I feel blessed to be living and writing full-time at home in the glorious Hertfordshire countryside, only a thirty minute commuter ride from London. My poetry looks to positively explore human potential, with an emphasis on love, spiritual growth and self awareness. It is very important to me that my work remains as open, accessible and as simply expressed as possible. My influences vary from the great traditional English visionary romantics like Keats, Coleridge & Blake, then on to Gibran, Rilke & Eliot and then through to the distillation of thought and leanness of expression offered by the Japanese haiku tradition and later technical breakthroughs achieved in the 1970’s by leading Scottish concrete poets Ian Hamilton Finlay and Edwin Morgan.

I am also fortunate to have a smallish study all to myself, up in the loft at the top of my house, which looks out over open fields and a tree-lined skyline. Here I have quiet, cocooned space overlooking the English countryside (almost in the clouds…) and absolutely everything I need. Far, far away from anything else – phones, computers, tablets and door bells, especially…

For me, as a full time writer, a fairly rigorous, almost monastic daily routine is very important and underpins all my efforts. Not just in creating an exterior environment that is conducive to a concentrated and undisturbed focus on my craft – but one that also allows important preparatory time of an almost religious nature – given the spiritual themes that run through my work.

On a normal day, this would involve around two hours of advance preparation: morning exercise (normally running in the countryside and/or rowing) followed by breathing exercises, body stretches and meditation, sometimes some music also – before even beginning to think about any writing…

Having also eaten simply, I then would normally write in silence for between two to four hours – losing any sense of time, till my body tells me it is time to refuel. Immediately after lunch, I would then have a shorter 1-2 hour session (often the most exciting time of the day when earlier writing can begin to coalesce) Evenings are then usually important down-time from what is a quite an intense and tiring process. However I would still normally have a couple of short sessions early, right after my evening meal and also last thing before bed – which are more about reviewing existing work and quick, little polishing sessions – looking afresh and anew at whatever has emerged that day.

For me, it’s very important that every day (whether a writing day or not) begins and ends with me quietly reading through my last half a dozen pieces – in order hopefully to stay ‘in the flow’ and ‘in the voice’, clinging on tightly to that ‘silken thread’ that, once it slips from your grasp, can often be so hard to regain! Unless I’m away travelling or have specific social commitments, then EVERY day is a writing day.

I also have three identical and rather wonderful little digital voice recorders that literally go everywhere with me (one stays by the bed) so that, whatever I’m up to… I have some chance of capturing all those amazing little thoughts and insights that come to you, just out the blue – and as if by magic! Usually when you are in the throws of just doing something else, entirely – or just surfacing from sleep, for example. Previously so, so much would previously just get lost in the ether forever, before I started to do this and built it into my daily resources and routine.

All my life (and for reasons I can’t quite be sure of) I have always been a seeker in the spiritual sense and always very ambitious to live life to the full. Whenever I am blessed with special moments or insights in my life, then my first instinct is to share the light and energy that comes from this experience with others. I am particularly keen to reach younger readers and students, still at a formative time in their lives and am always especially gratified when this group of readers in particular is touched by my work.

I suppose, at the core of my creative effort, is an attempt to try and present and illuminate a runway ahead, if you like… Fed directly by my own being and experience – in the hope that it resonates. My personal mode of doing this is, of course, as an artist and as a poet in particular.

Some of my recent poems:

 

Life collects

 

Life collects, pools around you.

It paints its highlights,

Nothing there you can destroy

Or begin again.

 

Calm in aquamarine beauty,

Barely a hint of surf’s snowy trim.

Today the sea is out

But will come again.

 

For the moment,

On the beach,

My love and I,

Naked and blissful as can be.

 

In the soft, sun baked sand

History between my toes.

 

Sense how

Even the smooth stones ache

With stories of their own

In the shuddering light of day.

 

When in love

 

When in love or inspired,

An eternal kiss from the divine

Awaits us all.

 

And, just as the frostiest of old maids

Secretly longs to tremble

With excitement in her bed,

One more time.

 

Or the pained young lover

Pitifully nurses a wound

That renders their heart homeless,

Mourning the loss of romance

Seemingly gone forever.

 

The truth is

Nothing that truly matters

Can ever evaporate,

Be excised,

Burnt out of your soul.

 

And however ready we may or may not be,

At any stage in our life,

There will always be the chance

To reclaim our essence,

The shape we call our own.

 

For, once spun,

The silken thread of all our aspirations

Remains intact,

It can never be broken.

And, with courage, even a trail of tears

Will always lead us back 

To where our fractured heart longs to be.

 

So that, just as the wise old Shoguns

Chose to,

With their most precious of porcelain vessels,

We too can repair our cracks with gold

And glow again.

Crazed by life,

More beautiful than ever before.

 

However beautiful

 

However beautiful,

No pebble on the beach.

 

You were my touchstone.

 

And yes,

I have now smelt the perfume of the Gods.

 

If only for precious moments

Opened the gilded door

And walked through.

 

Set foot on hallowed ground,

Taken refuge where my soul longed to be,

In the sunlit meadow of my dreams.

 

Bathed in love and light,

Healed and nourished,

Elevated by experiences of wonder.

 

It was the miracle of how the needs,

The spiritual hunger

Of two separate physical beings,

Two fractured souls,

Could fit together so perfectly,

Like long lost pieces of some ancient code

That, once re-united, yielded up energies,

Ecstasies and insights beyond our imagining.

 

That was the key.

 

And far beyond any love affair

With its own predictable half-life

Of intensity, its cycle of emotion.

 

Instead a permanent path

That, once illuminated,

Goes ever onward – a way home…

 

As we toil and spin

 

As we toil and spin,

Pause and gather in the stillness,

Whenever you are able.

 

Trusting that,

Time after time,

This might bind ever deeper

In your soul

And, one day,

Come gloriously to bear.

 

Otherwise how vain

A deceit

Is such constant distraction,

That leaks into everything

To spoil our chances.

 

And, in so doing,

Look how we fashion instead

A raw and unnecessarily restless

Sadness in our hearts.

 

For it is what it is,

This life,

No more and no less…

And everyday

It shines upon us

With a patience

That is inestimable.

 

So take heart from this

And simply surrender in moments,

As best you can,

Even if only in modest ripples

That gently caress

The shore of your dreams.

 

Author Bio:

Scott Hastie is a successful British born poet and writer, who has been has been commercially published in the UK for over twenty years now. He currently has ten titles in print, including a novel and four collections of poetry. In recent years, the spiritual tone in his maturing poetic voice is starting to draw increasing acclaim from a worldwide audience, especially in the U.S. India & the Middle East. 

          

Published in both print & e editions this September, Angel Voices is his most substantial collection of poetry to date, featuring over 40 new poems never before seen, either in print or on the net. This title builds much more on the mature poetic voice that first began to emerge in Scott’s previous title Meditations and also features ALL readers recent favourites, as showcased on his popular website. For much more info and some spectacular reviews for Angel Voices  (as well as direct non-trade order options and deals…) go to www.scotthastie.com

Fortunately, it is still very easy to dip into Scott’s poetry at his highly visual and internationally popular new web site, which freely displays samples of both his already published and latest unpublished work. As a writer, Scott is very open and likes to encourage maximum participation and feedback from his readers. His web site offers the chance to post comments, both on individual pieces or more generally, if you wish… And also encourages dialogue about writing. Scott offers mentoring services to other creative writers and students around the world. He is also passionate about visiting and learning from other cultures and his web site also features many fascinating photos from his extensive travels around the world.

          

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