Tag: art

poetry

~ The Secret Stars ~

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~ The Secret Stars ~

Always we talk of stars
as things far away
high up in the sky
the famous people in the movies
the millionaires in the mansions
something that cannot be reached

but sometimes there are stars close by
so close in fact that we can even touch them

sometimes there is a blazing brightness
in the eyes of the elderly man
fighting through another day
of silent loneliness

sometimes there is a fire burning
in the heart of the small child
rising up against the darkness
of a bully’s hatred

sometimes a light can be found
in the darkest cities
in the darkest bars
a drunk with a tale of magic

and sometimes, the brightest star
– you’d almost miss it
because it was nothing more
than a stranger on a train
looking at you and smiling
with no intention
other than reminding you
that this crazy world

isn’t so dark

after all.

 

thoughts

~ Home Alone ~

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~ Home Alone ~

“Braving the battleground of normal life was never easy whenever I came back from a long trip. I found I was constantly in conflict with everything around me. Where people wanted a house full of things, I aspired to fit my possessions into a backpack; where people saved up for a new car, I saved up for a plane ticket. Often the alienation from everything was overwhelming. Whenever it all became too much, I retreated into the shelter of my own mind. Sitting there alone I would look out and watch people falling. I watched them falling onto sofas. I watched them falling into careers and fashions. I watched them falling into mortgages, marriages and high-street shopping lines. Everywhere I looked, people fell. It was raining normality and there was nothing I could do.”

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(taken from my book ‘The Thoughts From The Wild’ available here)

thoughts

~ Reclaiming Your Heart And Mind ~

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 ~ Reclaiming Your Heart And Mind ~

“From the moment you can understand words, you are enrolled and controlled by a culture that teaches us that we are all marginal and that life is ordinary. But venture outside their control for a short while, and you sober up from the illusions. Life is not a formulaic journey to the grave down a grey highway of bills, television and weekend drinking. There is more. Despite what those men in suits say, there is more. I implore you to have faith in your own individual direct experience. I implore you to step out beyond the comfort zone, follow your bliss and wander into the glorious wilderness of the unknown. You may get messy hair, dirty feet and a broken heart – but on your deathbed you will be able to look back and say the thing that matters most: “I lived my life to the full”.

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(taken from my book ‘The Thoughts From The Wild’ available here)

poetry

~ The Asylum ~

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~ The Asylum ~

Hey kid. Good day!
Let me help you on your way.
There’s something I’m required to say,
before you check in for your stay.

First: welcome to the asylum,
where we will clothe you with illusion;
welcome to this madhouse,
where you are fed with pure delusion;
we will help you go insane,
just like your fathers and your mothers;
just follow these basic rules,
so you can go crazy with the others!

1) Get paid; get laid – produce more members of the state
2) Buy gear; live in fear – choose the politics of hate
3) Choose a religion; find division – no need for any proof
4) Wear a mask; lie if they ask – become the enemy of truth
5) Follow fashion; ignore your passion – conformity is the best
6) No variety; feel anxiety – avoid the judgement of the rest
7) Adore tomorrow; save and borrow – the future is the king
8) Don’t be content; get it spent – this present moment is sickening

Yeah welcome to the asylum,
within the walls of ego division;
make yourself right at home;
your cell comes with a television;
please remember it is forbidden,
to possess the nature of your self;
but make sure you have money,
for your bank balance is your health!

Phew; okay.
Now that’s cleared up, we can get you all checked in.
I think your cell is located just down here on the left.
You like the colour grey, right?
Oh yeah; just one last thing before I forget..

Smiley faces and celebrity worship!
As the rulers put you through your paces!
Smiley faces and abandoned dreams!
As your mind rots in office spaces!

Smiley faces and smog pollution!
As you’re chatting about the weather!
Smiley faces and no solution!
As you all go crazy together!

Forever! Together!
Forever! Together!

…..

Have fun, kid.

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thoughts

~ The Contract Of Normality ~

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~ The Contract Of Normality ~

“The more I went through life, the more it seemed that signatures were life’s way of reeling you into a life of normality. The dotted lines were always there waiting. Whenever you started a job, you signed that dotted line. Whenever you rented an apartment, you signed that dotted line. Phones, cable TV, cars, internet and even marriage – that line was always waiting to hook you in and keep you fixed in one place. The way I saw it, all of those individual things essentially constituted an entire contract of normality which was offered to each and every one of us. The contract of normality much have been the most signed piece of paper in the world. The big question simply was: to sign or not to sign? Signing yourself over to a normal life had its perks after all. You were guaranteed of lifetime supply of steady small-talk and fitting in amongst the crowd. You got a TV, a car, a few weeks’ vacation each year and even a pension to fall back on. Your days and weeks may have had some surprises, but more or less you had your life schedule sorted on a spreadsheet right up until your funeral. It was a solid deal – a tempting one – as proven by its popularity. But did I want to sign? Life was safe and straight-forward if you put your name on that dotted line, but where was the thrill? Where were the surprises? Where were the moments where you weren’t sure whether you were going to reach the mountain top or fall into the abyss?

The more I thought about it, the more it seemed that signing the dotted line meant I was giving away all the excitement and adventure. So whenever the contract of normality was put in front of my face, I simply put the pen down and walked away from the table. Sure, I may have been residing myself to a life of unpredictability, discomfort and lack of security, but the journey into the wild was just simply too much fun to hand it all over to a life defined by rules and regulations.”

(taken from my book ‘The Thoughts From The Wild’ available here)

poetry

~ A Hidden Wonderland ~

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‘A Hidden Wonderland’

Somewhere deep inside your soul
there is an abandoned amusement park
waiting to be explored again

its entrance is taped off
its grounds sit shrouded in fog
but somewhere in there lies eternal bliss
the bliss the demons sweat in terror
at the thought of you finding

the rides await your screams of ecstasy
the candy floss awaits your taste-buds
the neon lights wait to shine bright
and the only admission cost
is that you are brave enough to venture in

in this life there is no tragedy greater than
allowing your inner joy to slowly decay
to allow the roller-coasters to rust in the rain
and let a heart creak hauntingly in the night

the reason this happens;
the reason your joy lies abandoned –
is because they made you forget
that you are the gatekeeper to your own wonderland
that the magic is found inside you, not outside

but if you would only remember who you really are
than the power will return within
the roller coasters will start up again
and the lights blaze bright once more

because somewhere deep inside your soul
there is an abandoned amusement park
waiting to come alive again

so go on in
through the mist
beyond the tape
and rediscover the joy
like a wide-eyed child
dazzled and delighted
curious and captivated
alive in the night once again

shining brighter and greater

than ever before.

hidden wonderland

short stories

~ The Fighter ~

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~ The Fighter ~

“I sat alone in my room with the grenades going off inside my head. Another day of stupidity and absurdity had been endured. Stupid people with stupid comments ran rampage in my mind. They rioted against the walls of my skull. Out there beyond those windows was a society that didn’t understand me – a society that didn’t want to understand me.

So often in my life this world had me up against the ropes. It cornered and attacked me. It beat me to a bloody pulp until I found myself back in the same old spot: sat alone in a dark room with my fingertips over a keyboard. It was true that that spot was my personal nirvana. When I faced into the eyes of the humans out there, I could never quite express or get my words out to them. My mouth was simply too small to vent everything I had going on inside my chaotic mind. I was like someone trying to drain an ocean through a bath plughole. And so, unable to respond, my voice was continually drowned out by everyone else around me. But when I was at the keyboard suddenly I had the ability to speak my mind – suddenly I had the ability to respond against the madness of it all. When my fingertips touched those keys, I felt strong enough to fight off entire armies and hordes of haters. Each word I typed was like a great punch back against the idiocy and stupidity of the world. The act of writing was an epic battle and eventually I realised this was what I would do until the death. This is who I am; this is what I do.

     I am a fighter and these fingertips fight for freedom. They fight for truth. They fight for the voice of the outsider which has been drowned out by an insane society. These fingertips fight for the stray dogs, for the misfits, the eccentrics, the wanderers – for the ones who don’t try and fit into a world that doesn’t fit into them. And long shall they continue to fight. Yes, as the concrete of this world pours down, as stupidity rules the airwaves, as the politicians plot – as the idiots bark and mindless crowds conform to mindless convention – these fingertips fight for the fact that no matter how much idiocy society produces, there will always be the truth of the outsider fighting its way out from the darkness – untamed and undefeated forever.”

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(taken from my book ‘The Thoughts From The Wild’ available here)

thoughts

~ Overcoming The Fear of Flying ~

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~ Overcoming the Fear of Flying ~

“Always we look up at those birds in the sky and daydream about taking flight. But we rarely think about the fact that those birds are just doing what they are born to do – spreading their wings and flying. We are all human-beings and while we may not have wings to fly, we sure as hell have legs to run, fingers to write, mouths to sing and a whole damn world to explore. The only way for us to be like the birds is to just do the things which come profoundly naturally – the things we feel deep down we were born to do. To some that could be painting, it could be surfing or climbing mountains; to some maybe it’s even something as simple as gardening. Whatever it is, the only way to taste the freedom of flight, is to allow ourselves to do the things which make us feel absolutely weightless. In this increasingly convoluted world, it’s easy to let our lives become a chore of convention and expectation, but the day we neglect the nature of our soul is the day that the sky has one bird less. A human-being who spends their whole life ignoring their true inner nature is simply the bird that refused to spread its wings. A human-being who is prevented from doing that by another, is a bird that has been captured and caged. Don’t let either of those bleak scenarios happen. In our darkest moments, we all secretly know we could do with a few more free birds up there to inspire us all. So, go on – let go and take a leap of faith. Don’t let the weight of this world grind you down. Jump the nest of comfort and convention. Follow your instinct. Hunt that horizon. Explore your passion.

Spread those wings and become what you were born to be.”

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(taken from my book ‘The Thoughts From The Wild’ available here)

thoughts

~ A Life Lived True To Oneself ~

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~ A Life Lived True To Oneself ~

“Stop worrying about what the others think of you. I know you want them to see things from your perspective, but the fact is they are not going to want to understand you, they are not going to try to understand you, and – even if they did – they are not going to understand you. Most people in this world are simply too busy or uninterested or incapable to consider worlds and perspectives other than their own. Accept it and move the hell on. Move on to the lands which make your toes dance and your fingertips flicker with excitement. Move on to the lands where no explanation is required for you to be your true authentic self. This is your one shot at life: don’t waste precious time on things that insult your soul; don’t mindlessly conform to mediocre expectation and convention; don’t allow your unique individuality to be suppressed in concrete crowds of conformity. I know that in a world where fitting in is paramount, often it’s an isolating act to believe in yourself and follow your own inner voice. Sometimes you will have to walk alone, sometimes you will face opposition – sometimes you will feel naked and vulnerable and nervous. But just do it anyway. Break free from the mold. Follow your bliss. Do whatever the hell it is that sets your soul on fire and use that passion as fuel for your long journey into the wild. Trust me: it will power you, it will sustain you – it will warm your soul with an indescribable inner joy. Nothing will be able to quell it. Even on the stormiest days, a life lived true to oneself is enough to keep you dancing in the rain.”

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(taken from my book ‘The Thoughts From The Wild’ available here)

thoughts

~ Coming Home To Yourself ~

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~ Coming Home To Yourself ~

“You’re lost and you’re searching for the answer. But the truth is you already know it. You’ve always known it in your flesh and bones. You know who you are, what you want, and what makes you feel infinite. Maybe the billboards and the advertisements and the opinions of others got you a bit confused for a while. Maybe you still are confused trying to live up to someone else’s expectations – but somewhere deep down you know what makes you tick, what makes you feel weightless and free – what makes your existence feel as effortless as sunrise and sunset. If you’re still struggling to find it then my advice is to take yourself away from the hysteria of society. Get away from that television, from that newspaper, from that phone, from those cities and crowds. Get away and reside in the magical world of nature for a while. Out there in the serene silence of the wild is the voice of truth and reason that has been suppressed. Out there is where you sober up from the cultural madness. Out there is where your mind is cleansed and you no longer need to search or prove yourself to others because you know exactly who you are.

It’s a crazy adventure to come back to who you were before everyone else told you who you should be. It can be scary, confronting – and even dangerous – but if any journey is worth making, then it is the one that brings you home to the kingdom of yourself.”

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(taken from my book ‘The Thoughts From The Wild’ available here)