writing

My Poem “The Runners and Riders”

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

Every weekend
within the village where I live,
there is a convergence, a meeting,
a gathering of runners and riders
who, for some reason, feel drawn
to my home’s crossroads
of paths and directions…
every weekend
people of every walk of life
set out of their homes
and eventually find themselves
at the same place, at the same time,
marveling at the journey they took
to be where they are and sharing
within their conversations their
mutual appreciation of what
always makes their thoughts race
and their heart beat faster and faster.

I, myself, am a walker…
I, myself, like to stop
and literally smell the roses…
I, myself, am a daydreamer…
I, myself, like to be unbounded to idea
of exactly where I am actually going
and let fate take me where
and when it chooses.

I have been both a runner
and a rider in my time –
and I can still recall the exhilaration
that I used to feel every time
that I pushed my body to the limit
while I got to where I needed –
however, nowadays, I am more of a free spirit
who goes with the flow.


I have been someone
who has had near misses –
and if the universe had had other
plans for me then I would not
be talking to you now…
I do not know how to be any different
than who I have become as a result
of all my experiences and adventures
that I have had over my life –
every so often dancing with
the flames of fate’s fire –
which is why I always feel
a genuine kinship with all of life’s
many and varied runners and riders.

Episode #11: “Dead Poets Society” (1989 Film) review + talking poetry

Mark Hastings films, Podcast, Poetry , , , , , , , , , , ,
In this episode Mark talks about one of his favourite films: the 1989 American teen drama film “Dead Poets Society” written by Tom Schulman, directed by Peter Weir, and starring Robin Williams. And Mark also talks about what poetry means to him and how blessed he feels to be a poet and an author of poetry.

My Poem “Why?”

Mark Hastings Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 
There is always a reason,
there is always a why,
there is always a motivation
for the myriad of actions
that people sometimes take
and for the many decisions
that people sometimes make
that they have no trouble in
being able to justify.

Where there is a spark
there will always be a flame...
where there is touch and proximity
there will always be intimacy...
where there is language
there is will always be consideration,
interpretation and loss -
because truth and reality
are not always the same...
where there is the evidence of stories
of the past there will always remain mysteries.

Myths, legacies, stories, records,
chronicles, cave paintings, rock carvings
are important depictions of a mixture
of both fiction and fact all rolled into one...
sometimes it doesn't take anything more
than someone saying that they heard
a voice tell them to do something
for them to immediately act
seemingly without thinking,
nor without a fight...
symbols, signs, warnings, lessons,
cautionary tales are vital for
any civilization to learn the merits
of what is right and what is wrong...
sometimes it takes the bravest of the brave
to stop something that they know
is going to happen before it happens -
so that some day someone won't have to
look back upon a choice that they made
and have to justify to others
and perhaps to themselves
the answer to the question: why?

My Poem “Same Language”

Mark Hastings Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , 
The language of thought
is the same as the language of light...
the language of stars
is the same as the language of life...
the language of music
is the same as the language of the soul...
the language of dance
is the same as the language
of the natural world...
the language of a sunrise
is the same as the language of eternity...
the language of a sunset
is the same as the language of gravity...
the language of connection
is the same as the language of purpose...
the language of love
is the same as the language of trust...
the truth is that there will always
be a universal language:
the language of touch -
which is more complex than
any other language in the universe
but which is inherently every other language
combined into one.

The Mark The Poet Experience – Special Episode: “Ten Years in the Life of a Poet”

Mark Hastings life, Podcast, Poetry , , , , , , , , , , ,
To celebrate the one year anniversary of the first episode of “Mark The Poet – The Podcast”, in this episode Mark takes a poetic trip down memory lane and recites eight poems from seven of his books, including his poems: “Back to the Spark”, “The Journey”, “Through Your Fingers”, “Heart to Heart”, “Balloons”, “Light of your life”, “Words Enough and Time”, “Memento Vitae”. And Mark also reminisces about the last ten years of his journey as a writer/poet/author. You can check out hundreds of Mark’s poems, both published and unpublished, on his website: http://MarkThePoet.Me

My Poem “Gone”

Mark Hastings life, Poetry , , , , , , , , , , 
No matter how much
you try to hold on to something
sometimes you lose things,
sometimes you lose people,
sometimes you lose time;
however, one day you unearth
a piece of your past
and you look at it for the first time in years,
and, to your amazement,
it does not not mean to you
what it once meant -
where before you would have
done anything to not be parted
from a particular thing,
now, all the feelings that you
once felt for something, you discover,
seem to have evaporated,
seem to have become lost,
seem to have left without you knowing -
and though, before, you might have
told yourself that you could
never live without that
particular thing in your life,
you come to find that time appears to have
helped you more than you realize
to get passed what might
have been holding you back,
because now you find it easy
to walk away from what was never meant to be,
because what once was is now gone.

The Mark Hastings Experience – Season 3, Episode #1: “For the love of it”

Mark Hastings Podcast, Poetry , , , , , , , , ,
In the first episode of “Season 3” of The Mark Hastings Experience podcast Mark talks about writing, his writing process, and he recites his new poem “For the love of it”. Check out Mark’s poem “For the love of it” @ http://MarkThePoet.Me

My Poem “For the love of it”

Mark Hastings Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , 
The best reason to do anything
is always for the love of doing something:
giving someone a smile,
asking someone how they are,
giving someone the gift of your time,
showing your appreciation to someone
for sharing a small insight into
who and what makes them just as
worthy of taking an interest in
as the nearest or the furthest of stars.

Not everybody is lucky to be able
to have a career doing what
enlivens their thoughts and makes their
heart throng like the thunder
of a lightning storm...
not everybody can do what
everybody else can do as perfectly,
proficiently, nor perhaps as poetically -
but I guarantee that when someone
is home alone, without any eyes upon them,
everybody who has ever been as
spellbound by something
as extraordinary as a magic trick
has been able to do and to mimic another person's
talent and as a result has found their
own individual hidden gift or secret accent.

Everybody has that song
that they secretly do a little dance to
when no one else is around...
everybody has that characteristic
about someone else that they
secretly admire and wish
they could embody and emulate
simply by feeling the vibration
of someone's quintessential sound...
everybody has that person,
or a small group of people,
who they believe they can
see through to the soul of
and who can return the favour
because a bond of experience
that was once forged and was destined
to always be eternally rich...
everybody has an indefinable
electric eccentricity of wonder
about them that they harbour within
that occasionally sees the light of day
when and where they have the opportunity
to be and to do whatever they want,
for no reason other than
simply for the love of it.

My Poem “Life”

Mark Hastings Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , , 
Life is full of many surprises...
life is full of many sunsets and sunrises...
life is full of many contests and prizes...
life is full of many stories of those
whom have never stopped wanting
to reach for something farther
and climbing beyond
the highest of the heights...
life is full of people looking up
to somewhere where the lights
of the heavens shine upon
and guide those who have
always known that they had
a fate to fulfil unconstrained
by any invisible lines...
life is full of those who have always felt
as if they had a goal before them to be achieved,
to be found on the other side of a ride
of ups and downs, of body and mind,
of drive, of faith and belief of every kind,
at the end of which lies a place and a time
where and when a creation
can finally meet their maker
and bring home with them
the dawn of a new world
unlike the one that they
may have known
their entire life.

My Poem “Soapbox”

Mark Hastings Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 
In any public area there exists an arena
where those who have both the creative spark
and also the drive to perform
can show an audience what
calls out to be heard within their core...
the stage might be a grand bandstand,
or perhaps just upturned used crate -
but no matter who they are, or where they are,
what every performer wants
more than anything is to perform.

Most performers who
perform on street corners,
or in the middle of a town square,
do not do so simply for monetary gain -
because the first love of most performers
who stand with their instrument,
a live microphone, and a speaker by their side,
is that of sharing what they feel
for the music within them
and the magic of music that has
the power to draw everyone.

For most performers a stage
of any kind feels like a second home -
and every time every performer
feels those pre-performance nerves
sometimes they feel as if they have to
put on some kind of metaphorical second skin,
or step back into a psychological
pair of comfortable shoes,
with which they can use to help them
soak up every ounce of attention upon them
so that they can convert
their audience's enthusiasm into a fuel
to turbo-charge their art;
however, for the more reticent of performers,
a spotlight may be the last place
that they want to be -
but even the most introverted artist
can, over time, find a way to create
an alter ego with which, in a sense,
they can become someone else,
and make it possible for them
to climb to heights from where
they can make themselves,
and others, believe that they have
this extraordinary, electrifying,
transcendental and other-worldly power.

In this day and age a stage does not need
to be a physical place at a particular time...
in this day and age, because of the constant
advances in technology that have been made
in the way that we all communicate
with one another, anyone, anywhere,
can do what they love, and they can be
whomever they want to be,
and put on a live performance of their own -
even from the sanctuary of their own bedroom...
in this day and age someone
who is categorized as "unknown artist"
can quickly create something and go "viral",
and for as long as the place
where their performance was shared remains,
archived forever for posterity,
someone, anyone, could become
a constant source of hope and joy for someone  -
especially for those people who, at times, feel lost...
in this day and age you don't need to have
a message written in the sky to get noticed,
because anybody with the tenacity,
the courage, the spark, and the love for performing -
that every performer has within them -
can find the perfect place,
can find their perfect audience,
where, and to whom, they never want
to step off the stage of, or say goodbye to -
because every performer has their soapbox.