music

My Poem “Dear John Lennon (2011)”

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

Back in 2011, I wrote a poem called “Dear John Lennon” about the one and the only John Lennon and since today is the 39th Anniversary of his ultimately passing I just wanted to share it again as my tribute to one of the most amazing and influential artists of our time whose influence over the people of the world continues in so many ways will never be forgotten. If you have read it before I hope you will enjoy it again! 😌

“Dear John Lennon”

One of the most phenomenal,
inspiring, magnetic, influential,
and amazing men, musicians,
and poets, of the 20th Century –
you have had a remarkable impact
on my life, my Dad’s life,
and on the lives of millions of people
all around the world,
because you were the epitome of humanity,
and you always will be.

Your music has filled the homes,
the hearts, and the minds,
of my family, since before I was born –
in fact, the first Christmas present
that my Mum brought my Dad
was a copy of your album ‘Double Fantasy’,
and the album that I know my Dad
thinks about when he thinks of you
and he wishes to mourn.

I would have loved to have known you,
to have met you,
and to have talked to you, John;
even if it were only for a minute –
after listening to every one of your songs,
and the songs of The Beatles,
I have felt many times that you were
talking directly to me, to everyone-
and to this day, and beyond,
I feel as if your voice,
and your message has no limit.

You wrote and created some of
the most incredible, moving,
amazing, and true, songs
that I have ever heard –
every song is like
an amplifier of my own
thoughts, memories, troubles,
and hopes, and I am inspired
and enlightened by every word.

You are, were, will always be,
us, all, me, and everyone;
you believed, and you saw,
that the best of life, and the world,
can be achieved through peace, love,
and through striving to be
the best that we can become.

To me, you are one of
the greatest men to have ever lived,
and everyday I mourn you
like I would a brother;
you changed the world during
your short time on Earth
for the better, and forever;
and who you were, and what you
and your music mean to people,
is a star so bright it will
never be eclipsed by another.

Everyday your music reaches out
to people so profoundly
that they can not imagine a world
in which you were not a part of it;
everyday the love that you had within you,
and the love that people
will always feel for you,
manifests all over the world,
and enlighten’s your spirit.

You will live forever,
your voice will echo for all-time
through the minds and the hearts
of all who hear your voice –
tomorrow, a century from now,
and especially today,
the 8th of December, 2011;
I believe the world will one day
live in peace with one another, as one,
and fulfill your dream:
the dream of dear John Lennon.

RIP John 😢

My Poem “Artistic Heroes”

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

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 “Insomniac”

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

During the early hours of the morning
I have been awoken,
my mind has been opened
like the creaking door of an old house,
and I feel something stirring within me…
the sky outside is still dark,
everybody around me is still asleep –
however, I cannot switch of,
nor retreat to the depths beneath
where I return to the realm of my dreams…
I try listening to soothing sounds,
I try listening to the music
of Vivaldi and Mozart
hoping that the beautiful
classical music will help me fall
into a delicate trance
like that of watching a falling leaf –
however, I am still wide awake
and it appears that the delta waves
of my brain were disrupted so severely
that they could no longer maintain
there normal restorative cycle
and pull me down and deep…
I turn off all the lights,
I lay my head down in a room of darkness,
I slow my breathing and I try
to concentrate on the white noise
of the stillness of the early morning,
and I hope that I will soon be able
to resume a mood of restfulness
and renew my state of snooze
by listening to the tune of The Sandman’s muse
and curing me of my insomnia.

My Poem “Multicolored”

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

Everybody is an individual,
a person, a spectrum of many colours
throughout their life…
no one can help what body they are born into…
everybody constantly hopes to be able
to one day express themselves
in the way that they want to
without feeling abnormal and as if
who they are on the outside
is not meant to fit in with
how the world is, how it is meant to be,
and how it is meant to look…
no one has the right to be able
to tell anyone that they cannot
be who and what they want to be.

Music is life, life is music –
and people in all their many colours
and with all their individualistic
facets are who make the music of life
as rich as it is, and without all
the many pioneers of individualism
and the proponents of staying true
to what you believe
then the world as we know it would not exist.

The best of humanity, the icons of history
who will be revered forever,
the ground-breakers who knew
even before they learned how to talk
that they were special, different,
anomalous, and exceptional
because they saw the world
and the question posed to them
without the jadedness of a dark cloud
of preconceptions hanging over them –
they are the ones who have always been
responsible for giving our world
the gift of pure inspiration,
ingenuity, and innovation
in the many levels of every day life
that different people live upon.

The best stories ever written
are of extraordinary people
overcoming a stereotypical boundary
that ultimately leads everybody
who learns of their story
to be inspired and choose to emulate them
and follow in their footsteps…
I believe that if you are someone
who is “different” from everybody else
then you should feel proud…
monsters, trolls, and bullies are different
and they are treated differently –
which is why people who suffer
from being singled out
often plague others with the same toxicity
as they are daily exposed to.

In my opinion, if you are different
from everybody else then
you truly are “special”
in every sense of the word –
and I have always believed that
when you embrace you own
individual eccentricities
then you may find that you share
more with other people around the world
who already know who and what they are
and who choose to let the light of their
multicolored soul shine like
the constituents of depth
that give light to a star.

My Poem “The Fire-starters”

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

Everybody always remembers “The Fire-starters” –
the rebels, the ones who created their own path,
the ones who lived their life on the edge,
the truly unique, the individualistic,
the punks, the ground-breakers, the pioneers,
the ones who spoke their mind,
the ones whose heart beat to a different
rhythm than everyone else’s,
the artists, the ones with an inner voice
that hungered to be heard,
the prodigies, the impulsive, the unorthodox,
the ones who ventured to places
where angels sometimes fear to tread,
the ones who daily grappled with personal demons,
the ones who hoped to make a difference
by being themselves, by being different,
by exploring every avenue
of life that they could find,
the ones who walked a line,
the ones who wore black, white,
and every colour of the rainbow,
the radicals, the only one of their kind,
the ones who could have the deepest
and the most meaningful conversations
with anyone about every subject matter…
Our world would not be what we see
if it were not for those who understood
the power of change, music, madness,
love, revolution, redemption,
and the wave of rejuvenation
that you can experience through
a fit of laughter…
Our universe would not be what it is
without those who understand and realize
how important the gift of diversity is to all of us…
Our existence would not be what it is
and it would not be as tolerable to some people
if they could not be who they felt they should be,
who they feel they need to be,
who they are fated to be –
and some of the greatest minds,
the greatest teachers,
the greatest influences over humanity
throughout history,
have been what you could call
“Fire-starters”.

“Sunrise” by Seen feat. Mark Hastings – Out Now

Mark Hastings me, music, Poetry , , , , , , , , , , ,

“Summer Melodies Vol.2” – featuring Seen and my song “Sunrise” is Out Now and available to stream and download on Spotify! Listen to our new song and the entire uplifting and progressive sounding album by following the link below:

-Mark

“Sunrise” by Seen. Featuring Mark Hastings

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

Hello, everyone!

It is my great honour to announce that my poetry has evolved and has taken a step into a completely different medium. By that I mean to say that one of my poems – a poem that I wrote almost 9 years ago, my poem “I’ve never seen a sunrise” – at least my recording of which, has been incorporated into, and will soon be released, as a song called “Sunrise”.

“Sunrise” – which has a trance/house/chill-out kind of vibe to it – was created by the amazing Seen who has expertly mixed my poetry and my voice, with his uplifting and energizing style of music, to create a wonderfully uplifting song that – in my humble opinion – sounds amazing!

Like I said, my original poem and my recording of it is now nearly 9 years old; however,“Sunrise” by Seen featuring Me, in my opinion, gives my poem another life and another medium by which it can be shared and enjoyed.

“Sunrise” by Seen Featuring Mark Hastings will be released on “Summer Melodies Vol.2” – a compilation album of 9 songs ranging from deep house to progressive house/trance styles of music – by Summer Melody Records on February 8th, on Beatport, Spotify, Tidal, Deezer, and on all other stores on February 22nd.

Here is a trailer highlighting some of the songs that will feature on “Summer Melodies Vol.2”, including a small sample of Seen and my song “Sunrise” at the 1:13 mark:

There will be a “Summer Melodies Vol.2” Album Release Party on Saturday, February 2nd, online @ https://plug.dj/trancehousechill – if you are interested in attending the album release.

And I would just like to say how honoured I am that Seen chose one of my poems to incorporate it into what I believe is a fantastic, amazing, and uplifting song that could be enjoyed by everybody – as I hope my poetry can always be enjoyed! 😊

-Mark

My Poem “The 1975 Experience”

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

I feel so alive…
I am still riding high
upon a wave of sound,
energy, and light,
after watching, after listening,
to my favourite band, The 1975,
live for the first time…
the experience was amazing…
the show was mesmerizing…
the almost spiritual, simultaneous,
synchronous, visceral gift
of opening your heart, your mind,
your soul, your senses, your mouth,
taking in, letting out an incantation
of love in the form of music and song words
that you know is an unfiltered
communication of pure ecstasy –
and in my opinion there is no way
of replicating that feeling of connection,
that wave of emotions that you find yourself riding…
when we are in presence of similar souls to us,
when we hope and pray to be taken away on a journey
to another place, and we reach a state
of hypnotic and perfect bliss,
returning to the outside world,
walking through the darkness surrounded by stars,
into the cold air of the night,
is like waking up from a dream
that you find it hard to describe afterwards
because it was so enlivening…
coming down after flying so high is always hard…
getting up the next morning
after a transcendental experience
is like waking up with a hangover
after being intoxicated by a drug…
I have had moments of time in my life
that were so special to me that I will never
forget them until the day that I die:
meeting my one true love and asking her to marry me,
meeting my favourite author,
standing atop the Empire State Building
and taking in the extraordinary
360-degree view of New York City,
getting my first book of poetry published,
and so many more –
and now I can add my time listening
to The 1975 live and in concert to that list,
because just like when I try and recapture
the sensations of doing all of the amazing things
that I will always remember doing,
when I close my mind eyes I still feel like
I am when and where I once was:
one moment in my lovers arms
sitting on that wooden porch in Georgia
that I still remember so well,
and the next bathed in the light
and the sounds being witnessed and reciprocated by
my favourite band, The 1975, on a cold January night.

My Poem “Goes to my head”

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

The more that someone allows
the spirit of something to capture them,
the more that they embody
the properties of that spirit…
the more that someone becomes engulfed
in the wave of energy and emotion
that rises at a particular time of the year,
the more that they want to share
the joy that they feel with whomever they are with…
the more that someone succumbs to traditions
that mean something profound to them,
the more that they want to repeat
those same rituals time and time again…
the more that someone thinks about
how someone or something makes them feel,
the more that they do not ever
want to be away from the object of their affections –
and even the thought of being far away
can be enough to bring them to tears…
the more that someone strives to reach
a state of complete and utter happiness,
the more that someone will discover more
about what keeps their heart beating
and the thought of who and what
they love the most ticking…
the more that someone does something,
the more that someone can become addicted
to the way that special something
never stops making them feel –
sometimes something can fill a person
with such a glow that their heart and soul
can be seen shining like the tail of a firefly…
there are so many things that instantly
overcome me and make me forget
the last thing that I said:
inspiration, sunshine, music,
the beautiful face of my fiancé,
the knowledge of something new –
however, there is only one thing
that immediately gives me a rush of blood,
at the speed of light, that goes straight to my head,
and that thing is the feeling of love.

My Poem “The Eighties”

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

I grew up in the 1980s…
I grew up in the decade when
the world was blessed with the best
and with the most memorable days of their lives…
when I think of the 1980s and the time of my childhood,
I look back with awe and with a nostalgic longing
to return to those days –
even if only for a short time…
I can still remember living, breathing, growing,
and enjoying every one of the gifts of humanity
that were ever-present and essential…
I, like many, still vividly remember what I saw,
what I heard, and what I felt when I was a child –
what I was fortunate to have seen, heard, and felt
for the first time, at the moment that
their star of influence began to rise
and instantly started to impact
and change the world forevermore…
television, movies, music, games, books –
the characters, the vehicles, the fashions,
the songs and the soundtracks
that continue to stand the test of time –
that to this day are still re-watched,
replayed, rediscovered, and renewed
for a brand new generation…
to me, there is nothing like nostalgia…
to me, there is nothing like revisting
the precious memories of your youth…
there is something about certain times
in our collective history that resonates
with some people on an emotional
and on an almost cellular level…
there is something special about remembering
the things we used to watch,
the things we used to listen to,
and in the ways that we used to enjoy them…
there is something wonderful, heart-racing,
exhilarating, and magical about using
our imagination as a vehicle to go back in time,
like the Delorean time-machine
from the Back to the Future movies,
and in a small way reliving decades-old memories –
and even though I am now in my thirties
and my childhood now feels like a life-time ago,
I still love thinking back, I still loving watching back,
and I still love using the songs that I remember from my youth
to take me back and give me a rush of euphoric recollection,
like the feeling of returning home:
the same overwhelming sense of belonging and joy
that I ways feel when I think back to the 1980s.