boy’, which was originally published in 2015.

‘The Eternal Boy’ symbolises another step upon my journey as a poet, as a writer, and as an author – as well as me attempting to capture the change and the evolution in myself that I felt I was going through at the time, and also my exploration of some of the many states that we all sometimes have to live through at different and varied stages in our lives.

There are poems within ‘The Eternal Boy’ that I think about all the time, and which I think perfectly capture who I am and who I always want to be.

Get the new hardcover version of ‘The Eternal Boy’ here!

-Mark

My Poem “Return to the Beginning”

Mark Hastings Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 
Life can sometimes be
like being on a fairground ride,
like being on a rollercoaster -
because so much of our time
is spent doing the same things
in a repeating cycle;
however, no matter how much nostalgia
we feel for a time, or for a place, in the past,
if and when we attempt to go backwards
and in reverse then we may only find
heartbreak waiting for us -
especially when we realise that
we can only stay where we used to be
for a short time before returning
to the present, to the now, to who we are,
to the knowledge of what happened, what changed,
and who we have lost along the way.

Returning to the past can be difficult;
returning to the past can be challenging;
returning to the past can be painful;
returning to what was can sometimes
shine a light upon what was pushed
into the shadows of your mind for a reason
that you may have forgotten about;
returning to the path of memory lane
can make you realise where, when, why,
and how things changed for the best,
as well as for the worse.

Life can sometimes feel like a constant uphill struggle;
life can sometimes feel like a Summer’s kiss;
life can sometimes feel like a fever dream;
life can sometimes feel like something is happening
that you can’t control or understand,
but you have to make the best of it;
life can sometimes feel like a constant
storm of emotions and feelings
that you have to overcome;
life can sometimes feel like
it has been a long time coming
since things were simple and made sense.

Returning to the origins of a story;
returning to the muse of inspiration;
returning to the flash that started
the tidal wave of creativity;
returning to the source of rejuvenation;
returning to that which opened doors to other places,
which lead to meeting other people,
in sometimes new, interesting, and unexpected ways,
can remind us of why we are all, mostly,
hopeful of a better world,
and optimistic of what possibilities
the future of tomorrow might bring;
however, though it is nice to find things
and to see things that we haven’t
seen in some time,
and though it is initially good to see
people we may not have been
in the presence of for sometime,
there is always a cost to be paid,
to be taken, and to be made,
if you ever want, if you ever need,
or if you ever feel like you must go back
and return to the beginning.

The Sound of Mark – Republished

Mark Hastings books, Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Get your copy of the republished version of my 2014 poetry collection, The Sound of Mark, in hardback from Amazon.

The Sound of Mark was the second book, and the second collection of my poetry, that I was lucky to get published, and the poems within symbolise a time when I reached a crossroads in my life – and some of the poems I wrote at that time are still some of my favourite poems that I have written.

The Sound of Mark – as well as the poems within – is a book that I have wanted to return to and revitalise since it was first published in paperback and as an ebook back in 2014, which is why I am so thrilled to be able to republish it in its new hardcover version.

The Sound of Mark is available to buy in hardback from Amazon now, and right here!

-Mark

My Poem “Mockingbird”

Mark Hastings Poetry , , , , , , , , , , ,

We all learn by doing…
We all repeat, emulate, and mimic others –
especially when we are young
and still learning how to use
the gifts that we were born with
to get through life…
we are all different and we are meant to be individuals,
but when we are young we are told
to “act normal” and to “fit in”;
however, the older you get, the more you see,
and the more people that you meet,
you come to realise that no one
is like anybody else –
no matter how hard they might try to be
and no matter how much they try to convince
themselves and those around them…
now more than ever, especially online
and behind the mask of their avatars,
some people always try to act
and communicate as if they are somebody else –
some people act nice and speak
as if they have nothing to hide,
but in secret even the quietest
and the seemingly most innocent
can be as loud as a banshee when it comes
to their own personal opinions
because they are the ones
with the most concerning problems…
some people are not always as they seem,
because everyone has an alter ego –
a side of their personality that rarely gets to be seen
because they would not conform
to the picture that other people might have of them
if they were asked to describe them,
and then there are those who are so damaged
from a personal trauma that they have learned
to survive by acting on instinct
and attempting to make others
feel like they are in control
when they are the ones attempting
to manipulate things from the shadows
as if controlling a puppet on a string…
we all learn in different ways,
at different times, and at different speeds,
what we need to know and what we need to do
to make the best of the situations
we all find ourselves in –
some that we never thought we would
ever find ourselves in;
but that is the power that each of us possesses
and that is the ability that we all have need to use
throughout our lives when we have to go with the flow,
to think on our feet,
to become someone and something else,
and use a technique that some actors have been using as means to achieve the desired effect of
transforming into a character
by making the same choices for themselves
as the persona that they wish to effortlessly portray –
in the same way that other songs and sounds
can easily be imitated and incorporated
into the call of a mockingbird.

Poet of the Sphere – Republished

Mark Hastings books, Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Please allow me to reintroduce you to my first poetry collection, Poet of the Sphere.

Poet of the Sphere was first published in 2012 – and not only was it the first poetry collection I got published, it was also the first book I got published.

Poet of the Sphere, as well as the poems within, are where my path as a published author began and it will always mean a lot to me. No matter how many books I have published, and no matter how many books I will publish in the future, Poet of the Sphere will always be my first and it will always be special to me. And now everyone can purchase a brand new Hardback version from Amazon: here!

Happy reading! 😊

-Mark

Vega – The Vampire King: Halloween Reading

Mark Hastings books, me , , , , , , , , , , ,

Watch me read an excerpt from my 2021 book ‘VEGA – The Vampire King’ on YouTube especially for Halloween.

My Poem “A Poem For The End of The World”

Mark Hastings Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , , 
There have always been times
in the history of humanity
when people have had to look at themselves,
when people have had to look at their surroundings,
and when people have had to look
at the faces of their loved ones,
and wondered whether this would be the day:
whether this would be when the world
would come to an end…
there have been times when nature
has taken humanity to a point
where and when the outcome of
what was about to happen was not guaranteed,
where and when no matter what protection
we think we have against an imminent threat
we know that the possibility of surviving
what is going to take place is not a given…
there have been devastating asteroid impacts
that have led to the extinction of entire species;
there have been epic storms that have caused
massive amounts of destruction and death;
there have been numerous instances when
attacks have occurred which have lead to fatalities
that could not have been prevented
nor predicted by anyone…
there have always been dangerous times -
when the world around us has felt
as if it were teetering on a knife-edge -
when there are tensions between
powerful nations capable of wielding
arsenals that could lead to
mass casualties and worldwide annihilation…
there have always been times
when we have been told to prepare for the worst -
during times of war, or when there has been
an outbreak of a deadly disease;
and when there is such a time
when the odds of survival might seem insurmountable,
and when the situation unfolding
seems too grim to bear,
everyone around the world needs
something and someone to remind them
that no matter what happens in life,
and no matter what humanity
sometimes has to go through,
there will always be something and someone
that will make the difference
and guide your way through the world -
even if darkness seems to have descended over everything -
and every time you return to them
they give you a little bit of hope
that you are going to be alright
and eventually everything will pass;
and if the end does come,
and if you need something or someone
to hold your hand as you make your way
through an era of potential dystopia,
then think of me and keep a copy of this poem
with you to read whenever you need to be reminded
of the importance of the words of a poet
and you need a poem for the end of the world.

My Poem “Into it”

Mark Hastings Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 
We all know what it is like
to be “into something”,
or to be “into someone”…
we all know what it is like
to spend most of the hours when we are awake,
and to spend many of the hours when we are asleep,
thinking about, imagining, and wanting to return
to a place, to a time, and to a person
as soon as possible…
we all know what it is like
to be “into the idea” and “into the groove”
of something that gives us a sense of purpose,
direction, and a feeling that we are not
just going through the same process of life
as we have been through before
but we are doing what is right
and what is meaningful to us…
we all know what it is like
to be into a game that is playing out before us,
which we feel like we are in a position
to have an impact upon the outcome of,
in which the meeting of multiple parties
who have been called to engage with one another
in a contest that will determine whether
or not the road of fate has chosen them
for a reason that cannot be known
until the time is right…
we all know what is it like to be drawn into a story -
to be spellbound and speechless as we read,
or as we listen, to a tale being told to us -
that has a power to it that goes beyond
the words being used, as well as above,
and below, the world around us that we know…
we know it is like to be into a headspace
within which we find ourselves connecting
with something that resonates with us,
something that speaks to us,
something that teaches us,
something that makes sense
of what we have been thinking about and feeling
without knowing that there are always
messengers to deliver answers to us,
that change the way we look at ourselves…
we all know what it is like to be engrossed,
to be intoxicated, and to be addicted to something
that we didn’t know would become so
impactful and important to us…
we all know what it is like to feel lost,
and we all know what it is like to feel found -
which is why when we feel as if
we have become caught in stream
of energy and emotion that is not
just a result of our own thoughts and actions
but a mixture and a mindset
of something else that is different from us,
but connected to us,
we can find ourselves within something so deeply
that it is always hard to get out of it,
because of how much we are into it.