I have always been a fast writer…
I have always been a slow reader…
I have always been a fast typer…
I have always been a slow listener…
I have always been able to see, to hear,
to feel the sound and the rhythm of words
and be spellbound by their ability
to make sense of the world,
while being aware and fascinated
by the fact that each word
has their own story to tell of their origin…
I have always been curious about
how a word can come to mean
so much to so many -
even now, I am wondering:
What was the first word?
Who invented the first word?
When, where, and why
was the first word uttered?
What did the first word mean?
And, after it was first used,
was the first word used repeatedly
and to the extent that it was understood
and considered to be something
that someone generations in the future
would be wondering about?
I wonder - that is what I do…
I wander - that is also something that I do…
I watch, I wait, I weave silent tapestries
of poetry within my mind,
as the world races by…
I welcome the opportunity to be inspired
by whatever angel wishes to sit upon my shoulder
and whisper into my ears -
because I know how intense
and powerful an idea can be,
and I know what can be achieved
and where you can go
if you decide to make a move that you know
will influence the rest of your life.
In my time, I have met wizards…
in my life, I have met witches…
in my memories, I see things
that even now I am still trying to believe…
in my dreams is where and when
I face my fears, and every day I feel compelled
to bring people together
and to be a guide for others to follow -
just as the Messenger God, Hermes,
once instructed me to be one night
in a vision that I still remember so vividly…
in my heart I have always hoped for the best,
and I have always wanted the world to be
whatever those who work hard want it to be -
but my faith in some heroes and some role-models
renowned for their gift to touch humanity
with their artistic abilities
has on occasion been proven to have been misplaced,
and I have had to reexamine, reevaluate,
and revise my opinion on those
who have been exposed as devilish individuals…
I have always been known to be one who -
even when seemingly surrounded by uncertainty -
chooses to find a way out of wherever I find myself,
and I always start by choosing to never panic;
because I know that I always have a secret weapon
that will always keep me from
falling into a void of no return,
and there is no other word for what I know to be possible,
nor another way to describe what lies within me
and a select group of artistic individuals,
other than the ephemeral and overwhelming
sound and sensation that we have all felt
when we have witnessed something
that could only be captured, in a word,
to be nothing other than “magic”.
magic
A Poem A Day #184: Night
My Poem “The Burning Bulb”
This is what I remember... this is how it used to be... this is what I and many others like me have been unable to do for almost a year... this is how I have spent so many mornings as a writer, as a poet, and as an observer of human nature: sitting in my favourite café, as the bells of a nearby clock ring out, and feel like I am where and when I need to be to take out my notebook and write some new poetry. It hasn't been the same experience, it hasn't been the same magic - even though I have not stopped writing, nor creating new things, over the last twelve months I, like everybody, has had to adapt to living in a world divided in so many ways... even though I have not been lacking in ideas, inspiration, drive, nor passion to let my poetic side express itself - now that I am back, sitting inside and enjoying the ambience and the atmosphere around me that I know so well, which for years has fuelled my creativity, I honestly feel as if I am able to spread the wings of my intrinsically poetic and artistic spirit. I have learned over the years to embrace every moment, because things can very easily be put on pause, beyond our control, or can even be brought to an abrupt end - which is why I often dwell upon memories of where I have been, of what I have seen and of what I have felt throughout my life... I am someone who has always looked to the distant horizon and to the future - but when anybody goes through a period of being within something, or away from someone who matters to them, everybody undoubtedly feels this need to somehow go back, to recapture and to relive all that to them for so long has always felt like a constant burning bulb of energizing inspiration, light, and hope.
My Poem “Houdini”
Everybody loves magic…
everybody lives to be bedazzled…
everybody who sees a magician
or an illusionist perform
an illusion or a magic trick
often cannot believe what
they have just witnessed…
everybody lives to see
something that they have
never seen before –
even those who have been
around the world and have experienced
things that are indescribable find
themselves, at one time or another
during their lives, captivated
by the gift of someone able to show
an audience of one, or one of a thousand,
something unbelievable,
something borderline supernatural,
something that looks so simple
but is in reality complicated
on so many levels, and something
that is a part of a tradition
that is not just exclusive
to humanity, that has also been
observed in the animal kingdom:
the art and the act of surprise,
of wonder, and of defying expectations.
Stories and mythologies
from all around the world
are filled with tales of characters
that have certain unexplainable skills…
legends have for centuries been written
about wizards and magicians who became
synonymous and memorable
because of who they were
and what they were believed to have done…
characters like “Merlin”, who is always
closely associated with the legendary
King Arthur have become mythical
in their own right because of the mystery
of who they were that still follows them
and cloaks them like a veil.
In this day and age,
just as back the medieval days
of kings, knights, swords in stones,
and ladies in lakes, people
are still drawn to experiences
that cannot be explained
without some sense of loss as a result…
even those people who ask how a magic trick
is done do not really want to know
because it is the not knowing of an audience
that is one of the most essential parts
that makes a magician want to keep doing
the same trick and the same routine
over and over again.
We need magic in the world
now more than ever,
because it is by being ensorcelled
by a gifted magician that we can
let our imagination run free…
thank god for magic and thank god
for magicians – who are wizards
in their own right – who some of us
know of, or may have grown up with,
like Derren Brown, Paul Daniels,
David Blaine, Penn and Teller,
David Copperfield, who learned from,
and who followed in the footsteps of,
one of the greatest and one of
the most spellbinding magicians
of all time: the one, the only,
Harry Houdini.
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 Art of The Act”
Every performer is a character…
everyone who performs on a stage,
on a screen, to a camera, to a microphone,
from a speaker has to adopt a persona…
every actor, every singer, every politician,
every comedian, every personality,
every person known for doing something
or for being somebody has to embody
a certain magic and emanate a certain gravity
in order to make their audience
fall under their spell…
everybody who has a gift
and who has this hunger within
to craft something of their own creation
and their own imagination
that they want to share with other people –
something that people like,
something that people understand,
something that people respond to
and empathize with – is an artist
with a heart and a soul deeper
than the deepest well…
everybody who plays at being someone
for a long time naturally has moments
when the character that they play
seeps into and starts to influence
the actions and the boards walked
by a performer during the moments
when they are being who they really are,
behind the mask of the character that they portray,
when they are doing the day to day
activities of real life…
every performer sometimes has moments
when they find it hard to see the dividing line
between one side of their personality and the others –
which can ultimately lead to moments when performers
look in the mirror and they ask themselves: who am I?
every performer wears a costume,
every performer has their own voice,
every performer longs to dive into a world
and be someone else – even if it is for a short time –
and every performer has their own back-story,
as well as the story that they tell themselves
within their mind which they are at the centre of…
every performer is a magician –
even if they do not directly advertise
that they perform magic…
every performer is an artist of an art…
every performer is constantly a student
and a teacher of those who follow them
and to those who they are walking
in the footprints of who are sometimes
so influential to a performer
that their performances are considered mythic…
every performer – no matter who they are –
in order to continue to do what they do
and to continue to love how they choose to live
often times have to play and practice at
being someone else and at having to act out
the performance at being the person
at the centre of the art their act.
My Poem “Love Is Like Dynamite”
Love is like dynamite…
love is a sometimes indefinable
feeling, energy, purpose,
connection, sensation, perfection,
that everybody knows and instantly recognizes
when they experience it coming over them…
love is like nothing else…
love is like a flash of light
that guides your way, day after day,
and keeps you wide awake at night…
love is true magic…
love is the true meaning behind the universe…
love can never be foretold, nor predicted…
love is a blessing and should
never be considered a curse…
love can make people do many things…
love only gets stronger as you commit further
and you dive deeper into the ocean of feelings
that you can’t deny that you feel for another…
love needs to be expressed…
love is a question, an answer, a test,
a way for someone to show themselves at their best…
love is a gift… love is infinite…
love transcends sex, colour, cities, countries,
distance, language, and worlds…
love is more than a word,
love is more than a feeling –
love, in its purest form,
is about finding bliss, joy, heaven on Earth,
when you aren’t looking for it,
and realizing the fundamental truth of the universe:
that nobody is ever truly alone,
and there is somebody out there in the world
for everybody to share an unbreakable bond with
who gives everything that someone has always wanted.
My Poem “Thirty Seven”
There are days when time goes fast,
there are days when time goes slow…
there are things that I see, hear, and taste
that instantly remind me of the past…
there are moments in every hour of every day
when I dream, when I hold on to hope,
and when I smile to myself
and I know beyond doubt why I am here,
why I do what I do, and what life is all about…
there are faces that I stare at every day
of people who define me and who make me feel
like the luckiest and the happiest
man in the entire world…
there is, and there always will be, within me
an infinite world of hopes and dreams
that will repeatedly coalesce and come together
in the form of a poem that must be written,
and for my part I always want to be a poet
with an open heart who understands
and loves the power and the magic of words…
as I write this I am on the cusp
of turning thirty seven years old,
and like every year around my birthday
I sit down and describe who I am
and what reflection I see when I look at myself
in the mirror of my mind –
and who I see is who I have always been
and who I will always be,
on Earth as well as who I will be
if and when I hopefully rise up to heaven…
there is a brand new summer enlightening
and reinvigorating me as I look down
at this page of my life
and as I look up to the bright blue sky –
and though I know that I could be
a better man than I sometimes am,
I remain eternally and constantly hopeful
and now at the ripe old age of thirty seven.
My Poem “Dusk”
The golden and blue hue of dusk
is the view that greets me
when I gaze out of my window
at the evening sky –
soon all will be dark
and the stars will shine
brightly on the horizon and above me…
Slowly the once blinding light of the sun
fades to an after glow in the West…
All is quiet, all is peaceful…
The streetlights start to illuminate one by one…
Slowly but surely night is falling upon us…
This truly is the time of magic…
The sky looks more beautiful
now than it does during the day…
There is a stillness and an enchantment
that feels like it is at play…
Day becomes night without so much as a fuss…
This time is one of the most powerful…
Words cannot describe this captivating
and this awe-inspiring time of dusk.
Mark The Poet 