knowledge

My Poem “The Tough Stuff”

Mark Hastings life, me, Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , ,

When people are surrounded
by artificial light, by heat, and by order
it can be hard to imagine what it was like
for the first generation of human explorers,
who originally began as one diverse group,
who then went their separate ways
to discover and to understand more
about what and who makes the world
the way that it is, as well as populate
the vastly different regions that
our planet is known for the have to be
adapted to living in in many different ways.

The first people didn’t have clothes…
the first people didn’t have maps…
the first people didn’t even have
wooden built houses to call homes…
the first people didn’t even have maths –
but what the first people had,
and what sustained them,
were dreams, inspiration, ideas,
and from the moment that they harnessed
to ability to willingly create fire
they gave themselves the gift to be able
to see and to travel during the night,
to cook their own meals, and to be entranced
by the dancing flames of glowing light.

The first men and women who
embarked upon their journey of fate
to go to places they knew not where
saw things that they could only
conceptualise by capturing their depictions
of them in cave paintings and in legends
that have endured for thousands of years.

The first of us were the first to feel the spark of love…
they were the first of us to feel the passion of life…
they were the first of us to look up at the sky
and wonder about our place in the cosmos,
surrounded by an infinite number of stars,
and question why any of us are here…
they were the first of us to be brave enough
to bring people together to create
entire civilizations who thrived for a time
and who had to go through
more than anybody alive today could ever imagine.

We who are alive today are
who we are, with what we have,
because our ancestors were more
than even they knew that they were at the time –
but one thing that our ancestors knew well
was that in life what everybody
and what everything sometimes needs
more than anything is each other,
and also the knowledge that by
working together anybody can
get through anything, even the tough stuff.

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My Poem “Google it”

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

When we want to know
more about something,
when we want to know
more about somebody,
when we want to know
how to get somewhere,
when we want to find out
more about the author of a book,
when we want to find out
more about the singer of a song,
when we want to find out
more about the director of a movie,
we can simply type as much
as we already know
about something or someone
into the worlds most well known search-engine
and within moments we can explore
all the results that we are presented with…
when we want to do something,
when we want to watch something,
when we want to learn something,
when we want to be inspired by something,
in an instant, at any hour of the day or the night,
anybody with a computer or a mobile-phone
can conjure a wealth of unlimited knowledge and solutions…
whenever anybody does not know the answer to something,
in this modern day, all they need to do
is think of a question, and Google it.

My Poem “Fountains”

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

We are all fountains of life,
fountains of experience,
foundations of memories,
foundations of knowledge
who each day learn, remember,
and share droplets of who we are,
what we are, where we have been,
what we have done, what makes us happy,
and who we love and adore.

We all generate echoes, distortions,
and invisible fields of gravity,
fields of identity, fields of insight,
and fields of influence around us
that interact with people close by
and people far away –
just like how the light of a sunrise
will naturally inspire someone,
or how the beat of a butterfly’s wings
it is said can effect
which way the weather will take.

We all live walking on the water
of a pool of time that is deeper
than we could ever know,
or ever perceive –
and in my opinion it would be a crime
to waste the moments
that we are gifted with from time to time
to enjoy all the things that life
blesses us with that most people
might take for granted:
a sunny day, a moonlit night,
a penny waiting to picked up
off the ground,
a smile, a breathtaking view,
a walk in the park,
or perhaps the dancing jets
and rippling waves of a serene,
hypnotising and incredibly
entrancing fountain that takes you
back to your youth.

My Poem “Locutus”

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

Every collective and assembly
of individuals who seek to speak
with one voice when dealing with others
often elects one member of their society
to be the spokesperson for them
in matters of peace, diplomacy,
and the continued prosperity
of their shared consciousness,
while at the same time attempting
to announce, to advertise,
and to further their own interests
and to bolster the idea of the betterment
of those who are connected and interlinked
with every other person who makes up
the hive of knowledge, energy,
and the gift of adaptability
that their culture is built upon.

Figureheads, presidents, prime ministers,
kings, queens, ambassadors have been
sent on missions of state for centuries
in order to explore the prospect
and the possibility of assimilating
a new investment of riches in the form of
people, experience, and examples
of distinctive innovations
that surpass that which is already known,
and it is the act of seeking out
and trying to understand
what is presently a mystery
that has driven the course of the history
of all the empires and also the democracies
that have risen, those that have flourished,
and those that have survived
where others have fallen
because the victorious
chose to change some things
while continuing to stay true to their
underlying pursuit of a vision
and of a state of perfection for their nation.

Sometimes an individual’s voice
and their face can get lost in a crowd
of people who all have their own
personal perspective on what
the reason is for why things
should be the way that they are –
and when that happens
some people naturally seek out
a representative
to speak on their behalf,
and just as long as the person
who is naturally chosen
because they somehow embody
what needs to be conveyed
stays true to the message
and the ethics of who they are
supposed to be representing,
then unless their advancements
lead to conflict there should be no reason
why no one who is anyone
would not listen to a “Locutus” –
in other words, someone who is literally:
“the one who speaks”.

Resistance is not futile

My Poem “Alexa”

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

In this day and age,
we all have access
to knowledge and information
like never before…
at this point in time,
and at any time of the day or the night,
everybody can reach out,
touch, tap, and use their voices
to acquire the gift of a response,
the answer to a question,
the thrill of discovery and understanding…
doors that were once closed are opening,
access is finally being granted by the insightful
to those who always found it hard
being that kid at the back of the class
in school who was afraid
to raise their hand for fear of being
ridiculed for asking a “dumb question”.

Questions are important –
most of the time, in my opinion,
questions are more important than answers…
Questions, inquiries, wanderings,
looking, listening, and asking
why such a thing is the way that it is
and where something or someone came from
are the steps that need to be taken
by everyone with a curious mind
in order to stimulate and rejuvenate
wonder into their lives.

Our access to knowledge, images,
and multiple ways of communication
has never been so accessible:
we carry both the keys, the doorways,
the portals, and the windows
to the worlds within worlds
that interconnect the majority
of human life on this planet
in the form of mobile
receivers and transmitters
which we carry around with us
and we can interact with,
share a conversation with,
and inquire to,
which have become our guides
to a wealth of information,
inspiration, art, music, places,
and which have become
the artificial intelligences
that we use on a daily basis
to assist us in bringing order to our lives,
which we can even call to attention
by uttering a single word to awaken them –
such as “Siri”, “Google”,
“Cortana”, or “Alexa”.

My Poem “Appreciation”

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

We don’t always appreciate something
when we first see them,
we don’t always appreciate someone
when we first meet them,
we don’t always appreciate what
something means when
it is first given to us,
we don’t always appreciate
what someone does for us,
until we witness the work,
the sacrifice, the effort that someone
might have had to put into something
so that people can keep living their lives
and keep doing what they like to do –
because, most of the time, in this life
most people are oblivious to
the other sides of life
that exist behind curtains, walls,
doors, barriers, even underground,
that keep the wheels of society turning…
nothing happens without first
putting some effort into something.

Everything comes from something,
something comes from someone,
someone comes from something
than someone does –
because that is the cycle of life,
that is the process of life…
life on Earth is a potent mixture
of chemistry, physics, biology,
psychology, origin, struggle,
discovery, knowledge, adaptability,
innovation, strength of spirit,
and it should be a choice
and a willingness
to want to better yourself
and make the world better for your actions.

Most people don’t appreciate
something until they
no longer have it,
and the people that
understand and appreciate
what they have should know
how lucky they are
to have what they have
and they shouldn’t wish
they had what someone else has.

Things happen for a reason –
even the things that
we wish didn’t have to happen…
most things and most people
follow a pattern of behavior
that they find hard to break free of
because when they are on
the same path that they know so well
and they might not often think about
anything else or anyone else other than
the result and the reward that they are going
to receive when they reach the end
of their current cycle of repetition.

Very few people actually know
or ever ask where, when, and how
something appeared before their eyes
to their overwhelming delight –
because no one is capable
of being witness to every step of the way,
nor every chapter of the story,
of how something found itself transitioning
from being something literal
into being something physical;
however, some people do ask themselves why
things are the way that they are,
and when they do they often times
they are unknowingly opening doors
to all the other worlds that exist on Earth
that surround us all,
and when some people step through
those doors and they take a specific journey
to a world and a life
that is so close but which feels so far away,
people can come to attain
an understanding about things,
about life, about people, about nature,
and gain a wider, deeper, richer,
and a more respectful appreciation
about what goes into making
the life that we see every day
and at the same time the same life that
we may find that we do not really know.

My Poem “Sapiophile”

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

There is always more than meets the eye…
there is always more to life
than any of us could ever quantify…
there is always more than you alone can find…
there is always more to a person
that is constantly waiting to come to light…
there is always history… there is always mystery…
there is always entropy –
however, there is always the improbability of nature
that always surprises us and maintains a natural balance
of order that has worked perfectly for billions of years
which gives everyone an opportunity
to see what they believe and to believe what they see…
there is always complexity in simplicity…
there is always music in silence –
even within the space that lies
between the stars of the galaxies of the universe
there can always be heard a cosmic symphony
that encapsulates the true meaning of life,
love, music, that plays so emphatically
that its beauty can be too much for some to comprehend
without feeling the fear that sometimes rises
from within those who gaze into the vastness of infinity…
there is something about the world
that always captures a person’s imagination
and makes them want to know more –
that which comes from our inner instincts and drives
to explore beyond our boundaries and leap
into a world far removed from the one that we know
and see every day in order to learn and understand
something wonderful that we never knew before
but which we had always been searching for.

My Poem “Through Every Window”

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

Through my window I see
a world of light
that is calling to me…
Through my window I hear
the sounds of life
both far away and near…
Through my window
I look up to the sky
to an unbroken cloud of white
that makes me sigh…
Through my window I escape
and I am carried away
as the west wind blows…
Through my window is how I travel
to other places and how I fill my eyes
and my mind with inspiration and knowledge
that long ago once originated
because of another looking out with wonder
and considering the possibilities
that they may find if they too were
to take a trip into the unknown
that lies through every window.

My Poem ‘Too Close To The Sun’

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

Just like Icarus’ wings of wax,
everybody has something precious
that keeps them flying;
just like Achilles,
nobody is completely invulnerable –
even if they believe themselves
to be blessed by immortality;
just like Adam and Eve in the Bible,
there is nobody who has not looked
at something and has not been tempted
by the prospect of tasting and trying;
just as our eyes can only see
the light reflected back at us,
nobody should ever mistakenly believe
that they know or may have seen
everything that there is –
because just one step beyond the horizon,
above the clouds,
past the silver crescent of the moon,
there lies knowledge and wonders
that number into the realm of infinity,
improbability, and endless possibility.

There are times when our minds
can feel like a cave of echoes;
there are times when our memories
flash-back to life
like the lightning of a thunder-storm;
there are times when a brand new song
can be composed and heard
as the leaves of trees rustle
and as every-day objects
become instruments as the wind blows;
there are times when a heart
can be broken and then remade again
in an instant –
it is a moment that many mothers and fathers
have felt simultaneously
when they heard the first out-cry of life
from their newborn.

It is better to risk and fail
than to fail by not ever taking a risk;
it is better to take a chance
than to have your chance
at something taken away;
it is better to see what happens
than to live a life
as if ticking off things
on a check-list;
it is better to grasp
and fill a moment of time,
even if with a world of silence,
or music, than to watch a clock
tick down to the last second of the day.

Most great discoveries
are those that you have to dig for;
most great adventures began
by taking a running-jump;
most great relationships came to be
because the feelings and the connection
that you instantly felt
eclipsed all those that had come before;
most great myths were written,
and most great stories were inspired,
by those who chose to throw caution to the wing
and consciously flew too close to the sun.

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My Poem ‘We are all one’

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

Joy may come in the morning for you
in more ways than you might expect –
someone with a passion
and a drive and a love for what they do
cannot wait to jump out of bed,
while someone who feels like
they do not have a purpose in life
might open their eyes
and then close them again quickly
and cover themselves up again
below the covers
like a bird putting their wing
over them as they rest
comfortably in their nest –
however, the truth is
that everybody has a role in life,
everybody is meant to be alive,
and everybody is born to be
just as they are –
everybody is a necessary source of experience,
knowledge, instinct, inspiration,
heat and light, like a candle burning in the dark.

We all go through a metamorphosis;
we all go through an identity-crisis;
we all go through doors to places
we do not always know where;
we all go through stages of re-evaluating
what our priorities in life are,
just as we all sometimes struggle
to pick-out what we want to wear;
we are all a creation
and made in the same guise as the divine;
we are all here to be something to someone;
we are all blessed from birth
with the gift of infinite possibilities,
even if we are not given an endless life of time;
we are all of our time
and no matter how you see yourself,
or how somebody else sees you,
never forget that we are all reflections,
we are all human, we are all
resonators of change and emotion;
life is a lesson in accepting the undeniable fact
that we are all one.