This episode is a part of Mark’s “A Journey Through Poetry” – a personal reflection of his life as a poet, a writer, and a author – in which he recites a different poem from every one of his poetry collections. In this episode Mark recites his poem ‘Divergence’, from his poetry collection The Storyteller, and he gives some insight and some context into why he was inspired to write this poem in particular.
relationships
My Poem “Every Time is Different”
Sometimes the bad
can overshadow the good…
sometimes the happiest of times
can be forgotten about
because the darkness of hate
and disappointment can
make them sink beneath
the ocean of our memories
so deep that we almost feel
as if they never happened,
and were just a dream…
sometimes we focus too much on
who someone is to us in the present
that we have a hard time remembering
who someone was before -
when times were better -
because the pain of being hurt by someone
can transform the way that we see them;
heroes can become villains;
lovers can become users;
angels can become demons -
and nothing and no one can restore
the halo that once seemingly shone above
the head that now seemingly has horns…
sometimes a song that you once loved,
and used to use to share your affection for
with someone who you used to love,
you can come to hate -
because the way that a particular song
used to make you feel has changed in your mind
and in the way you feel about yourself and the world,
and you will try to make sure you never hear that song again;
but whenever you try to avoid
and forget something, or someone -
like a particular song, or a particular person -
undoubtedly that something, or that someone,
will find you and remind you that they
are still a part of you, and they always will be…
sometimes we all have to accept the fact,
and the reality, that we have no control
over what the universe will bring into our lives
and occasionally influence us with their spirit,
because that is the relationship that each of us have
with everything and everyone else
in existence, everywhere -
from the beginning to the end;
because no matter how many times
you do something, listen to something,
see someone, or hear a particular voice -
even if it is for the thousandth time -
each and every time it is always different.
My New Book – The Affair
This is a true story. This is the story of a relationship, and an account of things and events that happened, which should never have happened. This is the story of two people whose bond was doomed from the start.
This is the story of two people who were meant to meet and to fall in love with one another, but whose affair with one another would leave a lasting scar for one of them more than the other.
The story of The Affair is a cautionary tale of love, seduction, secrecy, betrayal, heartbreak, and the pitfalls of a relationship between two people who allowed their obsession with one another to grow into becoming something uncontrollable and ultimately destructive.
You can get your copy of my new book The Affair on Amazon now: here!
The Affair – Out Now
My new book The Affair is now available to buy in hardback and as an ebook from Amazon.
This is a true story. This is the story of a relationship, and an account of things and events that happened, which should never have happened. This is the story of two people whose bond was doomed from the start.
This is the story of two people who were meant to meet and to fall in love with one another, but whose affair with one another would leave a lasting scar for one of them more than the other.
The story of The Affair is a cautionary tale of love, seduction, secrecy, betrayal, heartbreak, and the pitfalls of a relationship between two people who allowed their obsession with one another to grow into becoming something uncontrollable and ultimately destructive.
You can get your copy of The Affair on Amazon in hardback and as ebook: here!
Listen to me reading Chapter One – “The Spark” on Spotify:
My Poem “Just Their Look”
No matter what anyone says,
no matter how something appears,
how someone presents themselves
matters more than people might want to admit…
even when we are young,
we all have a certain image within our mind
of how we see ourselves
and how we may want others to see us…
some people dress in a certain way
because they want to emulate the appearance
and the fashion of someone whom they might revere and idolise…
we all have our favourite clothes
that, when we wear them, give us
a feeling of comfort, confidence,
and some people take a great deal of time
and pride in selecting what they are going to wear…
some people equate a particular outfit
to a suit of armour that a medieval knight
might have worn to protect themselves -
and although the attire that modern people,
as well as soldiers, wear today
may not be as encompassing,
nor as metallic, from head to toe,
the “armour” of a suit and tie,
or the colours and badges of a uniform,
can give someone that much needed
faith in their own abilities to be able
to do what they must…
what someone wears can affect
how someone acts…
what someone wears can affect
how someone speaks
and how someone is heard…
what someone wears can affect
the perception of people;
however, appearances can be,
and generally are, deceptive,
and should be treated as only
as the surface level of something,
as well as someone -
because everything and everyone
is more than how they portray themselves to be,
and most people are more than how they appear to others,
and for some people that is
how they get through life,
that is how they protect themselves
from all that is going on around them,
and that is how they have learned
to become a part of the society
that they find themselves within…
sometimes some people choose things deliberately,
and sometimes some people choose things
without knowing why they feel drawn to them -
because some things feel obligatory,
while some things just feel natural;
and what someone wears can be a good indicator
of how someone feels about themselves,
or how they want other people to feel about them,
and then there are those who
just wear what works best for them,
and when they see themselves in a mirror
they say to themselves that no matter
where they are and who they are with
how they want to be seen is,
for better or for worse, just their look.
Coming Soon… The Affair
Disclaimer:
This is a true story. This is the story of a relationship, and an account of things and events that happened, which should never have happened.
This is the story of two people whose bond was doomed from the start.
This is the story of two people who were meant to meet and to fall in love with one another,
but whose affair with one another would leave a lasting scar for one of them more than the other.
Out October 31, 2025.
My Poem “Work Together”
Like most people in this life,
at many points throughout my life,
I have had to choose between
one direction and another…
like most people in this world,
there have been several moments,
as an adult and still while I was a child,
when I have had to take my options into account,
and make a decision about,
what path my future could look like…
like most people living on this planet -
this spinning sphere of change,
orbiting around the sun at 67,000 miles per hour -
while growing up my imagination was filled with
sights and sounds of infinite and amazing possibilities
which I might want to explore further;
however, as reality becomes more complex,
and as we are all faced with the dilemma
of having to deal with making a living,
as well as finding a source of happiness
that we can return to time and again
to sustain us through the years of struggle,
each of us has to overcome the fact
that sometimes none of us has total control
over everything that happens,
nor how fast things happen -
because, though we have plans,
the universe has a more complicated lattice
of interconnected relationships and realities
constantly interacting with one another
that it must endeavour to keep in balance.
I have been working on the concept
and the project that is me since I was a kid -
and there have been many times
when I actually thought I had figured out
what my life was supposed to be
and what it was supposed to look like;
however, like everyone who has ever lived,
every time I believed that I had found
meaning, reason, and balance in my life,
the universe would always find a way
of telling me or showing me that I was wrong
and that I should think again…
I have had times when I have been riding high
and as happy and content as could be,
and then I have been reminded that nothing
lasts longer than it is supposed to
and what remains afterwards are only
shadows and reflections of what was
that can never be repeated -
but we don’t learn the heavy truths of
why we should embrace every single moment
with every single person we meet
until we lose contact with them
and we are forced to continue
our lives without them.
Like most of the people who have searched
their entire life for their own calling,
and who want to know what they should do
when they are presented with an opportunity
to influence the outcome of their own life,
I have continuously had to make
adjustments to my perspective
on certain things, on certain people,
and on certain assumptions that I might have had -
because I am, and I have always considered myself to be,
open and empathetic to others who live
a life similar, but different, to my own -
and I have never been afraid of
seeing the other side of an argument
and trying to find a solution based up
listening, learning, and understanding,
as much as I can, about
why people do what they do.
Like most people of my generation,
I have never been more disappointed
by anything than the fact that
some people seemingly cannot find a way
to put aside all that divides them
and come to a peaceful compromise
which benefits everybody and everything -
but the problem is no matter how much
some people have they always want more;
however, I cannot help myself from hoping
that one day everyone will come to their senses
and once and for all realise that the fate
of this world of ours is not for us to decide,
nor is the destiny of the life on this planet,
because we are all just the ones who
are currently doing the best we can
and living as we see fit;
however, several tribes, families, groups, gangs,
empires, dynasties, have thought
that they had dominion over all other peoples
and life on Earth for a fraction of time
in this life of this world -
which is why, in my opinion,
we should be grateful for what we have now
but never forget that change is inevitable
and the most important thing to remember
is that we are not alone in this universe
and that our journey as a planet
will only be allowed to continue as it is,
or evolve as it must,
if it is meant to, and if we once again
do not accept that the only way
to get the best out of everything
and everyone is to live and to work together.
My Poem “If you want me, you know where to find me”
Life is a gift, an opportunity,
an experience that can only be experienced
by embracing whatever we are drawn to,
and who walks into our lives
and influences the flow of our thoughts,
feelings, emotions, and who we find ourselves
dreaming about when we didn’t expect to…
what we don’t realise is just how many
people we actually meet over the course of our lives,
because we sometimes see so many faces
that everybody becomes a blur;
however, sometimes the face of someone stays with you -
sometimes even before you find out their name -
and they change things about you
that you always thought were untouchable
and unchallenged about you…
what we don’t realise is just how many people,
over time, we lose contact with
because our shared journey with them
has naturally come to an end…
we can come to feel and to believe
that we cannot live without someone in our lives
who made us feel things from the moment
that we met them that no one else made us feel;
however, sometimes other people
have other ideas about what the definition
of “love” and “forever” might be
and over time the attention and the attitude
of certain people can shift to others
and it is as if the history that was once shared
now means nothing and is no longer
anything to focused on, nor to hold in such high regard -
and that is when relationships come to an end
and the left behind have to rebuild themselves
and their trust for others after having to suffer
through a barrage of lies…
sometimes the best way to get over someone
who hurt you in more ways than one
is to tell them that you will be alright without them
and you hope that those they burden in the future
will not be hurt by them like you have been…
personally, I used to worry too much
about what went wrong, why things ended,
and what I might have done -
but now I just walk away from those
who no longer want me in their life
with my head held high,
as I say to them with a smile and with a whisper:
“If you want me, you know where to find me”.
My Poem “Small talk/Big talk”
Making a connection with someone
is not something that should be taken for granted…
being able to talk to someone about something
that you know matters to them is important
in more ways than can be expressed…
talking with people whom you don’t know,
as well as with people whom you may
never have thought you would ever talk to,
is the first of many steps that allow
all of us to reach a conclusion
and a consensus about who we all are…
the more that we choose to see beyond
the differences that lie between so many of us -
differences of culture, belief, religion,
fashion, music, entertainment, and ritual -
we can begin to see, hear, and understand
that no matter how many things some of us do
and express differently there is always a mutual
hope to be understood and accepted for who we are…
it has been proven time and time again
that sometimes the simplest
and the most innocent of conversations
can have the most impact upon someone,
and can also affect and influence
the outcome of the future -
from something as trivial as asking someone for the time,
or something so simple as asking someone
how they are and how they are feeling -
can be like giving someone a much needed
opening to say something that they
may have been holding back,
which had been growing out of control within them…
it has been witnessed repeatedly by countless people
the power that words can have on people -
words that cannot be unsaid,
and which say more than what they might
at first seem to be about:
an interconnected network of language
that can communicate with others
something that can help them find something
which they are passionate about finding,
which they look forward to seeing, hearing,
and witnessing in the art that people create,
and especially in the music of their own lives
captured within the verse of a song…
there is a reason why it is easier to say some things
to some people than it is to say all things to everyone,
because some things first require the firm foundation
of a long term relationship between individuals
that can allow for the weight of what may be said
to be understood on a level playing ground
and with the stability to be able to sustain itself
even if the atmosphere of the forum
becomes as tumultuous as the waves of an ocean,
or as unpredictable and as unsettling
as the shaking ground of an earthquake…
one word; one sound; one breath of air from someone’s lungs;
one look in the eye; one instance of selflessness;
one moment of silence, self-reflection,
and self-awareness can be the catalyst
that can cause a change in the lives of many others
far away and beyond your apparent sphere of influence -
because every action is a response
to infinite number that came before it;
because if this day and age has anything
to teach each and every one of us
it would have to be that things grow over time,
and where there is a spark there will always be
the fuel for a fire that could spread
farther and faster than could be expected or predicted,
and even the most tentative of “small” talk
could potentially be the beginning of something “big”.
My Poem “Regeneration”
Who knew that someone could
change so much throughout their life?
Who knew that someone could
go through so much and over time
find the energy that they need
to make it to the other side?
Who knew that there would be no mystery
greater than we are to ourselves?
Who knew that there could be no
question to be answered as illusive
as the one personified in
who we see every day in the mirror,
who never ceases to show us
that we all have layers and depths
that are just waiting to show themselves.
Everything within us, everything around us,
everyone we have known, everyone we will ever meet,
changes and reinvents itself,
over and over again –
at the same time that everything and everyone
follows a pattern of behaviour,
as well as a biological necessity,
to maintain something and someone’s
intended purpose in life…
everything within everyone
began in one state and then over time
adapted to their surroundings and their environment
and became a more diverse and varied
assembly of complexity
and meant to connect to the world
in ways that generation after generation
has had varying periods of awareness of and attention to –
because in times gone by humanity’s
connection with the world and each other
seemed to be more refined,
because our relationship with the natural world
used to be considered just as important to growth
and rejuvenation as starlight.
Every atom of everything and everyone –
from me to you, from every tree to every star –
can all trace their shared lineage
to a momentous event that happened
billions of years ago;
but had the conditions at the beginning of time and space
been ever so slightly different than they were
then everything and everyone
would have turned out differently –
and in other universes and realities
the consequences of what might have been
play out in a myriad of ways,
and the thought that change and choice has been,
and always will, be a factor in determining where
one set of variables will lead to
has always filled me with fascination…
every time each of us think that we
know ourselves and each other
to the nth degree and nothing about us,
nor anyone else, could ever surprise us again,
something, or someone, always reminds us to
never stop questioning our own existence
and the reason why each of us are alive
and able to do what we can do –
because every form of life in this universe,
or any universe, has repeatedly shown
that the longer you live the greater the chance
there is that you will repeatedly go through
a period of self-reflection and self-awareness
that will lead to profound instances
of change and regeneration.
Mark The Poet 