poem

My Poem “Pool of Contemplation”

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

As I sit looking at the ripples
upon this pool that I have been
familiar with since I was a child,
I contemplate so much about what I know,
about what I don’t know,
about what has happened, about life,
and about what will happen
when all is said and done
and when the world feels like it has been
put back together after such a long
period of feeling as is if
the seams that held everything together
were beginning to become undone.

I know this place…
I have stared into this water
more times than I can remember…
I have a connection to this place…
I once sat down and painted this very pond
long ago when I was a child –
and then, just as now, I felt compelled
to see and to find shimmering
sources of inspiration, of connection,
of that something about nature
that feels indefinable, magical,
wonderful, and phenomenal.

There has always been something
calming to me about staring
into a pool of water…
there has always been something
ethereal about the thought of
what may be found within the depths
a puddle, a pool, a pond, a river,
a sea, an ocean –
beyond the surface, below the waves –
where nobody can venture to
without external oxygen
or without an imagination,
to explore things that have
a life of their own,
where things remain unseen
until they are explored,
and where things which always
spark into life
the fire of inspiration:
things that I always find
whenever I look
into a pool of reflection
and contemplation.

My Poem “Grounded”

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

One of the things that living
through times of uncertainty
teaches someone is to appreciate
all the things about a person’s life
that are the most essential…
one of the things that people
realize that they often take for granted,
especially when living through times of loss,
is the gift of knowing that
the friends and family members
are still managing to adapt
and to survive the best that they can.

One of the things that everybody
understands more acutely than they would
under normal circumstances
is why it is so important to tell people
how you feel about them, if you can,
when you can, how you can –
because sometimes things in life
do not always go to plan.

One of the things that people
have to deal with,
especially while learning how to deal with
the after-effects of a cataclysmic event,
is an unbelievable amount of stress
as well the sometimes difficult
endeavour of feeling under the weather,
trying to figure out how to live
when some connections
and when some avenues of stability
and serenity have been temporarily severed.

One of the things that the people
have to learn when they are travelling
down an unknown path
is the ability to course-correct,
to change how they think,
to change what they do,
and to remember what has always
kept them on the straight and narrow,
what their life revolves around,
and what it is in their life
that has always kept them grounded.

My Poem “Memory Lane”

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

Walking down and around
my old stomping grounds,
down the long and winding lanes
of the countryside near my home
that I know and could never forget –
especially now, while the world
feels like it has been turned upside down –
feels so rejuvenating, it feels so relaxing,
it feels like stepping back in time
and simultaneously being the man I am now
as well as the man I was back then
when I last walked this path,
as if I am in communication with myself
as I was five years ago in the past.

The grass looks just as green…
the budding trees look just as pretty…
the sky above looks to me to be
the brightest blue that I have ever seen…
the furrowed fields look just as
mesmerising as they always did –
in fact everything that I see, hear,
feel, and inhale of the nature that surrounds me
intoxicates me with its natural,
lush, and majestic beauty.

It is no wonder to me
that so many artists have attempted
to capture a view and the epic expanse
of a landscape within the confines
of the edges of a canvas –
because there is so much to be found,
because there is so much to take in,
because there is so many evocative
shapes, colours, textures, nuances,
wisps of language and meaning
that constantly jump out from
a green and pleasant environment
that has so much to say
and to convey about itself,
about who and what calls it home,
how it has changed and how it is
exactly the same as it was.

Quite often you find things out
about yourself that you recognize,
sometimes you might encounter
things about yourself that
you may have forgotten about,
and sometimes things can look different
when seen through the prism of time,
experience, memory,
and what we see can inform us
of exactly where we have been,
where we are going,
what we have been through,
and most important who we are –
and that is why one of the most amazing,
transformative, and rejuvenating things
that we can do from time to time,
especially when we feel like
our spirit needs a boost,
is to see beyond the frame of the present
and take a walk down “memory lane”.

My Poem “For Bake’s Sake”

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

Because of the current circumstances
that we all find ourselves within
so many people have been forced
to stay at home, to stay indoors,
and to stay away from
close friends and family members –
and, as a result, there has been
an increase in the necessity for
Internet bandwidth so that people
who are at home 24/7 can continue
to remain in contact with
the rest of the world,
so that they can continue
to be entertained
by all the content that the various
streaming services have to offer,
and so that people can continue to
engage with rest of the world
via all the forms and all the sites of
social media and social interaction
while the majority of the planet
continue to practice physical
social distancing between one another,
and there seems to be no more
popular activity than people
daily posting pictures, videos,
and even live streams of what they are doing,
what they are making,
and what they are baking behind closed doors
while they wait out the time of being
locked down from the outside world
which continues to progress at
the only pace that it is capable of taking.

We all have to do something
to pass the time when we are being
asked to do as little as possible,
to leave the house as sparingly as possible,
and to not interact with anyone
anywhere other than with those
who live under the same roof as we do –
and some people have chosen to
become home bakers, artists,
social media streamers,
book readers, television
and movie watchers,
and they have chosen to share
what they are doing with their
time of isolation more so
than they would if they were able
to leave their homes if
and when they wanted to.

Time goes by so slowly
when you have to look
for things to do
to distract you from the situation
that you find yourself in –
especially when you and everyone
you know is attempting to live
under a shield of quarantine
in an attempt to protect the lives
of their family members
and the world at large –
and which is why the allure
of making things and using your time
to create something and to share
the process and the end result
of doing something worthwhile
is what so many homebound people
have chosen to gravitate towards
and will no doubt continue to do:
because if this troubling time
is reminding all of us of anything
more profoundly that usual
is that time is precious, life is short,
and our human societies are fragile –
and that is why I think what people
are doing to pass the time while
they at home is important,
and whether watching, writing, reading,
making, or baking, what people are doing
is for all our sake and not just
baking for baking’s sake.

My Poem “Sacrifice”

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

These are crazy times…
these are the days that we hoped would never come…
these are the times when people are
acting on their survival instincts… these are the days that we will hopefully
one day look back upon and marvel at
humanity’s collective ability
and each of our own individual capacity
to do all that we feel like we need to do
when faced with a crisis that we cannot control
but which we can play our part in finding
a way through the thick fog
of what we do not understand.

Each of us recognise that the time
we are living through now
most of the time feels like a struggle…
each of us know that feeling of distress,
of disappointment, of depression
that rears its ugly head and rises
to the surface of our minds
when we are hindered from doing
what we want to do, going where
we want to go, being with who
we want to be with –
there are people staring out their windows within the safety of their home,
there are doctors, nurses, patient care techs
who are working long shifts in hospitals
who wish that they did not have to be so far away from their loved ones,
but who are all choosing to do
what they feel they need to do
to beat the threat that feels like
it has engulfed the world
and which is praying on people
young and old from every walk of life.

As Winston Churchill once said:
“This is not the end.
It is not even the beginning of the end.
But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning” –
and it is this quote that has been
carrying me through these times,
and I am sure that these words
I will continue to repeat to myself
as the chaotic times of our present predicament
continue to change and ask of us
to be strong, to be safe, to be mindful,
and to be the best version of ourselves
and to not choose to give in to fear
and to the dark side of human nature
that some people dwell upon
and act upon because they cannot help themselves…
the human race will survive
what we are all going through…
the human race has had to deal with
and live through atrocities
of our own making because of human action
or inaction before and we will one day
get the chance to reflect upon these times, these days, this real-life nightmare
and find a way to live with our own sacrifice.

My Poem “Emptiness”

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

Empty streets… empty buildings…
locked doors… isolated people…
fear and stress lingers in the air.
Why is this happening?
What is the reason for this
cursed pandemonia?
The entire world is trying
to keep its spirits up
while attempting to stay inside
and weather the storm of panic,
death, and uncertainty that has
gripped almost all of the countries
of the world.

Why? Why? Why? Why?
Why has this happened?
Why was this allowed to happen?
The people of the world have been
brought to their knees by an invisible enemy
that everybody is at war with
and is looking for any way possible
to find a cure for this rampant disease.

I am like so many others:
I am trying to keep smiling,
I am trying to stay calm,
I am trying to carry on the best that I can,
I am trying to stay hopeful –
but then I turn on the television
and I am reminded about
just how many people
this world has lost,
just how bad this deadly pandemic
that we are facing is,
and sometimes I find it hard
to find the words and the strength of composure
that I usually wear wherever I go.

There is nowhere to go…
there is nothing to do…
there is only silence,
there is only a void of space
where things used to be,
there is only this feeling of…
there is only this feeling of…
of… of… of… of emptiness
that I hope and pray
will soon come to an end.

My Poem “The Defiant”

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

Small things can become big things,
big things can become small things…
the invisible can sometimes be
more influential than the tangible…
some of the things with the most power
to sway the actions and the intentions
of a wider society of people
are those that do not have a face to look to,
are those that do not have a voice to hear
other than that of what they are
capable of meterializing
as a result of the wake that they
are able to generate.

Small things – like atoms, microbes, even whispers –
can exist and can be found thriving for
varying periods of time
around every living thing
and in the time that they can do
what they can do they attempt
to invade and to override the defenses
of those trying to stay alive
in many places around the world.

Big things – like life, stars, galaxies, the universe –
all once began smaller that eye of a needle
and yet when given the right environment
to grow some things are capable
of accomplishing infinitely complex,
incredible, unimaginable,
astounding and astonishing actions
that at times defy expectations
and clear explanations.

At this moment people all around the world
are being asked to live in bubbles
of physical solitude
while still connected to a greater bubble
of reality that encompasses all the other
varying bubbles of life that people
have had to adapt to and to adjust to living within –
because we are all a part of a world,
because we are all a part of a species,
because we are all a part of a family,
because we are all a part of a consciousness
that will not allow itself to be beaten
by the small, or by the big,
and we will defend ourselves in every way that we can –
socially, hermetically, and responsibly –
because though Earth and humanity
may be small in comparison to
the infinite vastness of the universe
we are a planet that has always been
and will continue to be one
of survivors who will live on,
because everything and everybody is,
always has been, and will continue to be,
unequivocally and unapologetically defiant
through all that we have to face.