journey

My Poem “The 1975 Experience”

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

I feel so alive…
I am still riding high
upon a wave of sound,
energy, and light,
after watching, after listening,
to my favourite band, The 1975,
live for the first time…
the experience was amazing…
the show was mesmerizing…
the almost spiritual, simultaneous,
synchronous, visceral gift
of opening your heart, your mind,
your soul, your senses, your mouth,
taking in, letting out an incantation
of love in the form of music and song words
that you know is an unfiltered
communication of pure ecstasy –
and in my opinion there is no way
of replicating that feeling of connection,
that wave of emotions that you find yourself riding…
when we are in presence of similar souls to us,
when we hope and pray to be taken away on a journey
to another place, and we reach a state
of hypnotic and perfect bliss,
returning to the outside world,
walking through the darkness surrounded by stars,
into the cold air of the night,
is like waking up from a dream
that you find it hard to describe afterwards
because it was so enlivening…
coming down after flying so high is always hard…
getting up the next morning
after a transcendental experience
is like waking up with a hangover
after being intoxicated by a drug…
I have had moments of time in my life
that were so special to me that I will never
forget them until the day that I die:
meeting my one true love and asking her to marry me,
meeting my favourite author,
standing atop the Empire State Building
and taking in the extraordinary
360-degree view of New York City,
getting my first book of poetry published,
and so many more –
and now I can add my time listening
to The 1975 live and in concert to that list,
because just like when I try and recapture
the sensations of doing all of the amazing things
that I will always remember doing,
when I close my mind eyes I still feel like
I am when and where I once was:
one moment in my lovers arms
sitting on that wooden porch in Georgia
that I still remember so well,
and the next bathed in the light
and the sounds being witnessed and reciprocated by
my favourite band, The 1975, on a cold January night.

My Poem “Waypoint”

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

Once a year
we all find ourselves here –
here, at the end of one year
and at the beginning of another –
where and when a transition occurs
within the blink of an eye,
as colorful explosions light up the sky
all around the world,
as people celebrate the start
of a new time in their lives…
the sun rises, the sun sets –
just as it has done countless times before –
however, just as the year changes
so does the world ever so slightly…
the stars still sparkle the same
at night as they’ve always done –
however, far away in the vastness of space,
past, present, and future intersect,
and new doors open between two sides…
music plays constantly throughout the cosmos
that when heard by those able to hear it
inspires poetry, art, scientific discovery,
wonder, and dreams that will paint
the landscape of what is to come
with echoes of colour of what came before…
there is no limit to where anyone can go
when they discover what is possible…
there is no end to what knowledge
can be attained when you open your mind
to a new world you never even knew existed…
there is a truth to be found
about the nature of the universe
by looking at the delicate petals
and inhaling the breathtaking perfume of a rose…
there is no knowing what awaits any of us
when we decide upon the path we choose to take
when we reach a waypoint in our life-long journey
when we find ourselves at a crossroads.

My Poem “Y.O.L.O.”

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

In this life
you can’t stand still –
because if you stand still too long
then you might find yourself
falling through life,
as if you were once standing upon
a sheet of ice but have fallen
into a freezing-cold lake…
in this life if you want to experience
the world to its fullest
then you have to venture to places
where you have never been before…
in this life if you want something
then you must reach out as far as you can,
as if you were below a dark ocean
and searching for a life-preserver of light…
in this life each and every one of us
are given an opportunity to shine
like a star in our own way –
whether it is as an artist,
as a teacher, as a parent,
or as an inspiration for the next generation…
in this life doors open wide
and we are asked to take a chance on fate,
and we have to seize every once in a lifetime
opportunity before it is too late…
in this life time is too short
to regret fulfilling experiences
that took you on a journey in some way…
in this life you have to take care
and treat every step that you take
as if it were a part of a dance…
in this life you have got to take leaps of faith,
leaps of belief, leaps of hope, leaps of happiness –
because, in this life, you only live once.

My Poem “Worth it”

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

Hopes and dreams are wonderful things…
going on an emotional journey
is always worthwhile and fulfilling…
having trust and confidence in something
or someone is necessary if you value
the power and the meaning of believing…
worrying about something too much
can sometimes be harmful –
which is why, if you want to feel free
of any internal turmoil,
you have to take a page out of a book of faith
and forgive something or someone,
especially if you yourself are the one
in the most need of being forgiven…
some people find it hard to believe in themselves
and to recognize that they are phenomenal…
some words, no matter how positive and powerful they are,
fall on deaf ears because those who hear them
find it hard to believe in them…
sometimes music is the only way
to break through long standing barriers
and the only way to get through to another person’s
heart and soul to allow them to understand
and feel the sometimes unfathomable…
sometimes in life patience is the greatest
of all virtues that you can possess…
waiting for something or someone
can sometimes be the hardest thing in the world –
but if something or someone is truly
who and what you think they are
then one day you will realize that
all the time that you spent waiting for them
was unquestionably worth it.

‘Playing God’ out now on Amazon

Mark Hastings books, Short-story , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Seven stories… Seven perspectives… Seven experiences… One Man in Black, one Man in White… Seven morality tales of one immortal… Rebel, Hero, Friend, Fan, Father, Son. Playing God takes you on a journey that connects a hero of myth with a modern day hero of music.

You can get a copy of my new book, Playing God, below:

My Poem “Our heroes are leaving us”

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

Slowly but surely
our heroes are leaving us…
sadly and silently
we have to watch those who we have grown up with
pass over the threshold between life and death,
as they begin a new journey far away from us…
every day we all hear that another person
who meant something to us at some point in our life
has broken free of the shell of their life and their body…
every day we have to say goodbye in our own way
to someone who we thought of as a friend
who touched and changed our life in some way…
it’s always sad… it’s always unbelievable…
it’s always shocking… it’s always strange
when we see again the face of someone who has died
but who still continues to live on in memories,
in photographs, on a screen, or through their voice
which we can still hear in a myriad of ways…
when we lose someone we have known all our lives
it is like watching the stars above slowly disappear
one by one before our eyes –
and though over time the space where bright stars
once burned from a distance will be filled with new stars,
nothing and no one could ever replace the light of something
or someone who used to be our guiding star…
the universe is constantly changing…
sunrises and sunsets are a way of life
for every planet in the cosmos…
no matter how hard anybody tries
there will never be enough words in any language
capable of explaining the meaning of life
and where we go to after we die –
but some questions can only be answered
after we have had life-changing experiences
and after we have witnessed the heroes of our life leave us.

My Poem “A Space-car named Desire”

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

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 “The Long Way Round”

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

Some times it is good to go that extra mile…
some times it is worthwhile to go back
to where you came from…
some times it is good to revisit those places
that used to make you smile…
some times all you need is to return
to those open spaces that you will always remember
and let the winds of home
blow away the cobwebs of your memory,
and once again you can feel like you are
walking among old friends as you retrace
those steps that you made
that gave you a reason to not feel alone…
the shape of time is a sphere…
even those who feel lost
one day arrive back where their journey began
and again they feel found…
the walls that surround our heart
and our soul are crystal clear…
just as we take a step into the future
we also always take a step back into the past,
and while doing so we all always feel glad
that when given the choice to take the short and easy way
instead we chose to take our time, to smell the roses,
and see the sights along the way,
as we took the long way round.

My Poem “Dreams of the Moment”

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

A stream of light breaks
the dark shadows of the floor…
a dream of another life dawns upon my mind
and makes me remember mornings long ago
when I awoke far away from home for the first time
and I heard a brand new chorus
that added another dimension
to what I already knew to be
the opening notes of a new day’s call…
a passion, a dialogue, a conversation,
a nexus of mind, thought, emotion,
and art expresses itself on the page before me…
sunlight touches my face –
I can feel the sun’s rays upon the irises of my eyes,
I can feel sparks of inspiration within my mind,
I can feel my hopes within my heart and soul
reach out and touch the heaven sent sky above me –
and I find and I capture what my pen
has desperately been driving to make
my eyes and senses see:
that life is the road and the journey
that does not end – and that though people may change
their appearance from time to time,
as nature does seasonally,
some things are dreams of the moment
that will always be.

My Poem ‘Experimentation’

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

Everything begins with experimentation…
most of the things that we love the most
once began as something unknown…
most things we seemingly
stumble upon at random…
most of the things that we take with us wherever we go
are the things that remind us of the wonders
that we remember of our childhood home…
we grow up with certain things…
we grow up with people who we know, and who know us…
we lose things… we have to look in more than one direction
in order to find our focus.

When we start looking beyond our comfort-zone,
when we start following a voice
that calls to us like an S.O.S,
when we start caring about a people
and a world that is not our own,
when we start finding others who bring out our best…
a chain-reaction of events without-end forms…
a new thing is born…
a new way of exploring
the infinite possibilities of the universe is launched…
a new sword to defend you from the dark of the world is forged.

Everything is a continuation…
everybody is a DJ – and every day we all remix what we see,
what we hear, what we feel, in our mind and in our imagination…
when we look around, when we want to journey to somewhere
with a definitive-destination, and we stop to think
about why any of us are here and what should be
our new source of motivation…
when we want a bit of the old and a bit of the new,
when we want both the contemporary and the retro,
then it doesn’t hurt to spin the wheel of inspiration
and dabble in a bit of artistic experimentation.