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Mark The Poet – The Podcast: Episode #63
inspiring
My Poem “Impressionable”
Since I was a child
I have always been impressionable…
since I was a boy
I have been profoundly impacted
by many sources of entertainment
that subconsciously
left their mark upon me…
since I first started to be drawn
to the images of screens, the words of books,
and the ultrasonic magnificence of music
I have been changed little by little…
since I first began going on journeys
with fictional characters who
inhabited many different worlds
and who lived many different lives
I have been led to believe and to imagine
that what I was shown or gifted
the vision of was a real and true
possibility in some distant
and distinctive alternate reality.
In retrospect, I believe that my childhood
was and still is a treasure trove
and a goldmine of inspiring stories,
visuals, music, and feelings
that over time I saved within my memory
until the day when I would need
a boost of inspirational energy
to help fuel the poetry and the stories
that I would ultimately come to tell…
I truly believe that had I not grown up
how, when, where, and with whom
I grew up with my life would
have turned out very differently
and I would not have been able
to get through some of the things
in my life that led to me to learning from
all the lessons that I now know so well.
There were books that I read,
there were songs that I listened to,
there were TV shows and movies
that I watched over and over again as a child
that I loved and I thought I knew
everything about and every moment of
that when I rewatch and when I replay
them now I realise they were full
of many subtle, but amazing,
details and messages that have
a different, but still just as incredible,
effect upon me that reminds me
why it is sometimes important to return
to something or to somewhere that you
think you know like the back of your hand –
because everyone and everywhere
has more layers and levels of meaning
to reveal about themselves,
especially to those of us who have this
insatiable curiosity about so many things,
who are at their heart someone
who is and who always has been
unashamedly impressionable.
My Poem “Artistic Heroes”
I am definitely no John Lennon,
Johnny Cash, David Bowie, Bob Dylan,
Michelangelo, or Vincent van Gogh –
however, they are some of the poets
of music, words, colours,
prolific and deep expression
who are among the members
of some of my artistic heroes.
I am no Shakespeare,
Stephen King, or Neil Gaiman –
however, I am also an author
and a writer who wants to
inspire, to enlighten, to entertain,
and to take the readers of my poetry,
my stories, and the characters
who I have written about
and described, on a journey
that they will never forget
which is unquestionably
a pure creation of my own
varied and constantly
curious wandering imagination.
I am no Albert Einstein,
Stephen Hawking, or Elon Musk –
however, I too think about things
and I wonder why things are the way
that they are and if there are
answers to the questions
that many people daily ask,
like: What is the true nature of life?
Is time-travel possible?
Who or what created
the universe, and why?
Will people one day be living,
breathing, existing, and communicating
every day of their life solely
within the illusion of a simulation?
At my heart, I am a dreamer…
at my best, I am an optimist…
at my most inspired,
I am a man without regret,
without reservation,
without any kind of fear of the unknown,
nor without any worry that
I will one day lose my life-long
obsession with discovering
as much knowledge and inspiration
from the depths and the frontiers
of this limitless universe as I possibly can –
and one day I hope that I will get to meet
all of my artistic heroes in one place
and swop stories with them
about the road that they all took
to get them from where their story began
to the place where they were inspiring
the dreams of many and colouring
the consciousness of the world’s
imagination.
“Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
– Albert Einstein
My Poem “The Deep Blue”
We are free…
finally we have left the world of ice,
cold, and snow behind, and we can now feel
and we can now see the warmth of the sun
upon our skin and the sight of the flowers
of spring starting to bloom with colour and perfume,
and even the air feels easier to breathe…
the season of the sun has arrived…
the season of awakening has begun…
the season of the new is reacquainting us
with the magical symphony that plays without end
for those who want to hear it
and for those who know what a miracle it is
to be alive when you share your life
with the one you love…
winter has finally lifted…
blue sky, sunshine, early rises,
late nights, good times, new waves of energy
in all its infinite forms,
just beginning to wash over us, bless us,
and take away our worries,
as if ascending to the sky above…
this time is the best time to start something new…
this time is the best time to learn something
about a place, a person, a subject,
and allow that brand new knowledge
to change your thoughts and influence your mood…
now is the best time and the most perfect season of all
to explore the great outdoors of our beautiful world,
to open your heart like the petals of a flower,
to make your dreams come true –
because each and every one of us
only has one life to do what we are all born to do,
so what better time to be the best that you can be
than within the time when your soul wants to take
leaps into the deep blue above and below
where we can all bask in the wonder of life
and nature’s most awe-inspiring of tunes.
My Poem “A Space-car named Desire”
A car has been launched into space…
A cherry red Tesla Roadster is now the first man-made vehicle
participating in a new space-race…
A sports-car that might ordinarily be found
cruising down the highways
and the roads of an Earthbound human city
is now orbiting Earth and broadcasting
The Best of David Bowie
while on its way and at the beginning
of a billion year-old life and journey –
and I don’t know about you,
but the thought of such a thing
happening in my lifetime is truly
amazing and awe-inspiring…
The thought and the knowledge that we are now
living in a time and in a world when and where
anything is possible and anything that can be imagined
is achievable, to me is wondrous –
and it is ingenious innovators and visionaries
like Elon Musk who we have to thank
for keeping alive and stoking the fire of
the human condition and refueling the human drive
to be spellbound, amazed, and inspired –
and what better way to show an example
of our collective human ingenuity
and our indomitable human spirit
than to launch a car into space atop of a rocket,
propelled, among other things,
by dreams, imagination, and a boundless desire.
My Poem “Poetropolis”
A city is like an ocean…
From high above a city looks so calm,
so beautiful, so shiny, so peaceful –
no matter if it is seen at night or during the day…
From far away a city shows a version of itself
that is but one of a multitude of masks that it wears
to entice visitors to it –
however, it isn’t until you
descend deeper into any city
and you are walk it’s streets,
which are in essence the veins and the arteries
of this ever talking, ever changing,
ever evolving man-made organism,
that you begin to see the side of a city
that can only be witnessed the more that you look,
the more that you listen,
and the more that you take in
that which makes every city
the dichotomy of light and dark that it is
of the visible and the invisible,
of the advertised and the disguised –
but there is always something about every city
that makes it stand out as a place
that people need to visit,
whose treasures to be found within cannot missed…
Every city, like an ocean, is made up of
those who inhabit it
and those who populate it,
and the more that you get to know
a city’s many intricately complex people
who are woven into the fabric
of a city’s multicoloured
and multifaceted tapestry
the more that you will see
the varying loose threads
and the stitches that when sewen together
make for an inspiring metropolis of poetry.
My Poem “My Basic Instincts”
My basic instinct is to love:
to love Melissa, to love my family,
to love life and all the gifts
and wonders that it provides…
My first instinct is to be optimistic:
to focus on the positive,
to look at things in a way that feels poetic,
profound, and as inspiring
as the sight of fire-light…
My basic instinct is to the think
about people and about things
and be inspired by them:
moments when a single thought
grows into the many words of an idea
are golden and they are as energizing
as a bolt of lightning
from the mysterious and inviting sky
that I see above me –
whether at night when it is dark,
or when the sun shines bright
and intensifies an already
beautiful blue sky…
In any sense of the word,
I am not a genius of intellect –
however, what and who I am
is a dreamer, a writer
and an artist who seeks out
and who follows the trails of breadcrumbs
and footprints that are there to be found,
until I find myself back where I began…
and it is then that I realize again
who I am and what are my basic instincts.
My Poem “The Harvest Moon”
The Harvest Moon
shone high in the morning sky…
The Harvest Moon shined so bright
I became entranced by its light…
The Harvest Moon
hung huge and breathtaking
against the blue of the clear air above…
The Harvest Moon –
the coming of a new season
and a beacon of natural beauty,
and as awe-inspiring and as white as a dove…
The Harvest Moon
captured my attention, sparked my imagination,
and filled my vision that twilight October day…
The Harvest Moon is a sign
that winter is on the way…
The Harvest Moon has long been used by early-risers
as a torch to guide them in whatever they do…
The Harvest Moon, to me,
is an amazing celestial event
and an inspiring sight to see –
and I hope that it is not too long before
I get to see another beautiful Harvest Moon.
My Poem “The Piano”
Even now I can still hear
the beautiful melody
of that piano concerto play…
An unknown melody
that instantly made me smile,
daydream, and feel
at my ease in every way…
Something amazing,
like the gift of an angel,
that filled my mind,
my heart, my soul…
A feeling of contentment
that made me imagine
as if I were below
a dark sky filled with stars
and standing upon the soft sand
of a beach, hand-in-hand
with the one I love…
I was truly touched by the music
that I heard, the music that I felt…
The music that I can still hear…
The beautiful solo performance
by a single piano player…
It’s meaning to me
is far beyond what I know…
I don’t know who the player is
and I don’t know what the name
of the piece is –
but I do know how I feel
every time I hear
the music of the piano.
My Poem “Sax in the city”
Hearing the sound of a saxophone
being played on Cherry Street
today was unexpected…
hearing somebody play a piece of music,
or sing a song, for the love of playing
and being heard by others is truly inspiring…
every performer I have ever heard performing
has been to me like watching
a magician perform some trick of magic…
when you hear a particular song
at the right time
you can’t stop yourself from smiling,
crying, or feeling something
that makes your daydreams echo freely…
music that touches my soul always stays with me –
just as the song that I heard this morning still is…
I am so grateful for the gift of music,
and I am so thankful to the talented musician
that I heard this morning on Cherry Street
playing his sax in the city.
(The saxophone player was playing “Take Five” by Dave Brubeck)
Mark The Poet 