My Poem ‘Retro’

Since I was a kid
I have been exposed and interested
in every decade of the 20th Century,
and I have always been fascinated
by the phenomenon of things created in different decades
that were a staple and an example of their time
that come back into fashion, and the touch of the influence
and the art of them continues to inform the present
in many different and brilliant ways.

I feel like a collage of styles,
likes, lessons, morals, and trends;
I love the fact that I am not stuck or constrained
in any particular way of dressing, thinking about,
or seeing the world, and I never have-
I have always loved individuality and originality,
uniqueness and specialness,
and the things about life and people that never
detract and always enhance.

There is a reason why things repeat;
there is a reason why ideas, designs, and concepts
come back into peoples consciousness time after time;
there is a reason why a good thing never dies;
there is a reason why hearts, minds, and souls meet.

The music of the 1980s,
the ideas of the 1970s,
the style of the 1960s,
the art of the 1950s,
are loved every day and are still all around us
and they can be heard, thought, seen, and enjoyed,
in any and every one of the worlds cities,
and knowing that everything that used to be considered
every-day and ‘run of the mill’ is now truly special,
treasured, and cherished, by people who were
not even born when they were new, unheard, and unseen,
gives them a quintessential, classic, vintage feel,
and ambiance, that some things of the modern age
will not have when they too become replaced
by something that resembles a change of ways,
or a refreshed screen.

I love the look, the feel, the sound, the crackle, of vinyl;
I love seeing and being inside a “classic car”;
I love something that doesn’t ever lose it’s charm,
because it was made to be a one-off,
but has transcended, endured, and lasted,
and will enrich peoples lives forever
and make them smile.
I love as story, a person, that is, and who is,
so special and unique, but also ubiquitous-
but not because they were forced on other to be
who and what they are now considered to be from their genesis,
but because no one took them for granted,
and love them because they will always be as singular as a star.

Seeing an iconic invention and expression of a time gone by
that still exists in some way, is like being in a tunnel
and hearing the distinctive voice of someone in an echo;
seeing the source of a revolution,
and also going back and learning about something of importance’s
origin, is always the best thing in the world-
and that is why I love to rediscover things,
and make a part of my life and me many of the things
that people call and consider nostalgic and retro.

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My Poem ‘Bench-Mark’

There are not that many people
who have the time, or find the need,
to sit back and realize that they have it all.
Maybe it is just me, maybe I am just spoiled,
but I have had the pleasure, on many occasions,
to be able to take a seat,
to be able to close my eyes and to feel
like I need nothing more.
Perhaps I shouldn’t say this,
perhaps I shouldn’t write this down;
but after all the years of fun, reflection,
elation, realisation, rediscovery-
for the first time in my life,
I believe that I am standing on a solid and lasting
life-affirming foundation.
Maybe I am jinxing it by saying it,
but what I have in my life now is what I have always wanted.
My life is made up of many different pieces of all shapes and sizes-
most are the same as everyone else’s,
only they are woven-together with a different coloured thread.
My life is as it should be:
filled with all the things that test me, complete me,
give reason to me and for me,
and all the things that make me happy.
This feeling of completion is momentary,
this feeling of having it all wont last, nor should it;
but most people don’t have the time
to thank anyone or anything for what they have,
unless they survive a test of character,
or something phenomenal akin to that of a lightning hit.
Today I walked down a road, known locally as “The Mad Mile”,
and it hit me that what I am blessed to know as my life,
as it is now, to my eyes, is the same as it is in the daylight,
as it is in the dark;
with every step that I take down this “mad mile”,
with every thought that came and went-
I realised that all that I am now
will forever be my benchmark.

My Poem ‘Rediscovery’

If you are like me then you dream of places that you have never been,
you dream of discovery;
and, if you are like me then you know that the meaning of something cannot be realized the first time you see it,
it can only be found upon rediscovery.
A photograph of your first love, a long-since forgotten song from your youth,
an influential book from your formative years,
the rediscovery and acceptance of a home truth.

Our memories and our experiences are an inexhaustible energy-supply for our internal time machine-
they are our way of visiting moments in our lives without having to relive the events of before, or the years in-between.
Rediscovery of a natural gift, however, is an always exhilarating,
and sometimes liberating, discovery that can only be had the second time around-
a discovery that can make you fall-in-love again, inspire you to greater heights than the first time, and can be unbelievably profound.

To rediscover who you are for the first time in your life is a revelation unparalleled by the most learned scholar, psychotherapist, behaviorist,
or man on the street-
a rediscovery that could save your life, and the lives of others;
a discovery that you return to, and a rediscovery that you repeat.