My Poem ‘Author to Author’

The day had been planned for for months;
the moment had been imagined and re-imagined
over and over over in my head;
the thought about what I would say gave me goose-bumps;
the alignment of all the stars that had to happen
to bring about a meeting of minds, lives, books, authors,
still makes me feel like a kid at Christmas again;
the anticipation, the journey,
the waiting in-line outside the grand Waterstones bookstore
in Birmingham with my friend,
is something that I will always remember,
and it will always be special to me-
I remember bringing more than one book to get signed
by one of my favourite authors,
but just the thought of what I was doing
and who I was doing it with,
and the memory and experience that I was sharing
was what truly made me happy.

Being a writer can sometimes be a solitary endeavour,
and by its nature writing must be a personal act
that only you can do alone;
being a writer can sometimes feel like you are a traveler
off on an adventure,
and the only person who can truly understand what its like,
what it means, and what you can do,
is another writer who is on their own journey-
while sitting in a coffee shop surrounded by sound,
or a writer in their own space,
writing feverishly on their computer or in their notebook,
in the comfort and solitude of their home.

What I loved about waiting in-line for so long
was that I got to listen and notice people around me,
who were just like me,
and who were just as excited about coming face to face
with someone who made them imagine, think, feel,
something, and share something with someone else-
that is exactly what happened with me:
I read something, I was touched by something,
I was gifted an amazing story,
because of a phenomenal and magical writer,
and I instantly felt the need to share it-
as if I were under a spell.

When my friend and I reached the top of the windy stairs,
and finally came eye to eye with the author
that we had both been looking forward to meeting,
I honestly felt like the author, myself, and my friend,
were the only people in the bookstore,
at the book signing event,
and that everyone had suddenly, magically, left;
it was amazing looking down at my favourite writer,
talking to him about how I loved his writing
and the inspirational commencement speech
that he gave a few years ago
which made me too go off on my own creative quest-
however, the truly amazing and the most epic thing ever
was when I took out my own book that I had signed for him
and I handed it to him as I told him that I too was an author,
and to this day I still remember what a thrill,
and what an honour, it was when my favourite author
accepted my own gift and then extended his hand to me,
and in that infinite and fantastic moment
I felt a connection and a transference of knowledge and wonder,
and storytelling magic, from one author to another.

My Poem ‘Dolphins’

Majestic, beautiful, graceful-
the angels of the sea;
intelligent, empathetic,
perhaps even a little telepathic-
dolphins are the holders to many secrets
of what connects the things that fly in the sky,
those who walk on land,
and those who live, swim, thrive,
and dive with ease in the waters of the deep.

Dolphins say more with a click and a sound
than I could say in a life-time;
dolphins could probably tell me more about myself
than I could ever know;
dolphins feel more and are more aware than anything
or anyone of the energy that surrounds us all,
and the importance of learning and enjoying
all of the experiences that not only expand our hearts,
as well as our mind;
dolphins have the freedom to be happy and content,
and they are fee to go anywhere that they want to go.

A dolphin’s life is a fascinating one;
a dolphin’s world is filled with more beauty
than we could ever see, perceive, or imagine;
a dolphin’s song can raise your heart-rate,
and has more levels and layers to it than you could hear
even if you were to really listen;
a dolphin’s nature is to care deeply,
to think about the feelings and emotions of others beyond their pod,
and the gift to be able to see into the heart and soul of anyone,
and bring that out for others to see
with greater power than a reflection.

Dolphins are the guardians of the oceans;
dolphins are the protectors and the teachers of ancestry and lineage;
dolphins are capable of infinite states of emotion;
dolphins are eternal, and are not just of an age.

If you have ever been lucky and blessed to see a dolphin,
to swim with a dolphin, to kiss a dolphin,
to talk to a dolphin, to be touched by a dolphin’s limitless spirit,
you never forget that experience,
and such an encounter with a divine oracle changes you forever,
and their way of being really gets under your skin,
and that is why there is nothing more magical,
mysterious, amazing, miraculous, meaningful, special,
than coming face to face, heart to heart, eye to eye,
with a dolphin.

My Poem ‘Angel’s Light’

Touching my face,
kissing my lips,
opening my eyes wide,
the light of my sun,
the light of my angel,
the star I orbit
every day in space,
the inspiration and the muse of my poetry
who makes me feel epic,
the halo that continues to shine its beautiful golden ring
even in the dark of the day like an eclipse,
the gravity in my life that constantly rises my ocean’s tides,
the beautiful vision of perfection
that is beyond any heaven that I could dream or imagine,
the miracle of life who is so out of this world magical
that they must surely be supernatural.

Rational thoughts are a foreign language,
logical emotions and actions fall by the wayside,
‘I love you’ are the only words that I can manage,
your destiny just like everything about you
is one of a kind.

At sunrise,
at sunset,
I see your beautiful eyes
sparkling like the glow of a planet;
when I wake up,
when I fall asleep,
I stare at you in awe and I never want to stop,
because every inch of me is in sweet synchronicity with you-
from the thoughts in my head,
to the tingle I feel on the soles of my feet.

The touch that I feel on my skin;
the heart that I hold in my hands;
the pulse of the world
as well as that of my life;
the first word from which everything for me begins;
the endless hourglass of infinite grains of sand,
encapsulates you, and is what I see and feel
when I am in the glow of my beautiful angel’s spirit
and her gorgeous angel light.

My Poem ‘Traffic’

Footsteps. Conversations.
Spinning wheels. A million eyes.
The sounds and the voices of a city-
always changing, constantly making itself be heard,
taking to itself, feeling the rush of being alive.

A cyclist weaving and racing through lines of cars,
vans, and trucks, gridlocked and stationery-
but glowing and constant red lights
doesn’t stop him for anything,
and for all he knows every light is green;
a commuter in a crowd making their way to work,
desperately holding on to the umbrella in one hand
and the take-out coffee cup
that they are holding onto tightly in the other-
just trying to get to work without bumping into someone else,
or crossing a street and almost being hit
by a fast-peddling cyclist that they nearly didn’t see.

Meeting places.
Get togethers.
The relay and transference of information and knowledge.
A starting point, a route, a destination, a direction, and end
that is merely a jumping-off point to a magical adventure-
like a song that you sing before following a yellow brick road.

There is traffic all around us-
in the sky, above the clouds around Earth,
over land, over sea, under the water, below the ground;
there is movement even in the stillness of a picture-postcard scene
that you don’t see, but which you can hear
by its noticeable feel and sound.

Life is always on the move,
and I find that absolutely phenomenal and terrific.
Life is an endless motorway that is connected and ventured down
and navigated every second by an infinite stream
and network of traffic.

My Poem ‘Brilliant’

Life is brilliant.
The people we meet,
the friends we make,
are all one in a million.
The smiles that we see
and create are heaven sent.
Our lives, our days,
our experiences, our adventures,
never stop and have made us who we are
since we were children.
We are all special.
The world is our oyster.
Every day can be magical and hopeful.
What we share with others,
no matter how far away they are,
will always draw us closer.

Whether up a snow-covered mountain,
or below a beautiful ocean;
whether trekking across a desert
with a purpose, a camera,
a notebook, and a pen,
or having fun with your friends in the sun,
you are constantly being gifted
a once in a life-time opportunity
to see all things and everyone for all their beauty.

Hope is the most powerful motivator.
Inspiration is the most important light that can shine upon us.
Love is the most phenomenal force of peace in the universe,
and unites all galaxies- no matter how far far away they are,
and can unite everything and everyone-
even if the stars themselves were at war.
Fate is the cord that can never be cut.

The hours of the day can sometimes feel like a fast-moving current.
The sun rising in the East is always a great
and beautiful omen that is heavens-given.
The song of our time, like the beat or our heart,
is mesmerizing, awesome, beyond compare,
and breathtakingly brilliant.
If it were not for each other and all that make us who we are
we would not be beautifully human.

Every second is a unique moment,
every sight that we see is a great vision,
every thing that happens is a source of magnificent insight,
every day can be the best day ever.

My Poem ‘String Poetry’

The sound of a spanish guitar being played
wonderfully and exquisitely by its player
echoes around the circular chamber
at the centre of the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery,
and everybody standing, sitting, looking, is enraptured,
surrounded by magnificent and beautiful paintings and artwork,
and all before a statue by Jacob Epstein sculpted
to represent the archangel Lucifer “the bringer of Light”
from John Miltons epic poem ‘Paradise Lost’,
and the resonance and the music that fills the crowded space
noticeably lifts everyone off their seat and off their feet,
and I can tell that I am not the only one who feels like
they are in another world, and we all are feeling this sensation
of being cleansed in some way-
just like that feeling we all have
after we have splashed our faces with water
just after we wake up in the morning
and the first thing we all do when we wash.
I feel like a deep-sea diver, at the bottom of an ocean,
in a magical underwater realm,
and I feel like I can actually see the beautiful
and wonderful sound waves being created
and travelling through the air and touching everyone squarely in the chest;
as as if in slow-motion, I see the moment in everyone’s eyes
when the power of the music hits them and they feel it
at the same time that they hear it,
and I watch them be drawn in and be enraptured
and be lifted in so many ways.

There were points during the performance
in which I clearly remember what I was thinking
and who I was thinking about-
during the faster guitar playing, for example,
‘The Spanish Dance’, I could actually feel my heart racing and beating fast,
while during the slower songs I remember having flashbacks
and recollections of fallen and lost friends
who I will never see again.
Unfortuntely, I cannot remember all of the names
of the beautiful guitar pieces-
they all had an interesting italian- or spanish-sounding name-
but they were all amazing, and I honestly felt so
privileged to be there to hear them being played
to me and a captive audience,
and I can honestly say that being lucky enough to be there
was a true right-place, right-time, moment,
and it was a magical experience in which all that there
felt like there was in the time that the music was being played,
and we who were hearing it were all that existed,
as well ad our own individual memories and shared emotions,
and everything that we all brought with us to that echo chamber
of a room, which was filled all the way up to the glass dome above
with divine sound and necessary silence.

When the players were not playing
you could hear everything- a foot-step, a pin-drop, a heart-beat,
the vibration of a still vibrating guitar string.
Sound is special. Music is unparalleled.
The voices of people and man-made instruments
of all types, shapes, and sounds, fascinate me.
Sound is something we feel deeply.
Music is like a constantly ringing bell.
The voice of an instrument would not be the same
without the unique voice, gift, and life of it’s player,
and there is nothing else like living, hearing,
and feeling, the most beautiful string poetry.

My Poem ‘Channel U’

Your signal is always the strongest;
your picture always comes through clear;
your frequency is always what I am in-tune with;
your content is always new-
but I would watch you, and I do watch you every day,
on repeat.

Your look is fantastic as it is
and never needs to be refreshed;
your ideas and dreams are the characters of a drama
with whom I imagine myself interacting with,
and in a world I would love to live in;
your taste is sublime,
and like a great meal,
every course of you is a feast.

You show me so much every day,
I simply have to look at you and I am already off
on an adventure in my mind;
you tell me and teach me something every day-
a mere glance in your direction is like staring
at an intense explosion of light,
who and which to someone else would be powerful enough
to send them blind.

I am addicted to you, and I have been for a while.
I would choose to be the moderator of your fan club,
and I would proudly wear a t-shirt with my love for you on it
and never hide away or live in denial.

I take notice and I record everything you broadcast;
I think about you even when you are right in front of me,
and the time when I can’t, nor anyone,
can take my attention away from you goes by
and makes my heart beat so fast.

When you fill my screen and talk directly to me,
and no one else, in true and vibrant colour
and in infinite and ultra-definition;
when you blur away the rest of the world
and suck me in, every episode of you
always brings me to the conclusion
that you are the most important gift in my life,
of that there could never be any confusion.

Your voice carries farther than radio;
your message is more hypnotic than television;
your name and your face is what I see repeated everywhere I go;
your energy is like that of the explosion
that is ignited to launch and propel a spacecraft
on a long and deep-space mission.

You are someone I could never just turn on
and not watch every second of,
and just leave to be, like moving wallpaper-
because you are like a window to so much
and so many wonders;
of all the magical sights in this world that I have seen,
you are and you will always be my favourite view.
You are my favourite station of destination
that I never want to leave,
and you can rest assured that any and every time
I want to scan and be in-tune with anyone,
I will always choose to be watching and in-awe
of Channel U.

My Poem ‘In reply’

“So what are you thinking and feeling right now
whilst you’re out there amongst Nature?”

I feel free! I feel open! I feel hopeful! I feel me!
I feel like I could touch the sky with my finger
just like I am touching the muddy ground with my booted feet.
I feel warm! I feel energized!
I feel home! I feel blessed
as the beautiful and golden sunlight touches my eyes!

As I walk through the forest though it is cooler
because the sun is radiating and being absorbed by the surrounding trees.
I can hear birds and the rustling of unseen animals all around me,
but they are so high and fast they are the dwellers
of this fertile land and sky that I cannot see.

Coming back here brings back so many memories!
Coming back here reminds me of so many happy times,
and it is like they are still there to be remembered
and felt by the touch of the cool but magical breeze.

Walking the fields, walking over the crisp brown leaves
and sumptuous green grass,
I have this sensation of feeling like an animal feels,
I have this urge to walk and run and forge my own path.

Everything is bright, everything looks new.
Everything I see is bathed in light,
and even that which is in the shadow cast by something else
retains it’s beautiful natural colour and hue.

The country lanes I walk have no natural footpath,
so I must walk on the road.
Cars and 4×4’s race past me and create a splash
as they drive through the puddles I too pass through-
out here there is no such thing as a Highway Code.

Out here where I walk there are little oasis’s
of rarely seen and hardly touched patches of Earth
that resemble my kind of heaven.
Out here you can hear nothing but your own heart beating in your chest,
sweet birdsong in the trees, and the faint sound of an airplane
flying high above in the sky that is skirting and almost touching
the atmosphere and making dreams a reality
and the passengers on it feel as if they are light as a feather.

My Poem ‘Surprises’

Since I was a small boy, I have always loved surprises.
Since I was old enough to recognise, remember, and understand,
why birthdays, Christmas, and special occasions were important
to celebrate and share,
the not knowing of what gift I will receive and from whom,
and the not knowing of what is going to happen next,
even now, as I turn 32 years old, still makes me feel excited.

Everyday I receive amazing gifts from my family,
everyday I am blessed with the phenomenal presence of my friends,
everyday someone I have never met will inspire me
to think of something that I have never thought of before-
something important that may one day save me.
Everyday Earth feels like a brand new world, constantly evolving,
and humantiy breaths in and breaths out new creations
and drives itself forward,
while maintaining what makes them who they are-
cherishing and nourishing new life,
while at the same time harbouring the means and the will
to start a ticking clock towards the end.

Life is full of surprises.
Being in the dark about something makes the reveal
and the revelation of a secret feel incredible-
so much so that it can completely overwhelm you,
raise your heart-rate, flood your thoughts,
irrevocably effect how you feel in the future,
and make the universe seem fantastic and magical,
like it always felt to you when you were a child.

A kiss on the cheek,
a hand-shake from someone who you haven’t seen in a while,
a message or a phonecall from someone out of the blue,
can be the best thing that has happened to you all week,
the thing that you think about that always makes you smile-
what you don’t expect to happen is nearly always
what makes you feel more and dazzles you
like seeing your favourite view.

We learn so much about ourselves by observing others;
we prepare for what is to come by reliving our experiences in the past;
we learn over time what is meant to be shared straight-away,
and what should be kept undercover;
we prepare ourselves for what happens in our lives as best as we can,
but, ultimately, the answers that we crave
cannot be known without first living outside of the reality
in which we feel the most secure and comfortable,
and by asking the questions that we have always been afraid to ask.

We can’t control who we fall in love with;
we can’t surpress what makes us laugh;
wa can’t let go of our personal superstitions
and our unique fascination of certain myths;
we can’t be good or bad, on the light-side or the dark,
we can only just be who we are-
all shades, all colours, all sides;
just like Earth, or outer-space, or the universe-
you can’t split someone in-half.

The most important thing to remember
about anything that happens in life
is that unpredictability and uncertainty
are the roads and the highways
that we travel down everyday of our lives;
and no matter how fully-formed a thought
about something is in your head
the end result may differ drastically,
and you will be diverted down a route without a map,
through a labyrinth of left and right turns and dead-ends,
before you reach where you are going-
all you can do is make the choices that feel right
at the time that you are making them, don’t fight change,
embrace and learn from what you don’t understand instead.

Living a life to its fullest can be risky,
but if you are very lucky, along the way,
you will see things that others could never imagine,
you will go places so beautiful,
you will meet so many extraordinary people,
you will make great discoveries,
you will win prizes.
The more you live, the more you realize that the universe
and nature, as a whole, isn’t driven by facts and knowledge,
or about measurements, or sizes;
the universe and nature,
no matter what we think we know about it and its nature,
is still full of surprises.

My Poem ‘Air to Sea’

Walking on the soft ocean-touched sand of an early-morning beach-
the cold, divine, sensation between my toes, on the souls of my feet,
as I look back at the footprints that I have left behind me
in the twilight sand-
the path that I have made that appears to go on beyond reach.

The sun rises with a silent, and yet spectacular,
celebratory fan-fare of colour and ocean wave choruses-
all overlapping and harmonizing with every passing second;
and then I realize that the moon is still in the sky,
still casting its own light on the sea-
and in an instant of magical serenity
that seems to last forever
both the sun and the moon share the same sky,
as if the king of the day came when the queen of the night beckoned.
The two were far apart,
but they appeared connected by a golden strand of cloud between them-
as if the two were sharing an audience together,
however what they were conveying to each-other
not even dreams could imagine.

I was so in-awe of this perfect moment,
I was so lost in thought at its meaning,
and by what Earths role is in the celestial destiny of the galaxy,
that I didn’t notice that ten feet away from me
I was sharing this moment with someone else-
someone who I had never seen before,
but who, for a second, looked away from the majestic sight
that we were both witnessing to look at me
and to smile the most beautiful smile that I had ever seen at me.

We both watched as the sun seemingly appeared to grow in size
and radiance, as if it were about to explode;
we both held our breath as the moon faded before our eyes,
as if it were saying a brief goodbye
as it returned the reign of the sky to the rightful heir to the throne.

My fellow sky-watcher and I again shared a moment between the two of us,
as we looked into each-others eyes, smiled warmly,
after having shared something so beautiful together-
and I could see in their eyes that we two would never forget this moment,
nor each-other, but that we would never see each-other again.
We shared another silent look,
which transcended all words that could have been said,
and then we kept on walking.

As the sun bathed me in its golden breath,
the warm air and the sea-breeze overwhelmed and invigorated me
and got inside of me-
so much so that I had to close my eyes to savour the feeling;
and then I had this instinct, this need, to open my eyes again
to look behind me to see the friend that I just made;
and although she was gone, I still felt as if I could feel their heart beating.

The moment would never come again; and yet it would,
but for a different reason, and at a different time for me-
I know this to be true, just as I know that beautiful, magical, bliss
can be found at the dawn of morning in that which connects
the air to the sea.