Home Studies
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IN CELEBRATION OF BELTAINE IN OUR CONTEMPORARY WORLD Please read the Poem HOME STUDIES by Irish Belfast poet Mark Madden. Like the hummingbird, drawing sweet nectar from many disparate places, Mark has drawn iconoclastic Spirit and irreverent humor from ancient, perennial and contemporary sources of wisdom. He continues to create provocative poetry, win international Poetry Slams and work for peace in a city that has known some desperate seasons and dark, embattled times.
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Home Studies
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I have been a diviner
After the sacred I have taught the arts of spirit Running light, charka work The intricacies of Kabbalah With the emphasis on daily practice And the secondary nature of theology As Blake, or Yeats, or Sappho would know These things are within the gift of a poet Poet the only title to my taste No mage I, in my imagination Just a witcher of words and a voice That sometimes lifts in prayer. I have been, and I am still A seeker after light With no terminus in mind Because enlightenment is not a destination Illumination never finally attained Just a feeling you get sometimes Which may be encouraged and allowed for But, like a brushstroke from the otherworld That slips sideways to the sun, It cannot be held long by our reason And so I offer out this widow’s mite Of plain verse honestly spoken With simple faith in the transformative Power of words beyond The brocade squalor of the mysteries. |
Mark Madden has written and performed poetry for two decades, as well as organizing events, festivals and slams. An experienced workshop artist, he leads cross community projects in literature and Digital Storytelling, mostly around the peace-walls of Belfast. His work has been published in magazines and anthologies, such as Revival and The Lonely Poet’s Guide to Belfast. He has published one collection on his own small press, Timely Demise of a Trendy Conformist, in 2006.
Mark has competed in many slams. In 2006, he was a finalist in the UK Slam Championship in London and has was runner up in the BBC Radio 4 Poetry Slam Finals 2009. Recordings of the event, as well as other poems, can be found on his blog:http://markmadden.blogspot.com/
As its May Eve, and in spite of fearing to blast you with too much verse, I'm also attaching my ancient MayDay epic poem, Jenny's Tale.
Mark has competed in many slams. In 2006, he was a finalist in the UK Slam Championship in London and has was runner up in the BBC Radio 4 Poetry Slam Finals 2009. Recordings of the event, as well as other poems, can be found on his blog:http://markmadden.blogspot.com/
As its May Eve, and in spite of fearing to blast you with too much verse, I'm also attaching my ancient MayDay epic poem, Jenny's Tale.