“Warrior” is a poem taken from Mark’s 2025 poetry collection ‘The Storyteller‘ – now available to purchase in hardback and as an ebook from Amazon.
love
The Storyteller: Light and Dark
“Light and Dark” is a poem taken from Mark’s 2025 poetry collection ‘The Storyteller‘ – now available to purchase in hardback and as an ebook from Amazon.
The Storyteller: Once Upon a Time
“Once Upon a Time” is a poem taken from Mark’s 2025 poetry collection ‘The Storyteller’ – now available to purchase in hardback and as an ebook from Amazon.
The Storyteller – Out Now!
My new book ‘The Storyteller’ is out now and available to buy from Amazon!
The Storyteller is my ninth poetry collection, and it contains over 60 previously unpublished poems about life, love, loss, inspiration, imagination, exploration, discovery, storytelling, as well as reflections and musings from the experiences that I have had over the last year, which speak to who I am and who I always want to be.
You can get your copy of ‘The Storyteller’ in hardback and as an ebook from Amazon now!
My Poem “Once Upon a Time”
It is said that every story ever told
has a beginning, a middle, and an end -
which is true, from a certain point;
however, every story of everything
and everyone is connected…
no matter when, where, or why a story is told,
and no matter how a story is told,
what a story is about, and the reason it is
a story in the first place,
is always retained within it -
because at the heart of every story
there is always a reason that binds the many
elements and fragments of a story together
that all then fit together perfectly
like the pieces of a puzzle
or the strands of connectivity
that maintain a net.
All stories have certain things in common with one another…
all stories are different, and yet similar…
all stories are true, and all stories are false -
because perception of reality is key,
and sometimes multiple people
can have varying opinions on what happened,
as well as when and why something happened,
even though they might have all been witness
to the same thing happening…
all stories change and take on a life of their own
the more that they are heard and retold -
and sometimes a seemingly insignificant
aspect of a story that captures the essence
of the tale being told can grow to have more prominence
and can become what people remember
in greater detail more than most,
because of the manner and the demeanour
of the storyteller doing the retelling.
Stories are how life communicates
aspects of itself with future generations -
just as the DNA of humanity has being doing
even before we as species emerged
from the ocean of possibilities
and we were driven to become
what we have evolved into…
there are so many recurring motifs
that repeat throughout many of the chapters
of history that seem to demonstrate
a cycle and a rhythm of some sort of
underlying pattern and system -
which is why several stories
sound familiar when they are shared,
reconstructed, and sometimes given
a new name that is more contemporary
and easier to understand from a modern standpoint…
stories can be a source of inspiration, insight,
and a key to unlocking and understanding
why something, why someone,
or why somewhere is that way that they are -
because everything, everyone,
everywhere, never stays the same -
except for those things, people, and places
that exist in the middle of nowhere
and are only discovered by those not knowing
what, not whom, they are going to find…
things sometimes get lost,
people sometimes get forgotten about,
places something get abandoned;
however, then there are those things,
those people, those places,
that refuse to be taken for granted
and always find a way to be remembered,
to be recorded, to be given a special place
in the story of history and are allowed
to continue to exist in some form,
even though they might only be responsible
for something that they never have imagined,
nor ever expected, to be given the status
of becoming a story -
because what happened, when,
where, why, and how, only happened
once upon a time.
My Poem “Traverse”
Getting through life is not always
as straightforward as following a path…
getting through a world of darkness
is sometimes like trying to cross an ocean
without a compass or a guiding light…
getting through the pain of profound loss
is like proceeding across the wilderness of a desert
and seeing nothing but signs of what was…
getting back on your feet,
after being in a bad place
that you had come to believe
you might never return from,
is like trying to climb out of the darkest hole
ever to have opened up beneath
the surface of the Earth
and wondering why you were cursed
with what happened to you in life.
The only way to know
what is meant to happen,
and the only way to know
what is not meant to happen,
is to go where you are drawn to
and to not stop until you realise
something that you could only
have discovered by taking the steps
that you needed to make…
the only way to be sure
of your purpose in life,
and the only way to be sure
of what might be your undoing,
is to be honest with yourself
when you feel like you have reached a point
that may allow you to have
all that you have ever wanted –
but you may have to face up to the fact
that sometimes only a fragment of
what is put into something remains
before it too falls away like a leaf from a branch.
Winter is cold… winter is stark…
winter is a time when we cling on
to whatever and whomever we can
to get us through the present
before it becomes the past…
winter is a reminder of the importance
of being alive and not taking anything
not anyone for granted,
because nothing lasts forever in this universe…
winter is when the night sky
is its most striking and staggering,
and winter is also when we look up
and see the shining stars of our ancestors
and the light of those who we lost
but who we will always love,
as well as the place that one day
each of us will be called to travel to
and the divine divide that we will have to traverse.
My Poem “Continuity”
When it comes to transitioning
from one chapter of a story to another,
continuity is integral to maintaining
the overall narrative that has been established -
an unbroken line of connection
between the beginning and the end,
and whatever follows afterwards -
which acts as a structure
that keeps the world that has been established
from fragmenting into a reality of chaos
and inconsistencies that is hard to explain
and seemingly impossible to understand.
When it comes to a change between
two different stages of anything -
whether that is a change in a democratically
elected government and administration,
or a change in the motivation of
characters that have for years
been known to behave in a certain way -
the most important thing that anyone
who cares about what they are doing,
and are a part of, is to pay attention
and never attempt to erase all that came before,
because if the attempt to change something
happens too soon and too radically
then the after-effect of whatever change
has taken place will not only be jarring for many
but it may also be devastating to someone
who has a profound love for something,
for someone, or for somewhere that they have invested
a great detail of time and energy into.
Continuity is important… Continuity matters…
Continuity means that there is
a great amount of value to history,
as well as to the future…
Continuity is comforting -
which is what some people need
now more than ever…
Continuity is the key to the survival
of every species on the planet -
and, as we have learned the hard way over the years,
even if it is only a single voice that is silenced
then the entire chorus that they were a part of
can no longer sound the same,
and especially if the voice belongs to an individual
who has added more to the mix of the world
than they might have realised
because all they wanted to do was
to move people in a meaningful way.
New ideas are always welcome…
New ways of thinking about things
are always a good way to start the journey
of learning how to make something better -
as long as the new ways compliment
and are an evolution of the tried and the tested…
New people are always entering infamous arenas
of innovation and entrepreneurial growth
who hope to make their mark on something -
but because sometimes some people
have little to no connection to where
they find themselves and have such an insatiable
desire to make something completely different and unique,
instead of retaining what they originally saw the potential in,
they choose to destroy most of what is, what was,
and what has always been, and “start again” -
two words that leave a sower taste in the mouth
of those who hate to see something come to an end
for no reason other than someone
saw a opportunity for “progress”.
New things are always happening…
new realities, new opportunities, new challenges,
new relationships begin every instant
around the world, and beyond -
however what has repeatedly shown itself
to have a positive impact upon the lives of many
since its inception is what people will always return to,
because sometimes some things
and some people can grow to become
something far more indelible in the public consciousness
than at first might have been envisioned,
and one of the things that makes something
feel so special to so many is the ability of its material
to hold true to its original creators vision
and the sense of purpose that they led
to something starting in the first place,
and one of the things that brings people back,
and holds people together around something,
is a deep connection and understanding
of what something is and why,
and there is no better way to express
your respect for something
than to be faithful to the distinctive spirit,
the integrity, and the characteristics
of something’s continuity.
My Poem “Explorer”
Whenever I look up at the stars,
whenever I look towards the peak of a mountain,
whenever I look at an image of The Moon or Mars,
something within me is always awakened,
something within calls upon me
to want to venture towards the unknown,
something within longs to drive me to go
where I have never been before,
and I cannot stop myself from setting out
upon an open road -
one that might see me jump inside a cockpit,
one that might see me climb a rock face,
one that might see me put on a spacesuit
and be launched upon a rocket and into space.
I have always wondered what we will find above the clouds,
I have always been curious about
what lives below the surface of the sea,
I have always been fascinated by
what artists create and why,
and I have always been inspired by
the universe of countless points of life
and the possibilities that await us on
the journey of the future that humanity
will never cease to be enriched by
as we reach higher, farther, and faster
than even our dreams could imagine…
I have always been a dreamer -
but I am also someone who gravitates towards
and likes to be surrounded by people
who are not afraid to be themselves
and who know they are different from
the majority of people they know,
because they are who influence and inspire me
to never stop doing what I do.
Exploration comes in many forms…
the reasons why we are all here
and why we want to be interconnected
so irrevocably to one another
speaks to something about us all
that manifests itself in the ways
that we seek out and look for answers,
because we are presented with a reality
that makes us feel like we are in a mindset
in which everything we thought we knew
is now in question and must be explored…
since I was a child, I have been walking through forests,
I have been following the trail of discovery,
I have been watching the world and its people
and I have seen change happen
within the blink of an eye,
and as time has gone on I have become
increasingly more interested
in decoding the mysterious messages
left behind by nature and by our ancestors
who wished for us to understand what
we can achieve if we don’t stop pushing forwards
in whatever direction we want to go -
however what we might uncover might not be what, nor where,
we expected to find what have been unconsciously looking for.
I have never let anything, nor anybody,
stop me from being who I have always felt I should be:
someone who feels at home while outdoors;
someone who can be happy and content
while delving into my own thoughts
and wondering what I will do
with what will inevitably emerge
from the event of creation in my imagination;
someone who always remembers where I have been -
which is why I seldom feel lost;
someone who never stops finding something,
or someone, to be inspired by;
someone who can go somewhere
and repeatedly be struck by a deep
and profound feeling of awe.
I have always been, and I always will be,
someone who is a voyager,
someone who is a discoverer,
someone who is a wanderer,
someone who is the definition of an explorer.
My Poem “In my stride”
When I was younger
I didn’t worry about anything -
I always assumed that everything
would turn out how it was supposed to,
and when it was supposed to…
as I got older, and as more pressure
was put upon me to try and find
a direction in life to proceed down,
I began to wonder what I was going to do,
where I was going to go,
and who I was going to be -
however, like always, I just presumed
that somehow, somewhere, something
would happen that would make the choices
that I had to make next simple and easy
to understand why I needed to make them,
and when I needed to make them…
when I finally began making a living
and doing what I had to do to make ends meet,
I just went with the flow and the wave
that I found myself riding
and eventually I was able to see
another avenue to venture down
that seemed more fulfilling, more exciting,
more inspiring, and more rewarding in ways
than I had known before.
As time went on, times of chaos and confusion
naturally overshadowed and influenced
the decisions that I made -
and I had to be both patient and humble
when it came to what I wanted to do,
who I wanted to be, and what I was willing
to give to reinvent myself and to receive
the necessary gifts I would require
to rise above the world of my present
and create a new version of my identity.
After I experienced the transformative
surge of feelings, emotions, and power
like that of the wonder of a child
when they see something or do something
they have never seen or done before,
I was never the same and I knew
I could never be the same again -
because what changed in me
allowed me to see, to hear, to taste, to smell,
to feel the world and the wider universe
in such a fundamentally different way
that altered me on a level that is
hard to explain and impossible to describe.
Every day whenever I look back,
or whenever I find myself somewhere new,
something within me is stirred,
something within me opens up,
something within me knows that
there is more than one way of thinking
and interpreting what presents itself to me:
something profound, something intense,
something that only I may be able to quantify initially,
until I can find a way to share and to communicate
what I know is true and what I do not need evidence of
to prove to me that more things than
could ever imagined are connected
in an infinite number of ways.
Though I know, and have always known,
that things would work out the way that are supposed to,
there have been times when my faith has been tested;
however, I have always tried to maintain my belief,
and I have always been hopeful,
that no matter what happens in life,
and no matter where I am,
things will always happen exactly
as they were intended to from the start -
so the best way to take what comes my way
is to take everything in my stride.
Coming Soon: The Storyteller
Hi everyone!
I am thrilled to announce that my ninth official poetry collection, ‘The Storyteller’, will be available to purchase on February 2, 2025, in hardback and as an ebook from Amazon.
Filled with over 60 previously unpublished poems, ‘The Storyteller’ is a collection of poetry, as well an insight into the mind and the life of a writer and an author of stories – not to mention an exploration and an explanation of why storytelling is important and has always been important to humanity, as well as to life itself.
From the back cover:
I always wanted to be a Storyteller…
As we all grow, we all change and we all realise that even our heroes can bleed, even our heroes can cry, even our heroes are sometimes tested to their limits, and even our heroes are unable to live forever.
I have always believed that I am here for a reason and I have a purpose to live, to explore, and to be inspired by what I find, and by whom I meet along my journey, and to tell the stories that I believe were always waiting for me to tell – because I believe I am the only one who can tell some stories as they have always been meant to be told.
You can check out ‘The Storyteller’ on Amazon now, and as soon as it is available to purchase physically, as well as digitally, on February 2nd, I will share a link to a purchase a copy right away.
-Mark
markthepoet.me 