The Pathfinder: Lifeline

In this episode, Mark recites his poem “Lifeline” from his 2024 poetry collection ‘The Pathfinder’ – which is now available to buy in paperback and as an ebook from Amazon: https://amzn.eu/d/aXnSwxa and you can check out more of Mark’s poems at http://MarkThePoet.Me

‘The Doorman’ – Hardback and Author’s Preferred Version – Out Now!

The Hardback and Author’s Preferred Version of my book ‘The Doorman‘ is Out Now on Amazon. This is the first book of mine that has been published as a hardback, and since I recently returned to this book and the story of “The Doorman” in audio-form on my podcast, I decided to iron-out all the creases that may have found themselves within the original paperback and kindle version and release a polished version of it – my Author’s Preferred Version, to be precise. This new version of the book is not that dissimilar from the version I released last year, however this new, improved, and preferred version features a new cover and some minor changes here and there. But, here it is… again: the story of “The Doorman”, Simon Starling, Reader’s World (a real place, I might add), of stories within stories, and lost love. This book and this story is so me – perhaps more so than any of my stories and books that I have had published thus far.

Happy reading! 😊

The Pathfinder: Poetography

In this episode, Mark recites his poem “Poetography” from his 2024 poetry collection ‘The Pathfinder’ – which is now available to buy in paperback and as an ebook from Amazon: https://amzn.eu/d/aXnSwxa and you can check out more of Mark’s poems at http://MarkThePoet.Me

My Poem “Train of Thought”

Waiting for an idea
is like waiting for a delivery to arrive,
but you have absolutely no clue
what you are about to receive...
waiting for an idea
is like being told that something
is about to happen,
but you aren't told
how, when, why, where, nor what...
waiting for an idea
is like waiting for a fish
to take hold of the baited-line
that you have cast out into the water...
waiting for an idea is sometimes fruitful,
but,
most of the time, waiting for an idea
is a fruitless endeavour -
because, sometimes, when ideas
feel like they are not coming to you
then you have to go wherever the ideas are:
up in the sky, under the water,
all around the world where life exists,
and where instances of wonder
happen more often than
what we are told to believe...
waiting for an idea
is like waiting for a bus
or a train to pick you up
and take you on a journey -
and sometimes you have to
accept the fact that inspiration
runs on an indefinable schedule,
and not the one you might want it to...
waiting for an idea
can be like standing on the edge
of something epic -
like the Grand Canyon -
and marvelling at what it takes
for something so breathtaking
and unique to come into being,
and then to throw a pebble below
and to not hear it fall -
that is when you can come to realise
what an idea is, and what it can take
for an idea to grow into what
it will ultimately become:
imagination, belief, trust,
and the ability to allow
your thoughts to run free
like a wild stallion,
and be ready for whatever
and wherever your train of thought
will take you.

The Pathfinder: Through Your Fingers

In this episode, Mark recites his poem “Through Your Fingers” from his 2024 poetry collection ‘The Pathfinder’ – which is now available to buy in paperback and as an ebook from Amazon: https://amzn.eu/d/aXnSwxa and you can check out more of Mark’s poems at http://MarkThePoet.Me

The Pathfinder: Multitude

In this episode, Mark recites his poem “Multitude” from his 2024 poetry collection ‘The Pathfinder’ – which is now available to buy in paperback and as an ebook from Amazon: https://amzn.eu/d/aXnSwxa and you can check out more of Mark’s poems at http://MarkThePoet.Me

The Pathfinder: Sometimes Words Are Unnecessary

In this episode, Mark recites his poem “Sometimes Words Are Unnecessary” from his 2024 poetry collection ‘The Pathfinder’ – which is now available to buy in paperback and as an ebook from Amazon: https://amzn.eu/d/aXnSwxa and you can check out more of Mark’s poems at http://MarkThePoet.Me

My Poem “Relationship’s End”

A relationship doesn't just happen,
a relationship takes time
to build, to grow, to change...
a relationship can begin
in many different places,
at many different times,
for many different reasons,
and in many different ways...
a relationship does not have
an established timeline, a map,
nor a explanation as to when
and how things will happen
over the course of it, nor why -
because a relationship must be allowed
to become what it is supposed to be.

When it comes to relationships,
you cannot compare
the relationship you have with someone
to the one shared by other people,
because every relationship is unique...
when it comes to knowing
what to do while in a relationship,
no one can know what is the right thing
and what is the wrong thing to do -
because no matter how much time
you spend committed to making
a relationship last as long as it can,
nor how hard you try,
things will undoubtedly happen
that will push every bond to its limit,
and cracks will ultimately start to form,
and one day -
through no fault of any one person -
a relationship, like a mirror,
might shatter into pieces
because of all the stress
it finds itself under.

Sometimes relationships end
because they have to,
because they were always meant to -
however, when you look back
over the path you made with someone,
you can see where things started
to slowly but surely go wrong
from all the clues
that were always there to be found...
when a relationship is no more,
and you have to walk away from someone
who used to mean something profound to you,
it can be easy to blame yourself
for why things went from good to bad -
but sometimes some things
are just not meant to last,
because sometimes when we catch up,
and then we go beyond,
what we always thought
a relationship would be
all we start to see
are all our chances to leave,
all the escape routes,
all the ways out we can use
to return to a state of being
when and where we are accountable
to no one else's actions but our own.

The Pathfinder: Interlinked

In this episode, Mark recites his poem “Interlinked” from his 2024 poetry collection ‘The Pathfinder’ – which is now available to buy in paperback and as an ebook from Amazon: https://amzn.eu/d/aXnSwxa and you can check out more of Mark’s poems at http://MarkThePoet.Me

My Poem “Just Like That”

How can two people love each other,
and then, one day in the future,
the love they had,
the love that bound them,
and the love that meant
something to them
more than words could say,
seemingly disappeared -
as if with the snap of a finger?
How is that possible? How?
All those kisses... All those hugs...
All those timeless gazes...
All gone, all forgotten -
as of they never really happened.
What a sad story.
What a heart-breaking reality.

The beginning of anything
and everything is always wonderful -
but as time goes on,
and as things happen,
people change more
than they think they do,
people change other people,
and before anyone knows it
the world can be something
to someone one minute
and then the next something
completely different and new.

Most of the time,
change cannot be seen,
nor predicted, until it happens -
like a explosion in the fabric of reality
that causes waves to carry
far and wide, high and deep,
until, one day, you wake up,
you look around, and you feel
something inside of you -
and you are taken to a place
that you never thought
you would go to,
and all you can do
is keep going down the same road
that you now find yourself on.

There is a reason for everything.
There is a reason why people meet
when, where, and how they do.
There is a reason for why
people are happy,
but then they decide
they can no longer
proceed down a path
that they know is wrong.
There is a reason why
people give up on other people -
because they lose their faith
in something that they
always thought would be forever.

Endings are sad,
because they are meant to be...
if something stops
and you do not even blink an eyelid
then obviously what that something was
did not mean enough to you
for you to fight for it...
there is a strange feeling
that courses through you
when the music that you
always used to hear
suddenly goes silent,
and you almost immediately
start to forget something
that used to be so integral
to who you were and how you saw yourself -
there is always the shadow
of an after-image that remains,
but what was once present
now feels as if it has longsince past.

Every morning there is a sunrise;
every evening there is a sunset;
every time a storm rages
upon the surface of the sun
it sheds a part of itself
that ultimately makes its way to Earth
and interacts with the magnetic field
of our planet in the form of aurora;
every time two people
fall in love with one another
it is as if the mechanisms
of a ticking clock have been set into motion -
and only time will tell
what those two people
will choose to do together,
and with others,
before the day will come
when something beyond anyone's control -
but not out of the realms
of causality and possibility -
will effect everything,
and where something once was
something else will have taken its place,
just like that.