Everybody loves being an insider…
everyone loves being someone in the know…
everybody loves it when they know something
that not everyone else does…
everyone loves being told a secret by someone
and then told “don’t tell anyone”.
There is always more going on behind the scenes
of anything and everything that we see and do…
there is always more going on behind someone’s eyes
than could ever be imagined, nor described…
there is always more going on below the surface
of a moment of silence and stillness
than could ever be captured with words,
nor with a photograph…
there is always more going on above us
and around us than anyone could ever be conscious of;
however, most likely unconsciously,
the fate of everyone and everything
is inevitably and inextricably linked to one another -
because every moment of every world
always overlaps with one another,
like a waking dream of instinct and intuition
that is constantly changing, evolving, echoing,
connecting, and communicating with one another.
Some people are good at keeping things to themselves;
however there are some people who
can’t help themselves from telling everybody
everything they have been told -
despite being told not to…
some people are good at disguising their emotions
and find it easy to be duplicitous
even to those they are closest to,
because they know they must;
however there are some people who
have been caught out disclosing
something not meant to be shared
and the consequences of this
have had a more profound and far reaching
impact than might have been thought, nor expected.
Every question ever posed
and every mystery that has arisen
all have something in common:
they all have an answer;
and for every question and mystery
of this world and beyond
there are many who would do
whatever they could to be the one
who uncovered the truth,
or who made the discovery -
and no matter who we are, where we go,
what we do, when it is, why we choose
to believe that we have finally reached
the end of our journey and search for how
things were the way that they were,
and perhaps still are,
each of us will always inevitably
one day find out that there is, was,
and always will be someone else
who knows more about something
than we thought they did;
nevertheless, even if it is only
for a short period of time -
or perhaps for what turns out to be
the better part of a lifetime -
everyone would surely agree
that sometimes it’s good to be an insider.
Mental health
My Poem “Punk”
So much has changed…
the world is so different…
when you look at the world we live in
can you believe that this is
what everything and everyone has come to?
From music to movies;
from the way we entertain ourselves
to who we choose to entertain us;
from the easy access to instant knowledge
to the immediate interconnectivity
we have with one others all around the world;
it’s sometimes hard to believe
that we have allowed ourselves to be
brought to this state of being that we are now in:
a world of perpetual uncertainty
where the rich seem to be calling all the shots
and the poor are suffering like never before;
a war of fear, instability, intimidation, and violence
being committed under the guise of securing peace…
the problem with having lived through
multiple states of change and having witnessed
things go from good to bad to worse,
if you are still someone with the clarity of perception,
you realise and you know that people
may have been better off before
we started allowing algorithms to determine
how, what, where, when, and why
we chose to do what we did -
because some days it is more obvious than others
that we are living in an age of mass social anxiety,
mental health issues, and manipulation
at the hands of those with
all the resources and power in the world.
This world is not the same
as it was when I was younger…
this planet has become
even more dangerous
than it was supposed to be…
this reality sometimes feels to unreal
that people believe we are living in a simulation -
because the way things are sometimes seems
so out of the ordinary and as if
everything and everyone is being directed
towards a particular goal and end point,
like the plot of a film, a book, or a video game…
the societies of the globe have never felt more
at odds with one another and as if
everything and everyone is teetering
on the edge of a fall from which
there may never be any recovery from,
because tensions are so high
and so many people are dying
because of the aggressive nature of those
who want to control as much as possible
just because they can.
I think we have collectively lost
more than we have gained as a species,
as a planet, as a whole,
and the problem is no one can stop
what was started years ago before,
because this world is far too deep
into the delusion and the illusion
that is daily veiled over the vast majority of people -
and as a result no one can tell
what is true and what is false,
what is real and what is fantasy,
not to mention whether who and what
we see on a screen is factually accurate
or fabricated by A.I.
and that is why it is so important
to not take anything you see or hear
virtually as being the truth until
you see and you hear the same thing
from a variety of sources,
because it is so easy to be fooled
by the clowns who have become
the enemy of the people
while claiming to represent
and have the best interests
of the majority of the population
of the world at the forefront of their mind -
when in actuality there are so many
“leaders” who are harming the people of the world
in more ways than they could ever realise
or care to take a concerted interest in;
however, that is why I believe
the world will always need those
who have never wanted to be a part of the mainstream,
those who people who know that
absolute power corrupts absolutely,
and those who just want to be
who and what they are and don’t care about
who and what they are supposed to be
and what they are supposed to do -
because this world is full of so many people
who will tell you what you want to hear,
but the real truth tellers are those who might
count themselves as a member of the community
of the world who rebel against the idea of conformity
and who are at their heart a life long “punk”.
My Poem “Simpatico”
Ever since I was a child
I have always sought to understand
everything and everyone…
ever since I was a boy
I have always sensed that there
will always be more to learn about life,
the universe, as well as where
each and everyone of us came from…
ever since I was a child
I have always felt at ease
talking to people about what it is
that they hold dear
more than anything in the world…
ever since I was a boy
I have wondered about how my presence
would affect the way that people perceive me,
think of me, and what they expect of me;
however, as I have grown in more ways than one,
I have become more aware than some
that I have always had a connection
and a relationship with something
beyond my comprehension
but not beyond my ability to harness
in an attempt to share my experience,
my knowledge, my vision, and my instinct
of multiple perspectives and a variety of realities
all existing simultaneously,
like the crystalline components that combine
so perfectly in the form of pearl…
having always been a dreamer,
I have never had any trouble, nor any doubt,
believing that everything means something,
and every day everything and everyone
seeks to attain a certain level of success and contentment
in becoming and being in whatever state
they know feels right to them;
however not everyone gets the chance
to live out their hopes and dreams
and be the beneficiaries
of their aspirations and desires -
but the secret is that everything and everyone
wishes to have instances of inspiration,
creativity, resilience, respect, and rejuvenation
the like of which I have been fortunate
to have experienced as a boy, a young man,
and someone who gets along with
everything and everyone else around me
while also having to remind myself
that so much complexity goes into something
that from the outside looking in
seems so serene and so simple.
My Poem “Like Riding A Bike”
No one ever truly forgets
how to do something -
especially once someone has found
the required level of skill to be able
to repeatedly do the same thing
over and over again without thinking,
and when that happens some acts
become seemingly second nature and effortless…
some knowledge is taught by teachers and mentors,
while some knowledge is almost instinctive
and can feel as if has been acquired
after having been passed down
through some kind of genetic inheritance and memory…
some people take to some things so quickly
that it is immediately apparent that their connection
to something is harder to explain than usual,
because some people seem to have
a prodigy-like gift to be able to grasp
the concept of what something is
with such speed that their abilities
can dumbfound the mind of observers…
some people may take longer than others
to understand the mechanics of how something operates;
because some people are more practically minded,
while others are more theoretical in their approach -
which is why everyone who is seemingly
struggling with something should be encouraged
to never stop trying to make something
make sense to them and in such a way
that only they can see why something
means the way that it does…
some people are just not meant
to be able to do everything,
nor to be able to hear everything,
nor to be able to see everything,
nor to be able to understand everything
that other people might be able to -
and there is nothing wrong with that,
because everyone is different
and not every piece of knowledge
and information about how something is done
can easily be translated, transferred,
replicated, and evolved until it becomes
something innate and as natural as art;
however, when something “feels right”
and just seems so natural when you think about it
and whenever you engage in it,
everything that comes to you
like you have done it before -
even before you tried to do it -
can feel like you are reliving and reenacting
an experience that you could never forget even you tried,
like how people describe that
no one who ever learned something
could ever forget what they know:
because sometimes some things
are just “like riding a bike”.
My Poem “Give Back”
The creation of anything, or anyone,
is not always as simple as it sounds…
art doesn’t spontaneously
emerge from out of nothing…
everything evolves because of experience -
what works, what’s compatible,
what makes it across the line,
what doesn’t work, what falls through the cracks,
for whatever reason;
however, sometimes there is no predicting
why one thing will endure over another…
the reason why something
becomes a trend to follow,
and why something else does not
leave as much of an impression and an impact,
sometimes has nothing to do
with anything other than time…
sometimes some things are not meant to be
appreciated at the time of their release
into the wider world and they are
only recognised for what they are long after
their voice has become an echo -
and sometimes, miraculously, something
can be given a new lease of life
and be rediscovered and rewarded
with what they were always entitled to…
there is more to life than what
could ever be read in a book,
and there is more to life than
anyone could ever know
from being told by someone else -
because life and people are complex,
and things such as a dreams,
or the spark of creativity,
are necessary to making life and people
what they are supposed to be…
in order to be able to make something
that wasn’t there before
you have got to be willing to go to the edge
of your understanding and allow yourself
to be carried away by the ideas
that capture your imagination
and can grow in strength to become
so powerful that they can seem to rival reality
and feel like magic…
every word of every spell and incantation
ever uttered by any storyteller and gatekeeper
is able to open more doors and more opportunities
for more things to come through
and make their presence known;
but in order to get something
sometimes you need to give beforehand,
and then the cycle of reciprocity continues,
over and over again, as life and people
repeatedly receive and then give back.
My Poem “Forty Five”
Time certainly does fly -
one minute you are young and carefree,
and the next you find yourself looking in the mirror
and wondering whose reflection
it is that you now see;
because our time and the events of our life
sometimes feel like something that happened
to someone else, somewhere else -
because what happens to us as we grow
and as we progress through the waves of change
that crash against us have a direct
and a profound impact upon us
in ways that sometimes only become
apparent years afterwards…
time is always temporary -
because every moment is unique
and sometimes only fragments can be found
that harken back to memories of experiences
remain to reflect upon and remind us
of the times of our past that always find a way
to endure in some form or another…
when we are young our birthdays
are the best days of our lives
and we look forward to them for many reasons;
however, as we get older, our birthdays
can feel more like milestones of our life’s journey
and quiet reminders that no matter
what we do we can never
undo what has been done -
and we are reminded to accept what we cannot change
and learn to appreciate who and what
still matters to us and gives meaning to us…
being a wiser man than I was,
and after going through what I have been through,
I am grateful for who I am, for what I am,
and for who and what I have in my life,
and I do not look back and think that I would change
that much from my past -
because I believe that those who were once
by my side are no longer with me for a reason,
and those who remain with me
have always been with me and always will be…
perhaps, one day, I will find myself wondering,
yet again, about who I am and how I came to be
who and what I have become
and I may have had a change of heart
and mind about what happened and why;
however, until then, I am happy to be here,
with whom I share my story with,
as I continue to wax lyrically and loudly
my belief in the power of poetry
and my ability to be a creative, productive,
optimistic and positive individual
and influence to everyone I know
and everyone I meet.
My Poem “The Line”
There are moments when we all stand
upon a line between two extremes -
a terminator between night and day,
a fulcrum of balance between order and chaos -
because there are moments when
we find ourselves removed from our lives,
removed of identity, removed of any knowledge
of who and what we are, who and what we were,
and who and what we are supposed to be;
and then follows the choice:
Which path to follow? Which route to take?
Which power within us to call upon?
Which fate to hear the voice of
and all them to dictate our destiny,
our future, our life going forwards?
And we are asked: what we would be willing
to sacrifice for what we want
and what we say we need above everything else.
It’s not always easy. It’s not always hard.
It’s not always possible to understand
how the choices of a single person
may affect the outcome of countless lives,
until you are already living in the reality you made
and are now looking back upon
how, when, where, and why you chose to do what you did.
Sometimes our choices are taken out of our hands;
sometimes our decisions are made
by others who believe they are meant
to have control over us;
sometimes our fall and our pull
towards the side and the energy
we feel the most seduced to
can feel as if it was always going
to happen and may have already happened,
and so much so that there was never any way
for us to change the course of inevitability.
We are at our most susceptible
to doing something wrong,
that at the time feels right,
when we at our most vulnerable -
and that is when and where questions are asked
and answers come quickly,
and so do actions that we may
one day wish to take back;
however, some things and some people
inevitably can never revert, nor return,
to how they once were
and we have to hone up to
the new state of affairs we may be
in some way responsible for.
Because each and every one of us -
from the bad to the good,
from the saint to the sinner,
from the faithful to the traitor -
have to go through so much throughout our lives
and each and every one of us at some point in time
must be reminded of the importance of sometimes
having to traverse what feels like a high wire
and proceed undeterred while walking
and finding ourselves veering one way or another
from the line of life that we have lived
before we found ourselves considering
the possibilities, the opportunities,
the consequences, and the rewards
of either staying upon the path of what we know
or embracing the allure of the unexpected
and putting your trust in the hope of the unknown.
Each and every one of us,
every day of our lives,
must be brave and resolute
every step of the way
that we take upon “the line”.
My Poem “A Journey Through Poetry”
Going back to the beginning
and rereading what I wrote
when I was just starting down
upon this journey of poetry of mine
and then comparing what I wrote
and who I was then to who I am now,
is always a fascinating endeavour,
because things are so different now
to how they were before -
as is the world around me,
as well as the world within me…
going back and remembering
what I was doing, what I was thinking,
and what it was that inspired me
to write what I did at a particular time
is sometimes like trying to preserve
a castle out of sand from being
engulfed by the waves of the tide;
however, sometimes, the ability to be able
to seemingly move through time
and be transported back to the when,
the where and to the why I was inspired to write
something that seemingly had to be written
can feel so effortless that it can almost feel
as if no time has passed since the spark of creativity
touched me and motivated me
to express what was happening, what it was,
or whom it was who was on my mind at that time…
going back to my memories, my thoughts,
my recollections, and my feelings about
something, or someone, from a long time ago
is sometimes somewhat harder to do
especially when you have tried your hardest
over the years to distance yourself from certain things
and thoughts about certain situations and people -
which is why going back in time,
even if only in a literary and poetically speaking sense
can be dangerous, perilous, and painful,
like trying to cross a minefield of explosives
that can cause considerable harm
and psychological damage as a result…
going back over what you remember about
something you created can be illuminating
and interesting in so many ways,
but in a fundamental way it is like trying to recall
the images and the details of a particular dream that you had -
but because dreams are more
ephemeral than memories are
and they do not weigh down upon
our emotional state as much,
our thoughts and feelings are much more
like psychological scars and are much harder
to move away from because they are based
upon experience and not speculation…
going back down the road
that brought me to where I am now,
and as I proceed I see flashes of insight
that shed light upon something I may have missed,
is something that I do cautiously
and in no way casually,
because I know who I am
and what and who will trigger me
into veering off down a mental path
and wondering whether I made the right decision
when presented with a crossroads of choice;
however, whenever I do choose to venture internally
within my own mind that has over time
become more and more dense
with the same thoughts, feelings, and memories
that always find a way to rise to the surface -
like trying to traverse the foliage of a rainforest -
I have over time learned to not linger too long
on the shadows of what and whom I sometimes find,
and I instead just keep proceeding upon
the path of my life and embrace
every step of my journey through poetry.
My Poem “Capture This”
So often in my life
I have been somewhere,
with someone, as well as alone,
when I have immediately understood
that I was witnessing something
that to me looked and felt extraordinary
in some way, shape, or form -
however, it was not until I became a poet
that I knew I had the skill set
to be able to put into words
and paint a picture with language
exactly what something in particular,
or someone in particular,
meant to me at a particular moment in time…
as time has gone by, some of the words
that I once used to describe something,
or someone, that seemed instantly amazing to me
have faded from memory -
like a photograph that has been
exposed to sunlight for too long -
and I have had to contend with
the fact that nothing remains
as they used to be forever,
because nature has a way of teaching all of us
that everything and everyone
has a purpose, a meaning,
and a reason for why they should be treated
as if it they are something unrepeatable,
unique, and a treasure like that of a rare find…
my heart has never ceased to want to
allow itself to live and breathe alongside
those of other likeminded souls,
but time and time again
my heart has been broken
and has had to repair itself
because the intentions of others were able
to override my own expectations and instincts
and lead me almost over a cliff…
my gift and my connection
to the universal muse has been able to
give me visions and dreams of places,
and my interpretation of the sound
of the orchestra of the cosmos
has allowed me to understand my place
in the grand scheme of things
when it comes to the reason why I am here -
and I must have had close to a million moments
in my time when I have seen something,
heard something, felt something,
and automatically picked up the means
to be able to carry out my destiny:
my innate ability to be able to
be witness to something and know
immediately in what way
I am going to capture it.
My Poem “In Echo and Reflection”
Whenever I see a photograph
of myself from childhood,
or whenever I hear my own voice
from decades past,
I am always reminded of how young I was,
I am always reminded of how untainted I was,
I am always reminded of how naive I was,
and I am always reminded of how much
I have changed, and also how much
I haven’t changed and will never change…
whenever I look back upon my own memories
I am always having to remind myself
that things might not have happened
exactly as I remember them happening -
because, no matter how good we think our memory is,
each of our memories and recollections
are always subject to our emotions -
and the farther away we are from
something that happened
the more that our perception of reality
becomes distorted and rewritten
with the version of our own internal narrative…
whenever I read something that I wrote
from years ago, when I was younger
and more inclined to believe everything
and take everybody on face value,
I look back on recent events
when my view on something or someone
was challenged and subsequently changed as a result -
and that is when I realise how important
is it to stay in the moment,
but not forget why things are
the way that they are
and why things were never meant to be
different than how they turned out…
whenever I read something I wrote,
whenever my own words and my own actions
return to me in some way,
I remember the fact that the past
is constantly talking to the present,
just as the present talks to
and perhaps even influences the past
in more ways than we realise,
and I find myself not regretting anything that I have done -
because we are all creating and recreating
our own version of our life
which only we have control over…
whenever I hear others talk about me
in the third person,
I always wonder how and why others
see me as they do and what it is about me
that has stayed with them
and reminds them of me -
but then of course there are the things
and there are the people whom I have known
who might not have as glowing of an opinion
of me as they used to;
however, I have learned that it doesn’t matter
what someone who is no longer in your life
thinks about you,
because it is those people
who take the time to reach out to you
and who want nothing but the best for you
who give you what you need, when you need it;
and when it all comes down to it,
everything and everyone all sound different,
and everything and everyone look different,
whenever they are heard as an echo
or whenever they are seen in reflection.
Mark The Poet 