My Poem “Mirror World”

Scientists say that they have detected

a stream of emanating Cosmic Rays –
powerful particles that are usually found
in the expanse of outer space –
that they believe may be
one of the first pieces of evidence
ever discovered of the potential
presence of a reality that may
exist alongside our own:
an invisible and divisible parallel universe,
but one in which the laws of physics
do not apply as we know them to –
because everything may be happening
in reverse to how we know they should go …
a universe in which time itself
may be running backwards
instead of the forwards momentum
that we are used to on
this side on the cosmic mirror –
and scientists believe this may be the case
because the Cosmic Rays
that were detected were not
coming from outer space,
they were coming from Antarctica,
right here on planet Earth.

Essentially, inadvertently,
scientists have accidentally
turned Science Fiction
into Science Fact,
fantasy into reality –
because for decades writers of
both prose and entertainment
have postulated and dramatized
that such parallel universes
are in fact real and yet detached
existences where life proceeds differently
but on some level has some
connection to our “normal”,
every day, reality.

I find this new discovery fascinating…
I find this new evidence inspiring…
I find the prospect of this new
anitclockwise universe as something
that may one day herald a greater
understanding of how the universe works…
I have always been lured to stories
of places like Lewis Carroll’s tale
of Alice when she stepped “Through
the Looking Glass” –
and it seems, as if lifted from
Lewis Carroll’s own spellbinding words,
that there is in fact somewhere
that we cannot see directly,
but which appears to be,
some kind of counter-intuitive
parallel universe – essentially
a “mirror world” that is an
alternate reality.

Mark The Poet – The Podcast: Episode #27

Mark The Poet – The Podcast: Episode #26

Mark The Poet – The Podcast: Episode #25

Mark The Poet – The Podcast: Episode #24

Mark The Poet – The Podcast: Episode #22

My Poem “It’s good to be back”

Back in the seat, back in the theatre,
back to an experience that I have not
had in what seems like years…
back to where I always enjoy returning to…
back to the place with sparkles on the floor,
back to where the lights are always bright,
back to where there is always the smell
of sweetness in the air,
back to where there are always
refreshments to be had that sometimes
enhance the movie-going
and movie-watching entertainment show
that anybody and everybody who has
ever gone to the cinema is used to…
back to looking at a film
being projected onto a big screen…
back to seeing the illuminated pink and blue
kiosk logo for Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream…
back to the darkness where the power
of imagination always comes alive…
back to the giant room of surround sound…
back to the place where I have on occasion
felt like I were floating in space,
traveling at the speed of light,
or on a voyage to the moon and back…
back to a place that sometimes
feels like we have been found…
back to the place where I like to be
shown something I have never seen before…
back to the past, back to the present,
back to the future – it’s good to be back
enjoying a new motion picture
back at the cinema.

Mark The Poet – The Podcast: Episode #21

Mark The Poet – The Podcast: Episode #20

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.