REVIEWS for Selected Poetry
Scott Hastie’s ‘Selected Poetry’ is a collection that harkens to the Romantics of old as well, as the modern enthusiast at times straddling both with deft efficiency. He begins with a pastoral paean to nature:
On a still summer’s afternoon
Finches chatter in the hedgerow
And neat cottage gardens burst forth
With the first fresh blooms of June,
Delicate pastel peonies
And hardy green roses plump in the bud.
Feathered chestnut blossom lingers high
In splendid old trees,
And on the meadow’s gentle slopes
Tired cattle seem lost in a sudden heat
That almost stops your heart.
Nature’s mellow pause
In a changing English season,
Edged by echoes of birdsong
And gentle breezes in barley.
One can almost hear Wordsworth in these lines when he describes the ‘delicate pastel peonies’ and the ‘feathered chestnut blooms’ this is not merely though, a poem that details the varied vegetation in garden but one which through rhyme brings you into the moment, suddenly you are transported into an English meadow such as the lush greenery of Wordsworth’s lush Northumberland.
From here he proclaims the delights of summer,
Fresh fractured singing surf
Dances at the foot of the sheer cliff edge,
Perpetually humbled and yet splendid in its arrogance.
We stand and watch in the sunshine
As its white spray stings the ragged face of time.
This is the poetry of youth, finding joy in every sunrise, and every sandy-hewn cliff. Yet, for all his melodic fancies, he does not risk thematic redundancy, by sticking us solely in the sanctum of the summer’s joyful agrarian bliss. There are depictions of the cold landscape of
The winter landscape displays more clearly
Its spread of flat, open, naked space.
And
The very features on her virgin face,
Though covered, glow still in the gloom.
One would be remiss here though, if they did not cite the beauteous piece that starts
This solid found church,
This ancient Norman keep of God
Seems envious.
In its shadows,
Beneath the leafy overgrown graves
That defy neglect,
The maggots still busy themselves
With its Burnsian angst that at once harkens that great Scots bard. He continues:
Fed on the sweetness of a village
Buried long ago,
Fettered firs, gleaming green,
And great, calloused elm trees,
Bowed and fulsome with age,
Decorate the tight hedged pitch
Bringing the reader into the scene as one not simply viewing the ‘sweetness of a village buried long ago.’ But the textures, the ‘calloused elm trees bowed’ and ‘fulsome with age,’ such reverie is something that one does not often hear in these nihilistic times. It is akin to being in a grove of heather, or standing on a firth bowing out to the sea, while the wail of pipes faintly trill.
This is the work of a young artist, stretching his poetic wings, searching for his voice, trying out one, mastering it, and then another, as one a musician would having learned the acoustic guitar finds him/herself curious about the electric, the classical, and maybe even the bass. If we see this as a starting point from which to launch our poetic ship, Hastie’s ‘Selected Poetry’ is a grand place to begin. Each work builds upon the previous one. We see the poet too, transforming from his youthful dalliances into Wordsworthian poesy to his more modernist work. Having read and enjoyed Hastie’s later work, you can hear reading in this his mature voice, peeking through like a friend waiting in the wings to be introduced. This is evident in such lines as
And so here we are, my love and I,
Just doing our best…
Like sunny morning nudes
We sit together scheming happiness.
And the sensuous allusion to the goddess Aphrodite
in the good green grass,
My body seeks the velvet crimson of a tiny crocus,
Sweet Goddess of desire.
And later, when he speaks of the birth of his child, in the ever personal and beautiful
Bathed in rhythmic floods of energy
That stretch and squeeze,
Stretch and squeeze,
Until the magical hour arrives
When breath and pain quickens to a frenzy,
And then suddenly there it is,
Magnificent.
Black and blue and bloody,
Soon writhing in your hands,
Softly screaming.
The voice here is not just that of the father, but an observer of life, of the disparate energies, that ebb and flow within all of us as life is created. And this is the point of poetry is not? To reflect back to the reader, not merely what one see’s but the emotions and undercurrents that are ever-present, but not always noted. It is the poet’s job to do that. To be an echo of life. Hastie’s work is a shining example of that for it amplifies the darker (subliminal) energy and that which lifts up as well. I can think of no finer example of what poetry is, and of the emergence of it, than this collection which subsumes the reader as it harkens the old and heralds the new.
Aria Ligi, Writer & Poet, San Francisco USA.
The understanding and appreciation of poetry is supposed to be subjective, variable, subject to reevaluation and change even within ourselves. But I believe I’ve found the perfect poems, written by a “young” Scott Hastie …
The cold clear grey of a pure Atlantic blue
Visits the windy warmth of a carefree summer’s day.
The beach beneath us is as vast
And as smooth as you could wish for,
And giant spurs of rock, seed of the mainland,
Stand dotted upon it as a record of magic manoeuvres,
Both slower and older than man’s imaginings.
Fresh fractured singing surf
Dances at the foot of the sheer cliff edge,
Perpetually humbled and yet splendid in its arrogance.
We stand and watch in the sunshine
As its white spray stings the ragged face of time.
… and this …
Decay dances its death in the city
Where hopes age instantly
And traffic shrieks its constant shriek.
There’s little space for me here,
Making tracks down dirty streets.
The loiter of empty souls, tired and lung-less,
Sit aching on varnished seats
Asking questions no one answers or needs to.
The grimy paint,
The sooted stains on old stone walls
Wreak havoc in the sunshine.
… not that it was easy to make such a definitive choice from this collection, cover-to-cover of truly magnificent pieces.
You need to choose for yourself, eh?
John Rachel, USA
Selected Poetry by Scott Hastie is a re-release of poetry first published in 1991, and provides a progressive insight into the poet’s life at that time.
The poems start with poignant and idyllic snapshots of nature in the English countryside; I lived in England at that time and the detail of the descriptions is both startling and reminiscent. I felt like I was there again.
The poet speaks of stolen moments of joy and forgetfulness amid the beauty of nature.
The tone evolves to feeling the bleakness of English weather, cold and clear air, and “thick still grey skies.”
He celebrates shared moments of love, children—“fragments of happiness”— meanwhile ruing the “dull sadness of humanity”. This evolves to a feeling of emptiness, which ensues “remembered glances” and recalling “beauty at its finest” which inevitably gives way “to the creeping clasp of time”.
Take this beautiful, bittersweet passage through another era in England with the poet on his life’s journey. There is much more to come.
Margaret Nash Margaretnashcoach.com March, 2021.
Scott is a talented rare poet.
Scott’s poetry flows like a orchestrated water fall and at the end of its journey the reader now has learned a beautiful message
Scott’s writings are a gift he gives to the world and how apropos! We could all use a radiant white light with all the negativity in our world
Put this and his other books into your library collection. You will be honored to own a piece of glorious spiritual writings!! Wonderful pure writing.
Laura Laveglia
To imagine an impressionistic dream is to read the lines of Scott Hastie’s Selected Poetry. Nature is personified throughout these painterly metaphors. It is as if the tangerine sun, the emerald grass, and the bluebirds are in unison.
We are transported to a simpler, more evocative period of English history. The words spill out like buckets of beautiful rain and tender-eyed sorrow. The narrator is not afraid of aging with graceful steps only to pursue the enlightened ones. Romance is a feature of each stanza. Love alters the present state. You are reminiscent of older classic British poets such as Longfellow, Wordsworth, Byron, Shelley, and even the Bard of Avon, Shakespeare. Scott Hastie is a master conductor. He weaves the electricity of his contemplative thoughts with clinging silver. This is the intimacy of a fine introduction. Wait, breathe , taste, and relish in the memories. We are quite blessed to be acquainted with Verse that sings like a tenor and soars like an eagle and implores us all to seek within, deep and true.
J.T Smith, New York
What refreshing verse that reminds you just how wonderful it is to be alive!
Sarah Roberts
Beautiful pastoral writing. Such gentle and lyrical poetry that simply makes you smile, over and over again. This is a collection to treasure.
Fraser Cameron
Uncomplicated Poetry. This is one of Scott’s earlier collections of poetry that I have stumbled upon. For me, the simplicity and clarity of his words make this collection one of my favourites. he uses the natural world around him to build and create his poetic pictures which really resonate with me.
Emily Beck
REVIEWS for New Poetry
In reading Hastie’s work, New Poetry, after taking in his sublime Selected Poetry, I was not sure what to expect with this latest (though published first in the 90s) offering. Would it be as varied as the previous work? Would it capture my imagination and heart as richly as the first? The answer to both of these questions is an unqualified yes.
New Poetry (as Selected Poetry did) starts slowly, like the overture of a symphony (think Braham’s 4th) its rhythms like a slow pianissimo, hum sweetly in your ear.
A drowsy stream,
Once stiff and iced in winter,
Trickles freely over a bed of pebbles,
Past grassy lumps at the meadow edge,
Where seedlings struggle through silvered moss
One can almost see and hear this “drowsy stream” and see the “silvered moss”. Hastie not stopping, uses such metaphors intertwining the wonders of nature in such a way as to juxtapose those with his young daughter
Her hair fair with tiny ringlets
She might never notice,
Her joy is so open.
How strong and sturdy she grows,
And yet how she still loves
The simple exquisite things,
Like splashing me with water
Or kissing cool cotton sheets
On a sticky summer’s night.
And then
Look closely in the garden,
At the tired but pollen laden shrubs,
And you will see how even now
A host of insects
Are busy harvesting gold
In this still and inky darkness.
As for Louise,
She’s calmly asleep with all her dreams.
The rampant sun has ebbed away again,
And at the end of an all but exhausted day,
How prettily the moonlight lingers
Over this, the perfect silence of happiness.
Though he revels in the beauty of nature he is not insensate to the deformities in it, as well as humanity
At its edge young bushes, thick with thorns,
And tall colonies of giant serried nettles
Fail to hide completely the ugliness
Of shattered plastic and rusty metal
And then laying the blame where it must be
the old weathered bricks
And crumbling cement that have tumbled down
In the centre of this muddied woodland clearing,
Where man once lingered thoughtlessly
And nature still struggles to cover the spoiled space,
Where his sad monuments still linger,
Stubborn and hopeless.
The meter is strong and lingers over your mind like a warm bath, weltering and at times stinging your skin over the open wounds that humanity has willfully inflicted. His is employs here a Frostian mode, but Frost with an erudite, and at once accessible to the modern ear, bite.
It is therefore, not surprising that not long after, we hear the voice of Hastie’s, (which we would as any reader of his would recognize) his mature poetic voice seeping through. It is there on the edges of many pieces, peeking its head out, and then popping back in, like a child at the door, wondering if he dares to venture out into the cold.
This becomes apparent first in the first four paragraphs [page 16]
Ancient feelings sow seeds of delight
Fed by needs and desires,
Both petty and bestial,
That foster none of the peace and contentment
Of those who, with simple hearts,
Find acceptance and chase little more
Than the day’s end, such is their trust.
To know no more than this though
Is perhaps the best of life’s blessings.
For in quest of innocence long departed,
There is no road back to the calm naked
Islands of hope that once we were.
So hold me tight, take all you want of me,
And in this, the sudden, sharp passion
Of our secret world,
I promise you that
The lines here are a narrative, the poet breaking the fourth wall addressing the reader, says, “Of those with, with simple hearts, find acceptance and chase little than the day’s end is their trust…” and in the final paragraph “So hold me tight, take all you want of me, and in this, the sudden sharp passion of our secret world, I promise you that,” The final paragraph returning the reader to the metrical rhythms of the previously engaged.
We will spill and share our souls.
We will be all we should be,
At least until the morning comes
It is as if the poet, still searching for his voice, does not, or has not decided between the two genres, that of free verse, or the more classical (and thematically familiar) Wordsworthian, Frostian, mode. How does he choose? It seems the choice is made slowly, and through poetic play (as all good poets do) and by the events of life (foisted on upon us) causing the artist to submerge himself collectively within the nebulous (and ephemeral) void of consciousness.
Witness the unmetered sonnet
Within the golden riot
Of a flat freezing autumn
Coldness quite suddenly
Has its own specific and final smell,
A smoky meld of musk and damp,
The smell of loss and completion.
Now tomorrow is made anew,
Though every step forward
On the soft first frost of winter
Will seem like an agony of intrusion,
Like walking on sacred relics,
Or broken bone china
That might crack and spit at you
With its own sense of finish, of perfection
The meter is imperfect, it is not iambic, the first two lines being heptameter, the third hexameter, and the fourth iambic, the fifth hexameter, and the sixth hexameter, ending with the three-syllable word, completion. The second stanza, continues in this vein of imperfect rhythms, but what completes it, rounding the entire with a continuity that gives the work bulk, is the last word, again three-syllables, perfection. It is as if the artist, is cognizant of the inclusion in the work and as such, in highlighting it through the subtlety of meter announces that it is complete and perfect in its own imperfection. That the “imperfections” is what makes it so.
Again, and again, he returns to this vegetive exquisiteness highlighting through the use of personification no more and nowhere profoundly, an aged weariness that exists in nature (as in humanity)
A diseased tree dying alone
In an empty field.
Its trunk and branches roughly broken,
Snapped by a merciless hope.
Its sap, once fresh and sticky,
Set fast and solid now – finished
Like the ugly look of its piebald bark
-Peeling, tatty and torn.
This bust broken giant
Seems to be mourning an elephantine loss.
Robbed of growth.
What is notable, and it comes forth later and to a greater extent, is the emphasis is now two-fold, on beauty and loss. Hastie’s reverence for the tree acknowledges what has been, the “once fresh and sticky” [sap] that has “set fast” and the “ugly look of its piebald bark. “, Even in delineating the wasted youth, there is beauty. Not long after this he tells us so-
Fat greedy birds sit and beg
From the spiky frozen branches of naked trees,
Whose silhouetted limbs eat into the air
This is a fiercely brave book for its daring to go not just into the mire of nature’s bounty, but to then weave seamlessly into this concoction a brew that will resonate deep within the soul, because this is not Hallmark verse that one would use for holiday cards, it is heartfelt, (which is verse for the common man) retaining poetic structure and nobility, while reaching furtively beneath the layers collective consciousness that all of us use to guard our at once solipsistic, tender humanness.
This ‘humanness’ is nowhere more evident than in the author’s perceptions on the death of a lost love, detailed near the end of the collection. He speaks of visiting her graveside.
I knelt for hours though,
Chasing back our memories together,
Until their sweet resonance
Made it almost impossible to leave,
Anchored by your loss.
The pink roses
I left to drip in cellophane.
After this, the remaining poems have a natural infusion of morbidity; recurrent themes persist as the author ponders death, growing old, the suffering of others, at the hands of those whose sights are set on cupidity and malfeasance. Even in a later in a piece in which he contrasts his infant son with grown men
Even the most finished
And brawniest of men
Can look so childlike, so vulnerable,
Curled up and alone
Beneath simple white sheets.
my baby boy.
Thick breast-fed bones,
Already solid
Beneath layers of puppy fat
He returns at the end to the previous loss,
Buried, but growing strong beneath
Warm furred sheets,
Once as smooth and as cold as a mortuary slab.
His pain is palpable, as he calls himself “the last man alive” that he “dreams of lush green grass” but later notes that “He is impotent now” and “like a tiny black flower” these are the sentiments of one who is inured in grief, though longing to move on. His awareness that he can “never be quite so innocent again.” Gives one pause to ask, if the death of his love was something, he felt guilt for, and if not, is he torturing himself for some unknown, and unspoken reason? He does not let us in on that but keeps the movement going. [Remember this is a symphony and we have now entered the final part].
In the denouement he returns us to nature, for it is from her, that he can revive, imbibe sustenance, begin to make sense of things and then not so much move on, but move forward putting into place lessons learned, and from there reconstruct his life using that knowledge to feed himself, spiritually and this the heart of it, and New Poetry, is about. Feeding the soul. The movement is evident in
How existence
Surely gets sadder
And yet more beautiful.
Like the swollen patterned body
Of a pregnant spider,
As it rests tentatively on the silken net
Of a seemingly mortal tragedy,
That truth glows.
Hastie’s words, cognizance of the “sadness” and that in that, there is beauty is a plaint, sung through the vision of spider’s swollen pregnant belly weighing on the silken net, for are we not all like this in our existence, balancing on those tentative threads, hanging precariously over that which we know, and that which is.
Aria Ligi, Writer & Poet, USA
Is it possible that such ageless beauty came from someone so young? To say Scott Hastie is gifted ranks as the understatement of an understatement …
A walk into oblivion,
No flares to guide the traveller’s thread.
A chance in space, no room for thought
To spark passion’s dread.
A burn in the brain,
The lure of self-knowledge has led.
The timeless quest,
For which all your children have spat and bled.
A dance with the intangible,
Its always goodbye to all you’ve ever said.
… and …
My heart seems so fragile
Near the edge of joy,
It quivers with a resonance
Of something not quite understood.
Yes, such ecstasies are mine,
But still too often bitter-sweet longings
Can escape from dreams and persist like pain
To haunt even the calmest of days.
I am sad, like the hot dust on the streets,
And the music of fresh fallen leaves
Caught in a sliding summer breeze.
John Rachel, writer & novelist USA
Stairway to enlightenment
Scott is a talented rare poet.
Scott’s poetry flows like a orchestrated water fall and at the end of its journey the reader now has learned a beautiful message
Scott’s writings are a gift he gives to the world and how apropos! We could all use a radiant white light with all the negativity in our world
Put this and his other books into your library collection. You will be honored to own a piece of glorious spiritual writings!!
Laura Laveglia
Here is an older collection of meaningful poetry that harkens back to classic American lit. Whitman, Emerson, Frost, and Dickinson are some of the literary touchstones he exudes in my most modest opinion. It is refreshing to read these whole bits of enlightened wisdom. Nature is the foremost element once again and there is repeated human themes of loss, death, forgiveness, beauty, and joy. The narrator’s voice fluctuates like the swirling seasons. Summer rolls gracefully into Autumn’s last sigh . Winter breathes a new chill for Spring’s holy renewal. You can glimpse into how the lines are constructed by the meter, alliteration, personification, and other metaphorical analogies. All the fundamental attributes are featured. A seasoned bard learns how to cast a shadow on their heart. Scott Hastie rarely wavers or minimizes his attention towards the Deity of Love. He is consistent and writes with essential purpose, as you will discover when you read this illuminating book.
J.T. Smith, New York
Diamond Poetry!
This is deliciously inquisitive writing that bubbles with ambition of a young
man determined to peel back the skin of life andreveal to us the glowing
delights of existence that are there for us all,if we are brave enough to
embrace them. Glorious!
Sarah Roberts
Stellar achivement
This volume is a stellar achievement. Some of the poetry here is quite challenging, but is always with clarity such a positive spirit that consistently looks to encourage and celebrate the best of us all. Inspiring poetry that is highly recommended.
Fraser Cameron
Sparkling writing
In such sparkling writing, Scott Hastie has managed once again, to create poetry that makes you look at the world around you through fresh eyes. He uses beautiful words to paint pictures that are easy to lose yourself in:
“Walls ache in the slow shift of time. Cement cracks, Mortar crumbles remorselessly away.”
This is but a snippet of a poem that takes your mind back to buildings, ugly, empty and lost. But look more carefully at this poem and discover some beauty hidden within that may only be seen for a brief moment. Like all Scott’s poetry, read, digest and findthose moments of stillness and beauty.
Emily Beck
REVIEWS for Timeless
Timeless is surely an appropriate trademark for some highlights of Scott Hastie’s body of work to date. After all, he has produced some of the most gallant and elegant poetry of the 20th & 21st centuries.
His are words where bright, aquamarine skies nestle forever in harmony with Love’s undertow. This a compilation of true Art that comfortably transcends whatever expectation one might have of it. Insightful metaphors are scattered joyously around like stars across an infinite heartbeat.
The surface lies beneath us all! And in that regard Scott, as the oracle and soothsayer of his own benevolent dreams, sets about demonstrating just how complex life is. His poetry seeks to attain some glimpse of precious equilibrium, which is all at once so above, below and beyond us. So often teasingly just our of reach. Precious metals such as tainted gold and silver, attached to our souls, are regularly featured here with far deeper meaning.
Timeless doesn’t either ever shy away from encompassing stories of human frailty, redemption, and survival. Scott fully embraces all the ugliness, as well as the richness life tends to offer, but always in a way that is very spiritually centered. Strains of love, death, sorrow, and acceptance are all a constant part of the picture. Scott is forever a curious, bold thinker, who has left for us here eager footprints of one soul’s journey towards the Almighty.
J.T. Smith, Writer and Poet, New York.
Scott Hastie writes supremely insightful poetry that sings and dances off the page. But it’s not just any song and dance. It’s the timeless beauty of a Child Ballad, blended with the sublime grace of Swan Lake.
John Rachel, author of Petrocelli, The Man Who Loved Too Much and Live From Japan!
Scott Hastie’s Timeless provides nourishment to a needful world.
Timeless: the best of Scott Hastie’s poetry 1990-2020 is a collection from renowned English Poet Scott Hastie, spanning several decades. There are selections here from Selected Poetry, New Poetry, Meditations, Angel Voices, Threads, and Pranic Poetry. Hastie’s work has a conversational quality; these pieces address his reader, loved one’s past and present and in a manner endearing, questioning, insightful, and meditative. Indeed, the title Meditations for the third section is indicative of the themes expressed within. One can conceive whilst reading these, sitting on a mountain top, either as a lost traveler, or a cenobite from ages long ago, contemplating life, lost loves, friendships, family relationships, whether simple or complex and endeavouring to make sense of it all. Yet, for all of this, he does not leave his audience in a quagmire of anxiety but asks each of us to reach within and find the answers for ourselves.
This, of course, is no easy task, as every life consists of individuals connecting with a myriad of others, who weave in and out either for good or ill. How their roles affect us, from birth to death, is the very foundation of his work. This leaves one to ask, does the anchorite sit in his cubiculum and ask if he/ she treated his fellow man/ woman with kindness? And if not, does he/she ponder over past mistakes and seek expiation? Or does he/she feel that sense of antimonial superiority often associated with wealth and esteem? Hastie would argue, and rightly so, that in the end, the accoutré of the material world will not balance out if the work required has not been completed to achieve that aim; that the exertion adjured taxing as it may be, is not half as important as the result. He would postulate that how one lives and behaves towards his fellow man/woman will be determinate as to what the cost to the self, the divine anima, will be.
There are numerous early lines within this collection which we could use to extrapolate on this theme, and which are written with an evenness of meter that vivifies the text but let us start with the exquisite strophe: “Splendour sleeps in the thick still grey skies the steady muted glow of the sun, its sorry circle of gold highlighting the snow-covered, white-edged portrait of a winters’ afternoon.” The text, paints the day in dullness for Hastie apprehends the melancholia that can subsume and beseech us, never more so than in: “to kiss the fruit and caress the flower, to taste without tarnishing humble natures’ natural dower, in this sweet pursuit I shall place my frail body till death’s timely hour and doing so with only breath remaining to wish that amidst the winds of the world, it will not shake nor cower in the face of eternity.” His body here is frail, he is breath hypoxic. As he continues in another charming piece, how we: “grasp at what juices we can, to become part again of the very scent of some sodden truth, that can in its intensity outlast the seasons, the moods, and the melancholy” soon followed by: “after all, even on a sodden autumn day, the cruel thorn, of a bedraggled pastel rose, still has the polished jagged-edge that crimson blood could burst upon.” Here are our mental frailties, which he is dauntless in facing.
While some take up their poetic pens to sculpt pictures of romance or scribe about the virtues and subtle souls in nature; he sees within us, those things which animate and, in some instances, contrive through chicanery to entangle and enthrall us with cunning pernicious means, and then with a pendulating voice, sometimes lulling and sometimes, vociferously commanding us to take action against the darkness. This is nowhere more pointedly drawn than at the end of New Poetry when calling on the spirits of nature and chthonic souls past and crossing the barrier from life, into nether realm, he speaks of how: “another casket of love has been split and broken; sweet liquors have trickled away forever. Sometimes, when I’m tired and empty, I tear through my head, like some mad reaper, searching in vain for faces, fields, flowers, lovers that are no more.” The flowers here, faces, and fields are of course bereft of redolence, greenery, and the faces that would be attendant have slipped away leaving the reader in a vacuum of silence, awaiting the final chord.
Meditations continues this motif; its ceaseless colloquium shifts gears, transitioning from inner reflections on pain to contemplating healing whilst the voices press on insisting, imploring us to go beyond the umbrian night, as in: “Here, illuminated, at last, nestles the ruddy glint of spiritual certainty; sweet moments of passion and healing, of sensual release.” Where will this take us? Hastie answers us in this regard so fervently: “a life however bravely spent, will always be jagged, incomplete, never far away from being enveloped in darkness.” Is he reconciling himself and us to living with pain, to accept that nothing can change? His rejoinder though gives us a dash of hope: “perhaps there is a clue here, a hint of something more fluid, more oceanic, a fugue state that makes more sense of all this, our pattern, our purpose, our struggle to be serene…” It is within that ‘fugue state’ he finds himself, that lies the challenge to find inner peace? It is telling that Meditations is the shortest of the sections, yet, the most overtly conscious in theme.
I confess on first reading Angel Voices, I was less impressed with it than either New Poetry or Meditations, for it has an ethereal and a more seemingly superfluous flavour than the previous two collections. However, that perception cloaks the value of its worth, for taken together, especially in this edited collection thus presented, we can see a seamless eddy, at first a minute cap upon a river, its white frothy head fomenting into a pond, subsuming to a lake and then in the act of acceptance, acquiescing in the warm mouth of the ocean’s glittering waves, surmounting the previous one in-depth and height.
Taken as such, and read with this understanding, without the passages here, the work and his thought process would seem incomplete and at its worst, jejune. The overture in Angel Voices begins thus: “And so it is for them, again and again… and now with only a dark empty, hollow, a feeble space of earth left in between. Such is true joy’s absolute certainty. Its slow-lit fuse that burns holes in the shabby shroud of death forever. Yet, in the middle piece he admonishes his reader! “let us have no guilt left to waste for dreaming still, and at the end, the light slowly peeps through, Hope glistens daring us to do so much more…” as he finds himself, as does his reader, amid his peregrination. The question is, where will it end?
Threads, one of my favourite collections picks up where Angel Voices left off. Markedly different from the previous four publications; his facile use of meter, precisely woven in the text, infuses each piece with an extraordinary agency, animating the poet’s and the soul’s quest for equilibrium. How he goes about this, is what makes this collection superb and is what I think poetry is all about. The reader is so affected by the emotive narrative and the means used, so gently employed, that what remains upon examination, is not the mechanics utilized, but the cynosure intuited therein. I would encourage any lover of poetry to purchase this collection and read it in its entirety. While I am aware that this is a review of the collection Timeless, I am not averse to plugging Threads as well. There are trinkets, treasures within it, I will put forth that to my mind more than exemplify my case. For example: “Your body, your spirit healing like warm stones…” One can see, at once, a creek its cool cataracts cruising around freckled pebbles in a glade, and the crisp autumn air biting your cheeks and hair, as in: “the smell of fresh rain, like gunpowder on the lawn, embellishes the day, as the summer rips on.”
We are traversing a journey, in which the traveler is aware, as he quizzically identifies: “A persistent, elemental energy that didn’t ask to be here, just is… and when it bursts forth ‘tis a wonderfully furious thing.” And yet, for all his questioning, there are moments of clarity which come in sudden flashes such as: “the purple light of divinity that we call God” elucidating further than: “for we truly are, as we come to recognize ourselves to be, more receptacles, gilded chariots that our spirits ride out, but for a hallowed moment in time.” That he cedes to the inclusions of life, the intangible truths of the body vs. spirit, the body being the host for the spirit, is that epiphany which comes at just the right moment and which leads us to the denouement in Pranic Poetry.
Pranic Poetry is the lengthiest in terms of excerpts and possibly the most exquisite. There is a multitude of lines one could cite, but in truth to extract them, would be like pulling a stray thread from a silken mosaic tapestry, the entirety would fall way leaving only fragments, not the whole, dismantling and dissembling it to the point of meaninglessness.
Where to begin then? While the poet seems to have found that longed for ‘balance’ he seemingly perversely comes to call it a farce, stating: “the illusion peacefulness improves everything.”
Most assuredly then, he is alluding to the unsung voices, the souls of the many crying at the unanswering wind. He is not insensible to their pain. His pen does not falter, here, but is dipped in love and reverence: “so well before the time to slip away gathers much pace, so should we all endeavour to love, to leave the best of ourselves behind. And forever remember the need to be kind.” He reaches outward: “how blessed am I these days to be thus, when so many poor souls amongst us lead such lives of quiet desperation and die with their song still unsung inside them” Moreover he retains the metrical nuance he had applied in Threads, and with great purpose, for the results speak for themselves.
Whilst Hastie is a poet, and one who has journeyed within himself, he is cognizant of the outer world, of the tremors that threaten and disturb those outside of his circle, and more importantly, does not turn his gaze away, but reflects back, with his heart and pen. He sees what is around him, yet does not lose that which he has learned, and steels their visages, their plight, and their need for basic necessities within: “When I am as I am, my beliefs gather in strength like swathes of glorious flowers, with delicate veins of iron.” This is not merely the questioning poet, but the active poet, who at times unsettled by what he sees, maintains his sense of who he is, what he has been through, whilst still honoring those outside himself; referencing their, not so dissimilar experiences, and how they compare to the expanse of humanity. With a commanding, and yet loving voice, he puts forth plain truths thus: “Deep, deep down in our hearts, we are pure enough. Much as we first found ourselves, aren’t we?”
For without question, all of us in our darkest hours ask the inevitable, are we good enough? Are we kind enough? Are our hearts unblemished by the stains, and wounds that we have inflicted on others, and which we have received and which score our souls? Undefinable as they are, with Hastie, the answer is a calm, and resounding Yes…
Aria Ligi, Writer, and Poet, San Francisco 2021.
“Sometimes,
When I’m tired and empty,
I tear through my head,
Like some mad reaper,
Searching in vain for faces,
Fields, flowers,
Lovers that are no more.
How they still stain my heart.”
Poetry lovers across all cultures will at least have the consolation that when times get difficult, there exists a set of poetry that offers solace and insights into the way things are. As a matter of fact there’s no better time to read poems that address the mind, the heart and the soul than in the existentially challenging pandemic that our globe is confronted with now. Scott Hastie’s verses are just what one needs to make sense of our situation.
Hastie’s collected works Timeless, include his best works from 1990-2020. Thirty years of deep foraging into life and surfacing with veritable word-treasures.
The 13th century Persian poet Hafiz is said to have remarked on the power of poetry, that it helps one to ‘drop the sword.’ Hastie’s writing goes one step further – it aids one to keep one’s wits about oneself and retain a state of equanimity despite any outer chaos and provocation. His words are artfully penned with the intent to offer solace, comfort and strength. The trope of wisdom is central to his work. One unearths a greater understanding and truly holistic perspectives from reading his book.
There is humility and modesty in the way he writes. His language is deliberately simple attuned to the music of every day speech. He brings light into darkness. He speaks from a place of profound sensitivity and maturity.
For those seeking solitude through words, Hastie’s collection is ideal. It’s unpretentious but deep, intuitive without being overbearing and true without resorting to didacticism.
As he writes:
“Splendour sleeps
In the thick still grey skies
Of a season’s bleakness.”
And
“After all,
Even on a sodden autumn day,
The cruel thorn
Of a bedraggled pastel rose
Still has the polished jagged edge
That crimson blood could burst upon.”
So if you’re veering towards some astute, penetrative writing you have much to look forward to in Timeless. Scott Hastie’s latest collection. Who knows? It might well help you shift your focus from the troubles outside to a state of calm deep within.
Vinita Agrawal, Award winning writer and poet. Mumbai, India.
From the opening verse, emotions are heightened from the very first line! The tone is set and so very well chosen through a rich, timeless, pastel signature tone, which is classic ‘Hastie’ with lines such as:
“We talk
And your eyes dance
In patterns of pleasure before me”
Words flourish with the most engaging, heartwarming, and emotional resonance for which they are designed with an ebb and flow, much as translucent rivers lapping upon awaiting shores.
For those of you who are captured and moved by the sultry, lavish, and sometimes disarming streams of life, here is a work of unwavering passion and purpose.
Among my absolute favourites in Timeless that shall remain forever as this so aptly titled gem amongst poetic jewels for me is:
“And thus tomorrow
Is made anew,
Though every step forward
On the first frost of winter
Will seem like an agony of intrusion,
Like walking on sacred relics,
Or broken bone china
That might crack and spit at you
With its own sense of finish
Of perfection”
I found myself breathless for more! With each successive line and stanza, craving even what was yet to come.
We, humans, long for renewed energies, positivity, and hope for life still to come, all the while sifting through and coping with elements of a varied, less fulfilled past. To dream is to slip away into subconscious being, lost in the waning moments of a lifetime past while still turning pages as life meant to be. Scott Hastie moments are exquisitely bathed and fragrant reminders of how we may indulge in the ebullient flow and graces of life, both to its least and fullest potentials.
The Scott Hastie perspective shines with well-reasoned temperance, throughout, bringing, in his own words, “sweet moments of passion and healing”.
This internationally revered poet speaks in the written word of the space that each of us is given in life. Just take real relish in the flow of seeming prophecy he renders unto us, speaking in an eloquent, timeless union of unparalleled spirit and refinement which affords us the promise, the hope, and the good fortune we were meant to see, to feel, to give true purpose in our own lives.
Timeless is unforgettable and –unwavering in its insistence that life will always resonate through, given open heart and a willing spirit. So do make sure you include this treasured and truly compelling collection of refined verse to your library… Certainly among Scott Hastie’s finest works yet… And yet, I pray, with still many more passages yet to come.
D.MacIver, Writer and Editor Canada
Timeless speaks to the juxtaposition between life’s suffering and its beauty. Read these poems slowly, breathe after each line, and be taken to your depths. Then ride up and out into life’s beauty again. These poems will change anyone who reads them. Scott Hastie reminds us quite colorfully in Timeless that in both suffering and joy “nothing is ever ours to keep.” A must read for anyone wanting to transform his or her life.”
Jan Marquart, Literary Editor. Author of The Mindful Writer, Still the Mind, Free the Pen. USA
The poetry of Scott Hastie is a reminder to us all, even in these blusterous times, to take a moment of reflection on the wonders and beauty that are, even in our darkest hour, all around us. We move through Scott’s poetry, eyes skimming the page, to find a soothing balm deep inside, each word like cool water on a parched throat.
So many of us hold onto guilt and sorrow, all too nervous to let go, fearful of being deemed shallow or ungrateful. These clenched fists inside us cling fiercely to the negative, thinking sorrow and regret are the only correct choice to make a soul worthwhile. The poetry of Timeless shows us another path, one of recognition that misery and joy can both be savored as a rich broth of the sweet and the bitter, each recognized and accepted as an ingredient of everyone’s everday lives. Gently nourishing, Timeless is a feast for the spirit and an inspiration for anyone who has lost hope, as well as a tender reminder that we are all loved. And if we allow, joy will seep into our dark places, as we come to realize that none of us are truly alone.
Rebecca O’Donnell, author of Freak, The True Story of an Insecurity Addict and author-illustrator of Robin the Mighty Red Breast. USA
Timeless is an outstanding compilation of the very best of Scott Hastie’s selected poems. In this soulful collection the readers will be able to find the ‘finest within the greatest’ of any Poet’s creation. Just like the way the agelessness of time inspires us to enjoy every moment of life, this amazingly collection Timeless inspires us to avail ourselves of the best of our lives through its luminous optimism. Verses here display Hastie’s linguistic brilliance in using beautiful imagery with metaphors and artistic conceits.
Here the poet binds time within the frame of his glorious ‘Threads’ and ‘Angel Voices’ where ‘Selected, New and Pranic Poetry’ lead us to a celestial contemplation on his poetic “Meditations”. This magnificent book is a real treasure to treasure! Highly recommended.”
Munia Khan, Author of Attainable, To Evince the Blue. Bangladesh
I found this collection of spiritual poetry to be profound, as well as thought provoking. Scott has an undeniable connection to the universe and has found a way to bring his word to light
There was comfort in each of Scott’s poems. Many of the messages reverberated in my own voice as if I had lived the life of the poet.
Best of all, as you begin with Scott’s first poem to his final one in Timeless, you can actually feel his progression as his personal book of life is revealed with each turn of the page. I am delighted and excited Scott decided to bring this, his long awaited collection to all. Just when you think this is his best book he blows you away with another!!!!
Laura Laveglia. USA
In his flourishing literary career Scott Hastie profoundly appraises the ethereal essence of being and deftly revitalizes lost memories in reader’s mind.
The poetic world that Scott Hastie so exquisitely depicts is brimmed with elegant images each of which reverberates a significant universal message. It is not only genuine, but penetrative and its vocation is to keenly propel us to ponder the importance of whatever precious that is given to us as a gift.
Mahnaz Mohafez, MA in English Literature and Literary Studies, Iran
Timeless is a beautifully crafted selection of Scott Hastie’s poetry from 1990-2020 and reflects the thirty-year emotional, spiritual, and intellectual journey of a young man into adulthood. In his hauntingly poignant and wistful style, the poet reveals a compelling tale of his internal development over the years. The poetry is sparse, minimalist almost – yet full of meaning in each word and phrase as it delves into ‘timeless’ themes of life and love.
In the early days the poet reveals a ferocious faith in sensuality and its ability to redeem, and this belief persists throughout his life, only appearing to soften as the years advance. He finds solace and joy in nature, sex, love, and peak emotional experiences, while at the same time recognizing and lamenting the fragility of such pursuits.
“Sometimes,
When I’m tired and empty,
I tear through my head,
Like some mad reaper,
Searching in vain for faces,
Fields, flowers,
Lovers that are no more.”
His philosophy implies that we cannot know anything but what we experience, so our purpose must be to pursue the finest experiences life has to offer— while we can. At the same time, he is aware how ephemeral and fleeting these experiences are, and longs for a way to immortalize them.
“Oh, to be wise enough
To milk the moments
When they come
And store them away
More carefully in my soul…”
And that these precious moments,
“Have trickled away forever”, and that
“We grasp
At what juices we can”.
As time passes, the poet yearns for fresh experiences and connection, but to what? He is not clear. He does seem to come to some sort of resignation as time passes, but infers that the only option is to keep going, keep trying, keep searching for new joys, because the prize of transcendent wisdom must come with persistence. And, as life runs its course he can:
“Catch sight
Of something
Seemingly infinite…
A first glimpse of
The infinite garden within.”
And that:
“Far finer,
Faraway prizes
Twist and tease still”.
I look forward to following his next phase of wistful, bittersweet, melancholy seeking. There’s a lot more of Scott’s journey to come.
Margaret Nash, July 2020. San Miguel de Allende, Mexico margaretnashcoach.com
Review of Scott Hastie’s poem ‘What is this life?’
‘What is this life’ isn’t overlong, a short read that fits comfortably into the average blog post. It keeps your interest, conveys its emotive message (appreciation and contentment of love), and then you’ve read it. Short and sweet. A ‘message’, if there is one, is simply to convey the sense of passive love, from the perspective of an appreciative human being pausing to indulge in the experience.
The title is the question, the topic and you’re thinking of an answer even as the poet’s writing their own. A technique I’ve personally enjoyed, and seen pretty often. Short but sweet, a scene setter.
I find ‘What is this life’ quite typical of Scott’s poems. They share the same general literary form; with more given to simple, easily conveyed sentiments each line rather than being progressions of five word lines or full sentences. Scott is comfortable enough in his emotions and depth of thought creating the nuance and complexity of his art for the audience to digest, rather than adding overly complex vernacular that dissuades from a clear message.
I’ve noticed so far that all of Scott’s poems favor a flow that isn’t restricted by rigidity, a forced consistency of structure. Each poem seems to lend itself to the idea of travelling. Either material travel (reinforced by his accompanying photo gallery), or an intellectual exploration as he asks about life, or reflects in shifting places and wrestles with rumination. Carefree.
At its heart, this poem is a reflection about life and love, how love and realization is at the forefront. There’s an upbeat, joyful tone that synergies well with the fast pace of the writing. shorter stanzas fall into the longer declaration that life is discovery that we can ‘sing’, he shares this sense of wonder and revelation, to break into his last few individual lines of admiration for our existence, just as it is.
As someone new to Scott’s work, I wasn’t sure what to expect. These observations are just my subjective opinion I’m not certain of being correct, and there might be different interpretations. But I decided to give at least one of Scott’s poems a review, because I’ve enjoyed reading a lot of his site and felt like a little attention for art never hurt anybody.
Joseph Hobbs, MA Postgraduate University of Canterbury Christchurch University
REVIEWS for Splinters of Light
As in deep prayer, the quotes in Splinters of Light will bring you to the depths within your soul. These are not quotes you can read only once. They will call you to write them and paste them on mirrors and desks as constant reminders of who you really are and the true meaning of your life. These quotes will feed you in places you didn’t know you were hungry. A marvellous poetic work.
Jan Marquart, Literary Editor. Author of The Mindful Writer, Still the Mind, Free the Pen
Scott Hastie’s poetry is like a ribbon of light in all this global darkness. We catch hold of it and find ourselves soothed by words that remind us of Love, Kindness, Nature’s Beauty, and the breathless thrill of true joy. Memories of past happiness often cloud our minds as something lost, instead of treasures to remember with a soft smile. We flounder about trying to beat deadlines, pay bills, buy food, catch what we can; all the minutiae of every day life becomes a cacophony that drowns out our own spirits hungry rumblings.
The poetry of Scott Hastie nourishes that inner starvation. Not with platitudes or admonitions that all of life is happy so you should be too; Hastie recognizes the moments of despair, pain and panic that are as much a part of life as joy and gladness. They are all threads in the intricate tapestry that make up each person’s existence. He reminds us that we are all beloved, treasured creatures, even when we can’t or won’t believe it. Splinters of Light is a balm for the soul, a golden comfort in times of need, quick moments of verse that live inside us long after we stop reading.
Rebecca O’Donnell, author of Freak, The True Story of an Insecurity Addict and author-illustrator of Robin the Mighty Red Breast.
Scott Hastie’s Splinters of Light, is the perfect pocket folio those who needs a daily strophe to meditate on, or for those who while interested in poetry, are diffident concerning their ability to apprehend it. Each page consists of six stanzas, extracted from the collections, New Poetry, Meditations, Angel Voices, Threads and Pranic Poetry. If you have read Timeless, you will recognize many of these treasures such as: “to kiss the fruit and caress the flower, to taste without tarnishing humble natures’ natural dower, in this sweet pursuit I shall place my frail body till death’s timely hour and doing so with only breath remaining to wish that amidst the winds of the world, it will not shake nor cower in the face of eternity” or: the smell of fresh rain, like gunpowder on the lawn, embellishes the day, as the summer rips on. On the righthand side of each page is the year of its publication, the breadth of work sweeping some forty decades, from 1972-2019. Though this is a slim volume, it provides a sampling like an appetizer for the naïve would-be poet, the adept and those keenly interested seeking diurnal sustenance for the soul.
In a world in where much of humanity seems to be at the very precipice of despair, the need for such succor is manifestly evident.
Aria Ligi, Writer and Poet, San Francisco 2021.
Splinters of light is a rare collection of excerpts from the many poetical works of the very talented poet Scott Hastie. All the magnificent quotes in this book emphasize the powerful quality of his creative writing. The exalted verses here focus on the presence of ‘sublime moments’ in our lives to retain a constant happy smile in our lips. The optimistic messages reflecting from Scott’s poetry guide us to live a disciplined life in a world so disorderly like ours. In this collection amazing phrases like: ‘The lingering presence Of love’ ‘Bold fires within us’ ‘A persistent, elemental energy, The smell of fresh rain like gunpowder on the lawn’ ‘The glimmer of a chance to shine’ and many, many more… Inspire the reader to extract the most beautiful fragrance of all the perfumes in their life’s experience.
Munia Khan, Author of Attainable, To Evince the Blue
Reading the words of Scott Hastie has always brought me to a renewed sense of positive energy, enlightenment, self-awareness and not least more acute emotional sensibility. His passages touch on the rawness of truths, trials and tribulations, all of which together make up the vastness of our life’s journey. Splinters of Light releases one’s sense of personal challenge, failure, and emotional response through a delicate engagement of the poet’s endearing hope, inspiration, and optimistic delivery. Veritable touchpoints of relativity and a true sense of being.
Garnered from among his many finest collective literary works to date, Splinters of Light brings a tremendous gradient of cascading illuminations through poetic verse, via such especially timely engagement such a dark point in our earthly dwelling. As I journeyed as a reader through gentle ripples of greater awareness and endless questions about the intricacy and narrowing nuances of life, I had a sense of being overwhelmed by the nurturing positivity I found there, summoned up by such a gentle and persuasive poetic voice of reason and compassion.
Is this not the essence of the beauty in life that we all aspire to? Surely we are harkened to a higher spirit of response to the many blessings in life that unfold, if only we were to allow them to have proper time and place in our day to day living.
In light of this time in our lives, the glimmering allure of Scott Hastie’s words offer to be be our destiny and salvation. For example, exquisite nuances of love resonate in:
“Sacred space in which
To distil, like amber
The best of your love”
Prophesies of deeply inspired and motivational verse cleanse our being, each expression a profound enticement to nurture our heart and soul, to disperse all the muddied waters therein to new levels of transparency of light and knowing:
“Sublime moments refracted,
Even if only for seconds,
Caught forever in your soul”
Reading these timeless passages left me breathless with anticipation. Splinters of Light plays back in its reading as far-reaching bands of rainbow vibrato, expansive awareness and heightened perspective, powerfully reinforcing a renewed sense of anticipation and desire for life together with its many challenges, glory, and incarnate being.
Scott Hastie invokes an immeasurable sense of desire to live our dreams. Encouraging us to be bold enough to reach for the essence of harmony in love and the ultimate awareness of life and death. The beauty of this seasoned poet’s perspective through a life well-led and indeed profound giving, in the form of his creativity, offer us some of the finest moments of literary achievement to truly treasure and, more than that, to evangelise about and share with others.
For it is so true that when we step outside of ourselves, we become the unbiased version of one peering intently through the looking glass of life itself! Scott Hastie’s poetic works are just that powerful.
Don MacIver, Writer, Editor and Poet. Vancouver, BC, Canada
It’s such an incredible joy reading Splinters of Light. I feel like I’m wandering in a garden tended by Kahlil Gibran and Arthur Rimbaud, a garden seeded and nurtured by the world’s finest contemporary poet, Scott Hastie.
John Rachel, author of Petrocelli, The Man Who Loved Too Much and Live From Japan!
I found Splinters of Light to be a highly enjoyable collection of observations by a marvellous poet, who is clearly very sensitive to the surrounding world. Given that so many of Scott’s full length poems stayed with me, with all their striking images and phrasing, it’s really no surprise that his quotes and antidotes cook up the same fervor and inspiration in me. I will always keep this beautiful little pocket book book on me, so I can always reach out and get that joyful light bulb moment back again, whenever life gets me down.
Thank you Scott for your precious gift of such comfort and inspiration.
Laura Laveglia. USA
Splinters of light is like the searing light of morning, filled with soft insightful arrays of subtle nuances that has been splendidly captured by Scott to describe the vast phases of human journeys. Depicting them in as much as bright futuristic hopes for what life and death, love and feelings, good and bad, dreams and passions, wants and needs, could possibly stand for in all human annotations. Allowing one to then hold onto a more purposeful, more livelier, more meaningful side of life. In spite of many ups and downs, joys and sorrows, failures and successes that this, our living, has to offer poet Scott Hastie has managed to guide us as a well intentioned friend within his expressive versatility to describe and relate with our own spiritual understanding in this, his strikingly beautiful collection of poems.
This is the most apt read in today’s time, when and where we are all seeing and feeling such lot of uncertainty around us. And of course via the way, in his quietude, he creates a deep understanding within us all, by stating, that we can never really achieve much materially, unless we consider ourselves individually very carefully in regard to the greater role we have to play for safekeeping our world, life and humanity together in unison.
There are many quotations in this collection of poems to share with that will bring glimmering hope, keeping in mind especially the current pandemic situation. Each one of us can afford to grab these verses with eager contemplation and positive energies to willingly move ahead in a rightful direction. The poet has so brilliantly crafted into the reader’s hearts with this narrative, his own self-realization and spiritual awareness. In the poet’s very own words: “Be as audacious as you wish, by all means look to the heavens.”
Banu Bidarkund, Author and Teacher, Mumbai India
In Splinters of Light Scott Hastie is an enthusiastic spiritual dreamer who devotedly endeavors to explore the world of unending philosophical questions. And, prudent soul as he is, the reward of such a glorious quest is finding the sweet peace of life in the enchanting land of love and delight.
Mahnaz Mohafez, MA in English Literature and Literary Studies, Iran
Splinters of Light suggests that the author has endured a mix of darkness, aloneness, sadness, happiness, softness and goodness too. It is the filigree of these emotions that continues now to deepen with age. Decades have been passed but the soul of a man exists named Scott Hastie thrives on.
He speaks in various native ways and tongues. His earlier quotes seem to be concerned with the vagaries of youth’s seduction. But he has always had a penchant for golden, aged wisdom. One of my favourite quotes of his is the analogy of ‘fresh rain like gunpowder on the lawn’. It evokes the summer dream. It seems as though he manages to forever remain sharp as a silver edge, as he matures. Time heals, even as the heart is tainted. He reminds us the sweetness of life’s scented flowers contain the bitter seeds.
Many thanks for writing these philosophical thoughts. You are an ethereal messenger of human, boundless love. As four lads from Liverpool once exclaimed, “Things are getting better all the time”. We must not neglect those who still influence and lead us through the wilderness.
J.T. Smith, Writer and Poet, New York.
REVIEWS for Pranic Poetry
It is at times like these that we need the fairest glimpses of hope, rejuvenation and a deeper understanding of the potential to realize our very best – especially in the face of such adversity. Perhaps this is why the poetry of Scott Hastie achieves such impact and is so well received around the world. His writing inspires such clarity of thought, perception and heartfelt compassion for the emotional rainbow that is the human spectrum of existence, shedding multitudes of color and light where otherwise there might have been storms or darkness, joy or sorrow, pain or redemption.
Shari Jo Le Kane Writer, Poet, Editor & Literary Critic, St Louis, Missouri, USA.
Scott Hastie invites all of us to an endless journey within his words and feed us with fruit for the soul in each and every line.
He gives us new brushes to paint our desired world, as well as fresh descriptions to create a new world which is truly Pranic, thereby allowing us to soothe our struggle and pains with vital life energy.
A hidden gem within the inner-self to heal and balance our soul, Scott awakens and illuminates us with the endless counterpoint, the dilemma of life and death and shows us how ultimately we can and will celebrate life with hope together.
Sahar Tavakoli, Poet Translator and Publisher-Iran
Powerful Feelings that overflow with spirituality and Scott’s soulful heart! Poems that are reverent and profound, but so easy to interpret.
Certainly not the poetry that leaves you scratching your head, but instead taking away many precious lessons. My favorite poem from this book is “If You Are”! I can so relate to the beautiful words here that really hit my heart very hard. Scott’s book will definitely be the newest collection to my library This collection is uplifting and empowering for anxious humans everywhere in our challenging world today!!
Scott, the poetry in this special collection was given to you by a higher force!! I honestly feel that.
Laura Laveglia USA
Pranic Poetry by the very talented writer, Scott Hastie, is an excellent and inspiring collection of poetry which allows us to pause, ponder and feel the light of life in various illuminative ways.
An abundance of well crafted poems in this book speak of our deeply felt longings and hopes, despite the sadly expressive things around us in today’s world. As each line proceeds, ordinary words become extraordinarily powerful through the amazing linguistic features and figures of speech employed.
This is indeed a magnificent book to treasure. A masterpiece of its kind, I highly recommend this title to everyone.
Munia Khan, Author of ‘To Evince the Blue’ & ‘Attainable’ Bangladesh
Pranic Poetry features the life of a once innocent spirit now tempered by strains of age, loneliness, and loss. The author understands what is at stake, but nevertheless continues to pursue the nameless journey. It is a rewarding yet imperfect movement. Heavy stars & dreams dip into the horizon. It is as if the narrator has announced to the Universe his own frail mortality. We all seek a semblance of richness. It is why all of us strive for a sense of wholeness while the rest is broken. Pranic Poetry offers so much fruit of experience. After all, even the rarest of Nature’s wonders need to be protected. I feel as though this collection of poems is universally tendered. It applies to each lingering thought of what once was and indeed the future in its enlightened eyes. A delicate heart within, contradictions are assembled here. Light & Shadow bathed in this everlasting glow. God himself in the fear of humanity and Love’s devotion. You will feel released as the aura opens itself. All of your frustrations & insecurities will dissolve like a salted lake. Each poem imbues a certain wisdom, a molecule of truth renewed.
JT Smith, Poet New York USA
Scott Hastie benefits all his readers by masterfully reinventing routine events and adorning them with commendable spiritual impressions. He writes in a simple but captivating fashion about whatever we usually ignore in this chaotic modern life.
Mahnaz Mohafez, MA in English Literature and Literary Studies, Iran
In this time of unprecedented eventualities and a life bestrewn with uncertainties, your each poem so profoundly portrays the stark realities of life, with ease and poignancy; yet ending on a happy positive note.
In brevity, reflecting the Light and Might (inner resilience) of your Shiny soul, sir! It is as though you are talking to each one of us in person…
A cry of the Soul…For another Soul…The pangs of one’s heart.
Neena Sharma, Singer India
The poetry of Scott Hastie touches not just the aesthetic value of his beautiful words, but reaches far beyond our senses into our carefully guarded spirit. He weaves a gentle inner voice around us, a soft cocoon that recognizes hardships both past and present and then reminds us of all the light that can awake in that darkness. He shows us how these energies co-exist together, a symbiotic fusion of light and darkness to keep us from being overwhelmed by either for very long. Scott Hastie’s poetry reminds us of those gleaming moments. Offering us divine whisperings of reassurance that when Life seems sightless and cold, we can look upward and inward to find a hearth to warm ourselves and learn to see afresh again. Scott Hastie is a word artist of both infinite depth and spiritual magnitude.
Rebecca O’Donnell, Author FREAK: The True Story of an Insecurity Addict and Robin the Mighty Red Breast
Scott Hastie’s newest collection Pranic Poetry is a nuanced, multifaceted work which dares the reader to not merely read it, but to answer the myriad questions he puts forward regarding Man’s place on the planet, his relationship to the creatures that co-exist with us, his relationships with others, as well as, with himself.
Are we worthy of forgiveness? Are we, given all our sins, the daily assault on the planet by chemical companies, big business, and government, as well as those perpetrated by the individual towards himself and his fellow man/ and the creatures who inhabit the world with us? Do we deserve such absolution and more importantly, is such a prospect in accord with the other beings on the planet even a possibility?
Hastie does not attempt to provide answers to these questions, but asks us to think about them, and in the end, encourages us to consider: “A quiet and gently truthful; humiliation that then paints both us and our prospects so differently, my friend.”
The key here is that in this, he acknowledges the ‘different’ paths that each person is traveling, and moreover, how those differences impact the individual and his ability to progress on a journey through this life. It is, not an authoritative demand, but rather a thoughtful query, which allows each person to have their struggles and through that, to meet one another in the end, at a place of solemnity and peace.
This book may seem like a pabulum for the at first, but in this is there is a keen subtlety to his writing, which works on the reader by not attacking, or berating him/her, but instead, through the guise of sweetness is peppered with moments of not an out and out rebuke but one that is served with a chase of cream, a kind of emulsified chastisement, more like that spoon full of sugar which helps ‘the medicine go down’. One reads it, absorbs the elixir without minding, because its’ taste is not sour, though the effect distills, Hastie’s plea is one that though delivered with the song of the ages, equally sounds the bells of fury.
Aria Ligi Poet, San Francisco, California
‘Pranic Poetry’ truly brings a warmth of engagement from its opening poem ‘If You Listen’ to its closing pages. In the signature Scott Hastie delivery, there is a consistently gentle voice for life and all its giving. I could feel the ever-present emotional response to a resonant hope flowing through every title.
This seasoned and highly reasoned poet affords the reader a consummate and beautifully sculpted word flow with the most positive energy and so compelling are the messages through Scott Hastie’s distinctive style. Each piece of writing brings new dimensions of perspective on life that we can all give rightful pause to reflect upon and be greatly inspired by and indeed to live for.
This collection of poetry is arguably among the finest of this gifted poet’s writings to date. His words build upon a powerful foundation for life and living and I found myself thoroughly immersed on every page.
With an underlying sense of hope throughout this fine body of poetic works, I am drawn into every successive line by its positivity, hope, and deep empathy with the human connection. Among my favourites, ‘We Live’ is a bold, profound, and empowering statement embracing the pursuit of happier and more fitful life choices and direction, greater fulfilment of dreams and ultimate goodness in our own lives.
‘Pranic Poetry’ is a truly heartfelt, honest look at our life perspective through this poet’s heart and soul. One must have lived such an inspired vision to convey it in such a deeply meaningful, stripped down and gifted delivery of such a voice we can all aspire to. I urge you to hear that voice and live the journey…
D.MacIver, Writer and Editor Canada
In Scott Hastie’s latest book, Pranic Poetry, we find a truly beautiful offering of gorgeously haunting poetry, combining a longing for spiritual certainty with a reflective and persistent quest for what is real and lasting in life.
Hastie insists we are hardwired to crave spiritual insight and connectedness, and to find meaning in our transient existence and this can be hard because life is transient, short and uncertain.
But the poet refuses to cave to cynicism and instead regales us to focus on what is enduring so that we can leave behind us some trace that we were here. We can find those traces in a generous heart, raw emotion, and pointed moments of love and bliss, as he notes and encourages with the thought that:
“Boundless love brings time to its knees…”
Whilst still recognising, all the while, that we may be:
“Cruelly wrought? To dream Only occasionally of the sublime”
Nevertheless he concludes that:
“We cannot help But remain Persistently alive.”
And this is more than enough to keep going and these stellar images will stick in your mind:
“Like the curiously Regal Stance Of a proud young deer, Surveying The early morning mists”.
As the poet consistently insists in this collection , it really does matter that we exist.
Margaret Nash, Life Coach/Author/Trainer Mexico
I am mid way through reading Scott’s latest collection.
We are two and a half weeks into lockdown in the Uk
. Somehow the words seem ever more poignant and meaningful reading with the background of the virus .
I have found that moments of extreme emotion often helps us crystallise our thoughts and help us pinpoint and name our feelings.
We are suddenly faced with time for reflection and these poems are helping me distill the mixed emotions of our current situation into a calm acceptance of what is .
It’s interesting how many art forms are speaking to people in a different ways at the moment , perhaps giving us permission to expand our thinking or perhaps to wipe away all thoughts and simply BE
Thank you Scott for another marvellous collection and I am looking forward to rest of the book
Bless you x
Debbie Stirling, Mosaic Artist
Scott Hastie’s Pranic Poetry is a collection of work which will inevitably uplift any individual’s soul ‘closer, towards the light’. Scott’s writing in this collection exudes a crafted delicacy that soothes your being and opens your mind. There is a stillness in his work that allows you to pause and reassess your individual journey, expressed through the power of opportunity, generosity, kindness and love. He inspires and impassions his readers to unlock what is already there. To endeavour to be the best you can be. A truth that we can all embrace. Magical stuff!!!
Charlotte Noble Beck
Having just finished reading this beautiful collection of poems by Scott Hastie, I am left mesmerized by sheer eloquent, yet gentle style of his poetic musings. Seemingly he has acquired vast knowledge of our world and environment through his many travels and expeditions. The way he captures the essence of life’s challenges and the impact they can have on the nature of our mortal ordeal, brilliantly portrays the poet’s work as a subtle yet profoundly empathetic attitude towards man’s journey in this world. And all more so in today’s global scenario where compassion and reflections go alongside the acquired grace to consider human struggles as nothing short of an opportunity and a blessing to be thankful for.
I thank Scott Hastie for being a kind friend who is not only compassionate, but also a good human being himself; one who is never suffers from any dearth of deep feelings to express in both words and actions his concern for the welfare of mankind. We certainly need more poets like Scott Hastie
Banu Bidarkund Writer, Poet and Teacher Mumbai, India
The underlying and overwhelming energy in all the poems in this collection stridently affirm that it is love, which is the key nourishment, the fuel that provides the core building blocks that allow us to work towards our true potential.
Ultimately, whether we dare to acknowledge this or not, it is our own inherent, inbuilt capacity for love and compassion that is forever guiding us towards light. Scott, as a poet, strives to drive home the fact that we are all here to find our way back to the light, long since conceived in our soul, long before our bodies took full form.
Scott Hastie’s Pranic Poetry is the first of a kind… A collection of poetry that is not only deeply spiritual and reflective – but also, in a magical lyrical way, seeks to first discover, bear and then deliver the absolute truth. We find a wisdom emanating from and flowing through his life’s experience and observations.
As a keen observer, Scott Hastie has truly grasped the fundamental vitality that flows in the veins of the universe and then secured it through his own so openly lived and felt life experience to make it gloriously permanent in his verse.
Dear Reader, there are of course any number of surplus of books long since written, be they fiction or non-fiction often exceeding hundreds of pages too, as they seek to bring the humanity back to its true and noble course.
Remarkably Scott Hastie has penned an outline of all such complexities and in a way that offers such a profound insight over the very pulse of life in less than 60 pages of highly accessible lyric verse! This indeed is a precious gift and the true mark of creative genius.
Nivedita Yohana
If you have forgotten the rhythm of life, if you have lost your soul’s place, if you have overlooked the meaning of life in the web of it all, you must read Pranic Poetry. In that reading you will be reminded of what you have known all along. You will be reminded that the force of life is rebirth, that the memories will be there with hidden messages and that “with our heart open,/ We can be far stronger/Than we know.”
This is one poetry book I will read many times, just to make sure I don’t forget.
Scott Hastie’s Pranic Poetry is a collection of work which will inevitably uplift any individual’s soul ‘closer, towards the light’. Scott’s writing in this collection exudes a crafted delicacy that soothes your being and opens your mind. There is a stillness in his work that allows you to pause and reassess your individual journey, expressed through the power of opportunity, generosity, kindness and love. He inspires and impassions his readers to unlock what is already there. To endeavour to be the best you can be. A truth that we can all embrace. Magical stuff!!!
D. Suchere UK
Scott Hastie’s beautiful and deep poetry gently gives us plenty to reflect upon. Who are we? What do our lives mean? What inspires us and frightens us and how do we best navigate our way through such challenges. This the perfect book to be reading in these testing times.
Peter Roberts UK
“ Scott I really enjoyed reading some of your new poems – some stellar ones here, amongst which are.
“If you are” – an optimistic perception of the opportunities that can arise out of what on the surface appears to be grim circumstances simply by the will to seek out such opportunities. Beautifully written.
“In a world” – a cheeky ambiguous duality of linguistics that allows perception to adapt to the condition of the mind of the reader.
“A sheen” – really touched my heart, breaking down the emotional elements of life.
“What a shame” – people can hold themselves back without realizing they are their own resistance as if life is a construct of a puzzle to be solved that could easily be done, if we only realized we had the key right from the beginning. What does make me wonder is when we interact with others, how their condition impacts on us?
Many Congratulations on your new and wonderful collection ‘Pranic Poetry’.
Suzanne Staveley, Poet, Queensland, Australia
Pearls of Pranic Poetry: A full Academic Review of Scott Hastie’s latest collection
Nivedita Yohana
Prana is the Sanskrit word for “to breathe” or “life force” in Yoga, Oriental medicine, and Indian Philosophy. The term refers to a cosmic energy believed to emanate from the sun and connecting all the elements of the universe. The universal value of energy or force, responsible for the body’s life, sustenance and heat, Prana being the sum of all the energy that is evident in the universe. Over the centuries, this life energy of Prana has been vividly invoked and exemplified, as in the Vedas.
Scott Hastie has eloquently encompassed and re-captured this concept in his collection of poems Pranic Poetry. It opens with the poem If you listen.
If you listen is of course a loaded phrase, pregnant with the still relevant age-old wisdom, which is constantly urging us to cease the madness and listen to the stillness within us. Amid such a fast-paced life with people constantly rushing to be somewhere, doing what is necessary for survival in a way that certainly bears a frequently cited resemblance to that of a hamster in a hamster wheel. We all seem to be basking in a selective amnesia about the inevitable doom that we are all headed towards. Barely surviving day-to-day, rather than living each day to the fullest, celebrating the miracle of creation. Scott Hastie assiduously seizes the very kernel of this notion in the lines:
If you listen carefully
There’s a constant purr
In your soul,
With ambitions
Of provoking a response….
And further goes on to clarify:
Being the essence
Of our existence,
When the truth
Is quite to the contrary.
Scott Hastie´s brilliant use of the concept of ‘’essence’’ coupled with ‘’existence’’ offers us a thesis wherein essence precedes existence and shows us how we are born here to gradually discover this, as we steadily journey towards the light. He tenderly reminds us that, much as we are frequently overwhelmed by material reality of facts and figures, there is only one objective truth, which is often eclipsed by the series of lies we tell ourselves to assuage our ego and make the world around us more bearable. This poem strives to wrench us out of our complacency and amputate the ego, which we often use to shield us from the truth.
The concept of Soul is ancient. The soul, in many religious, philosophical, and mythological traditions, is the incorporeal essence of the living being. Understanding the essence of our purpose in our lives, and acting on it, is what distinguishes us from all other life forms. Scott captures this wonderfully in the poem To live thus:
Every true passion
Shared since
Speaking so clearly
To this,
The resolute
Onward journey
Of our soul.
These lines brim with perspicacity. For every soul has its own unique journey and a purpose, with an ultimate common goal of leading us back to our true origins. After all, the concept of soul having a specific journey is ancient and sprawled across the records of almost all cultures. The soul is resolute and has a role, which is to eventually free us from ourselves. Scott substantiates his argument by using a powerful adage, which so succinctly condenses ancient wisdom:
To live a little
You have to die a little
To live truly, bravely, honestly and to the fullest, our ever cherished and carefully nurtured ego needs to die a little. For our soul to evolve, we must tear down the iron walls that our ego uses to shield us from all imagined hurt and perceived threat. Here Scott incisively scrutinizes the predicament of human beings and shines a penetrating light upon the sense of absurdity that we are surrounded with, in his poem Passing:
Passing,
So often fruitlessly,
Through all the doors
To desire in life,
Far finer,
Faraway prizes
Twist and tease still,
Like runaway kites
Caught up
In a storm of being
That only
More stillness
Can becalm.
Like Sisyphus, we continue to search for the meaning of life, only to find all our tentative answers forever tumbling back down upon us. We can detect the shadow of Albert Camus´s assertions in Hastie´s lines that we should embrace the absurdity of human existence and more fully take on the purpose of creating true value and meaning. Effort and resilience – not suicide and despair… are the appropriate responses. Scott Hastie consistently exudes precious ideas that could save people suffering from existential crisis in this capitalistic world. Camus argued that we must emulate Sisyphus’s resilience, just as Scott Hastie is so keen to do so, in the form of verse.
We are so frequently engulfed in mental storms and desperately and ruthlessly passing through all the doors, only to find ourselves lost in a labyrinth of confusion, hopelessness and blown away like a “runaway kites”. Scott rightfully recommends stepping out of the storm and instead embracing the stillness that surrounds all this toxic chaos.
Scott encourages us to believe the answers to all our parching quests lies in the very heart of this calmness. When such calmness descends and peace gently perches on our soul, our Prana achieves alignment. Our heart, body and spirit step into the boundless space where the more you give the more you comes to you. Hovering once again on this loaded subject of ´stillness´ in the poem Like the curiously, Scott pens some of his most soulful and arresting lines:
And even
When I’m no more,
I will remain still
In every facet of place,
Of presence, of purpose,
Of breath
And bare beings too,
And then further clarifies this thought in the poem Take deep refuge
For with your heart
And soul open,
Here and now,
In the stillness before you,
Can be found
The very wonder of life itself
As mortal entities, we are persistently wrapped around with such constant commotion, both within and without. And all the more so, when this chaos outside quickly becomes a reflection our own inner mental state. When, if only we could centre ourselves, the answers lie all the while within us – within that eternal silence and stillness that dwells in our soul and in our spirit. In a world captained by the overriding emotion of fear and threat, it is easy to become incapacitated in that regard. However, an increased awareness can take us a surprisingly long way, rather than so often being left to be swept away by our own disquietude and thereby lose all sight of the light. It therefore becomes essential to recognise the precious sanctuary we have within ourselves and in Scott’s own words:
Take deep refuge
In a noble silence
That’s best used to
Affirm the miracle
Of being alive,
Furthermore, the underlying and overwhelming energy in all the poems in this collection stridently affirm that it is love, which is the key nourishment, the fuel that provides the core building blocks that allow us to work towards our true potential. Ultimately, whether we dare to acknowledge this or not, it is our own inherent, inbuilt capacity for love and compassion that is forever guiding us towards light. Here Scott appends the word ´noble´ to silence and indeed it is truly noble, given that silence is the most underrated of virtues in today´s world, where such importance is given to commotion and extroversion. Consider how often we take for granted the miracle of birth and soon turn it into the most mundane of activities. When our mere existence is a wondrous miracle that we need to be more profoundly grateful for, expressing this by revering all other human beings more lovingly and with much greater compassion.
The only way through the alternative path of pain and misery is through the gift of love that we are all deeply endowed with, existing as an insatiable resource within all of us. When we allow it to, this compelling life force of love can so easily break down any walls we have scrupulously built around us. The poet therefore encourages us then to:
Endeavour to love,
To leave
The best of ourselves behind
The use of the word ´endeavour’ is thoughtfully used here, for any act of love is exactly this. As human beings were are creatures of habits and very easily get caught out and supremely distracted on the slippery slope of our own self-doubt and exaggerated sense of pride. We go to utmost lengths to shield ourselves from the consequences of just such a grim cage we have voluntarily locked ourselves into.
When to break free, we simply need to learn to love and accept ourselves the way we are, in all its nakedness. For only then will we be able to be open enough to love our fellow beings, as fully as we should. Just like a candle, unless you are lit, how can you spread your light to others? Love is the energy which never parches. As Rabindranath Tagore in Gitanjali says:
This frail vessel thou emptiest again and again, and fillest it ever with fresh life.
The most generous of all is the richest among all. This notion is cleverly captured in Scott’s reassuring poem Some where thus:
Along with the fear
Of being forsaken
Or forgotten.
This will never happen
To a generous heart.
A generous heart has nothing to fear, precisely because it is avoids being selfish to become instead truly generous. In this way, there is no anxiety because it has nothing to lose, because it covets nothing. Such is the wonder, the power of light that dwells in such pure Prana. Just a glimpse of this light is enough to illuminate and then shrivel up all our carefully treasured fears. Marianne Williamson in A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of “A Course in Miracles” voices a similar thought:
It takes courage…to endure the sharp pains of self-discovery rather than choose to take the dull pain of unconsciousness that would last the rest of our lives.
Equally, in the poem We are all Prophets, Scott reminds us:
Thus do all our lives
Become
An enduring tapestry
Of pointed moments,
Albeit seeded with loss,
The ache of which
Will pass,
Here life is beautifully compared to an ‘enduring tapestry’- a tapestry that is finely interwoven with all our aches and moments of bliss. And no matter how painful or how joyful such fleeting moments are, they their traces behind. The image of everything that passes us leaving behind threads, elements that can then illuminate the optimum route for tomorrow is indeed enlightening to the soul and is beautifully rendered in these following lines later in the very same poem:
The absolute truth
Of raw emotions
Etched on our heart,
Left behind,
Radiant,
As pathways to tomorrow.
Just as the title of this collection suggests, Scott Hastie lays bare in front of us the crux of our inner core being with such edifying insight.
In the poem Pray he goes on to encourage us thus:,
Let all negative shapes,
Patterns,
Thought forms
Dissolve, disintegrate,
Be gone.
In a fast-paced life, crammed full of a plenitude of distraction, truth is diluted, masked, reduced and sometimes completely lost in a myriad of negativity, often springing out of raw fear. Furthermore, such negativity is of course astute enough to creep into our ego, justifying the lies that we often tell ourselves and indeed others. Rationalising our insecurities by lulling us into false sense of security and power.
This illusionary comfort may sustain momentarily, but surely like an ever fattening maggot within, it will steadily proceed to eat us up gluttonously, leaving a being cruelly bereft of all light. To us all then, Scott Hastie urgently suggests:
So don’t ever pass by
The chance to lie back
In the long fragrant
Summer grass
And in the Poem Stranded echoes the same vein of thought:
And as for energies
Already spent,
What do they
Count for now,
If not this very moment?
Rather than simply cowering behind some steely veiled castle, filled with anxieties and imagined fears about the unknown future, far better to focus more fully instead on the beautiful gift of the present.
The overarching energy that flows through all these poems recalls Eckhart Tolle’s words in Practicing the Power of Now: Essential Teachings, Meditations, and Exercises from the Power of Now :
When you surrender to what is and so become fully present, the past ceases to have any power. The realm of Being, which had been obscured by the mind, then opens up. Suddenly, a great stillness arises within you, an unfathomable sense of peace. And within that peace, there is great joy. And within that joy, there is love. And at the innermost core, there is the sacred, the immeasurable… That which cannot be named.
Prana – the life force, suffused with its highest glory, effervescent light, immense energy and power lies precisely in this present moment. The key is understanding that, even then, any challenges and the frustration, pain and tribulations that can so frequently plunge us into the abyss of despair are in truth a precious gift that rather presents itself to teach us, strengthen us. In the poem Look deep, Scott writes:
Conscious,
As we are,
That if we weren’t,
From time to time,
So troubled,
So tested, so fallen,
We wouldn’t be
Mortal at all!
And In Time he so succinctly underlines such a key message by reminding us:
Time is forever short,
When your world
Can turn in a second.
Contending then that not one of us mortal beings can therefore afford to squander any of the time we are left with. No matter what material disposition we may have or bestowed upon us, be it that of a king or a beggar, in the zenith of delight or in the abyss of despair! As we are all learning these days, our world can turn in a second, such is the ephemerality of life.
In this volatile cauldron of existence, swinging as it does so violently, between either end of the spectrum of emotions, can only help create a rather destructive rebound.
So rather than agonising over something that can lead to depression, or alternatively being too flush with self confidence and self-importance that can so often bring with it such a persistent arrogance, we should instead rather focus upon having the poise and calmness, whenever riding on the waves of such emotional extremity knowing that ‘this too shall pass’’. In Yogic parlance, this state is called Samasthiti. ‘Sama’ means stable, steadfast, balance, equanimity and ‘sthiti’’ a state of being.
The spiritual significance here is therefore to conjure mental surrender with calm determination to inform and fulfil the true purpose we are here for. The surrender is not to give up or be indifferent, but rather to have detachment, just as Sufis say:
to be in the world, but not of the world.
Through surrender we suddenly tap a supportive inner force (Prana) and life-giving energy that sustains us and propels us forward and upward. In his poem Believe in this place, Scott reassures us that there are:
Miracles out there
To be found.
To feel and witness,
To claim joyously
As our own.
Speaking of miracles, Scott Hastie writing also echoes Marianne Williamson ´s words in Return to Love
In asking for miracles, we are seeking a practical goal: a return to inner peace. We’re not asking for something outside us to change, but for something inside us to change. We’re looking for a softer orientation to life.
Then going a step further, Scott Hastie very poignantly yet tenderly awakens us to just such a binary world when he juxtaposes the world of Miracles with the ´harshest of conditions´ we can all sometimes find ourselves in. Somehow the true concept and purpose of suffering and its existence has always eluded us. The lines below from the poem Here we are addresses this vexing issue head on, with a very perceptive truth:
Knowing,
As we all do,
Blooms
That flower
In the harshest
Of conditions,
Are often the rarest
And most beautiful
Of all.
How true was Keats being, when he proclaimed: beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. Firther underlined by the fact that the finest of all beauty is so often etched out of our being after taking a beating, thereby becoming the rarest the most telling and precious of all. Because when there is absolute surrender and a calm acceptance seeps in, we are taking a sip from an inner pool of enormous power that lies dormant within us all.
Frequently Scott so tenderly lays down in front of us the absolute beauty of those who bloom their full potential, in spite of all the curve balls that life has thrown at them. Their triumph then is to be seen as standing steadfast in their integrity, without compromising on their life´s purpose.
Every poem in this collection shouts out to reinforce the significant of Prana – the basic life force we all have within ourselves. And yet instead we choose to live in illusion of comfort, of sweeping the inconvenient ego-crushing truths under the carpet and go about life pretending that everything is fine.
Yes indeed… we all can be a step closer to Nirvana, if only we could fondly and lovingly see ourselves in the stark nakedness of our soul, stripped bare of all our angst. The poet here gently prods us towards this state of being, as well as challenging us to dive deep into the enormous, magnificent pool of tranquillity that is within us all.
For here there is true abundance, no room for fear of the future, or shame of our past, as well as an infinite ability to embrace the light. Indeed then:
A step closer to Nirvana…
Till all, at last,
Is made plain,
The true kernel
Of our dilemma exposed.
In Believe in this place, Scott asks a beautiful rhetorical question:
Deep, deep down
In our hearts,
We are pure enough.
Much as we first
Found ourselves,
Aren’t we?
Such eloquence seems to me to pay homage to Dante’s opening lines of Inferno thus:
“Midway upon the journey of our life, I found myself within a forest dark, for the straightforward pathway had been lost.”
How true is it that we all enter this world from the safe confines of our mother’s womb into the forest dark. Scott, as a poet, strives to drive home the fact that we are all here to find our way back to the light, long since conceived in our soul, long before our bodies took full form.
Scott Hastie’s Pranic Poetry is the first of a kind… A collection of poetry that is not only deeply spiritual and reflective – but also, in a magical lyrical way, seeks to first discover, bearsand then delivers the absolute truth.
We find the wisdom emanating from… and flowing through life’s experience and observations. As a keen observer, Scott Hastie has truly grasped the fundamental vitality that flows in the veins of the universe and then secured it through his own openly lived life’s experience to make it gloriously permanent in his verse.
As Yeats would put it:
‘we are all turning and turning widening gyre and falcon can not hear the falconer’’
All the while, Scott Hastie is lovingly nudging us towards the falconer and urging us not to confuse the soul’s guiding light with all the distracting neon lights of the material world. For the same light that created the universe, created us…
Scott Hastie speaks to us all then of a powerful life force emanating from the depths of creative energy, where possibilities can be limitless. Reassuring us that this capability abides in all of us.
He urges us not to be intimidated by the darkness that surround us, but instead be inspired by the light that resides within. Surely, intuitively, we know this to be true?
However much we can be paralyzed by fear as we instead mindlessly grope around in the darkness to build instead illusionary, dusty towers of refuge to accommodate our towering and oft toppling egos!
For when the storm comes in (as it surely will…) to leave us spiritually exposed, stark and bare, there is then little left but to sink in the ravine of despondency which, all the while, is gathering itself to become the truly colossal silent pandemic of the modern world. And such is the essence of Scott’s warning…
In pursuit of avoiding this fate then, Dear Reader, there are of course any number of surplus of books long since written, be they fiction or non-fiction. Often exceeding hundreds of pages too, as they seek to bring the humanity back to its true and noble course.
From this perspective then, to succeed as Scott Hastie has done to pen an outline of all such complexities and in a way that offers such a profound insight over the very pulse of life in less than 60 pages of highly accessible lyric verse! Is indeed a precious gift and the true mark of creative genius.
Make sure you read this book, it will truly change you life for the better…
REVIEWS for Threads
Oh, that mankind would love and finally understand each other…
This book is a true masterpiece.
Scott pours over every letter and syllable, breathing in their meaning conveying the essence of time itself.
What strikes me about his work, is that if humanity lived in tune with their souls as this, we would have an end to war, hunger and poverty. Mankind would love and finally understand each other.
The contents of this book are timeless and here is a significant wordsmith of the 21st century. I liken his spirit whispering to the sweet essence of Toni Morrison and the pieces are steeped in culture.
Life stood still for a while whilst I read this. Threads brings together the essence of our souls and at last gives meaning. I cannot recommend this enough.
‘Silken Tapestry’
Scott Hastie’s latest book Threads, carries a voice that negotiates with the spirituality lying dormant within us. The poems are embalmed with subtle imagery and a gentle language. More significantly, they essay a point of view – a view that is positive, hopeful, believing and healing. The poems strike a delicate balance between the surface of worldly exactitude and the depth of semantic humaneness. The opening poem goes like this:
We are anything but finite
Or alone!
After all the petals of proof
Are here in our hearts,
Are they not?
And however deflated
We might sometimes be,
Either by our own frailties
Or the cruelty of others,
– Inviolate –
At the core of our being,
The very prism
Of sanctity and self remains.
The landscape of Threads is compassion – a universe distinct in themes but tied together by the silken threads of empathy and understanding. Scott’s skill lies in bringing something of that beautiful place to the surface. His poems have the power to resurrect our battered, defeated souls. His art has the capacity to rejuvenate our sad little minds at the end of a tiring day and make us whole again to face a new dawn with new vigor.
Every new dawn is a flitter,
A speckled film
Of light and possibility,
Upon which
Even the saddest
Amongst us
Re-materialise daily
As nothing if not indefatigable
Creatures of hope.
Readers will relish the time spent in reading his enriched poetry. We, as the human race are all familiar with the complexities, struggles and challenges of life, Scott’s intimate voice will familiarize us with those elusive emotions called hope, triumph and dreams.
The perspectives that Threads offers are global- no matter where you’re from, these poems will bear meaning to you. They are unifying to the distressed mind by, sort of, building an international platform of delight and resilience. For long we have looked for the right words to shine a light on the human condition. – “The persistent, Liverish truth of our existence.”
Something that would soak up our pessimistic saturation…something that would recognize the genuine ray of sunshine filtering over all of us. For long we have wanted a voice. For long we have pined for cohesiveness. Threads is it!
Our lives
A long line of enquiry
Inevitably riddled with mistakes.
And hurting
As you may be now,
What a wonderful thing
It is not to be alone.
This ashen cloth
Won’t ever quite
Leave me be either,
Living as I do on a prayer.
But, as my eyes lift again
To the world,
I can at least be with you.
Threads constructs a new world for us. It invests itself in our happiness.
But be not afeared.
Wear any such scars well,
Knowing that,
For every moment of suffering,
Others will arrive
That will instead
Pierce you with joy.
Open the doors of your heart
And they will come.
And for every cruel arrow,
Sweet caresses of delirium
To nourish your soul.
Scott shows us through his poetry how important it is to put aside all the nonsense and appreciate the small details of our lives and watch our lives be transformed as a result. He writes with craft, clarity and intensity… unlocking philosophies born from the very bones of our sadness to now greatly and endearingly please the heart. His observations are interwoven with the mundane and mystical. Reading these poems, one realizes that there is magic inherent in every living moment. If only we would stop a moment and perceive it.
Taken together the poems have the impact of a spiritual epic but without the heaviness… And individually they are a line by line commentary on the nature of life and the very existence of man. The poet vivifies the scars and wounds of everyday living but also unveils the transcendence inherent to our situation.
The garden of my life,
Much as I tend it,
Is, at best, my healthy soul
Made visible.
Though, all the while,
The fretting,
The continual husbandry
And sheer ennui
Of progressive adulthood
Beg questions still.
Especially whenever able
To revert briefly
To pure unfettered joy,
To childhood, in essence.
Itself, a sign
Of a far deeper wisdom,
Methinks.
Indeed Threads is appropriately titled for it binds together the extraordinary miraculousness of life. From Scott’s perspective, Happiness and Joy can be embraced, no matter how low we ever stand on the rung of defeat. The worst day is only a fleeting moment and the best is a radiation of higher forces conspiring in our favor, to be savored and cherished. A truly brilliant compilation of some soul stirring poetry by the master craftsman of spiritual verses.
This book refuses to be forgotten.
Vinita Agrawal, Award winning poet and writer – Mumbai, India
Scott Hastie has a hidden motive woven into the lines of this poetry. By ordering the images and graceful motifs of his work he creates an invisible chain, which leads his readers so gently through his sublime expression and understanding of new experience. He walks through the whole world with his poetry and touches the sensibilities of us all. Inspiring!
Sahar Tavakoli, Poet & Translator, Iran
Rooted in nature and the seasons , this collection is unafraid to speak directly of love eternal and the rebirth of us all as we experience life, with its many transitions. His poems cause one to pause and reflect, using our imagination to transport us to another place and time…. As we peek beneath the surface of an otherwise ordinary life. All the while, we travel on the path of life to get ‘home’ and experience raw human emotions contrasted with the eternity of the soul and all the hope it provides. Scott’s writing has a rare and lyrical beauty!
Carol Zielinski, USA
Scott Hastie’s delightfully lyrical poetry reveals an astonishing versatility and range of insight, where his spirituality becomes an ornamental grace. Via the generosity of his creative soul we come to appreciate how life is more than just life and love can become greater than love itself! His unique voice distinguished by wisdom, passion, erudition and subtlety, coupled with the telling profundity of his thoughts. The literary world owes him a great debt.
Scott Hastie’s Threads is one of his masterpieces which achieves the extra dimensions in literary world by expressing the life that is within it. Great poems like – ‘We Are Anything’, ‘Our Lives’,
‘Every New Dawn’, ‘A need’, ‘There’s An Intricate Chain’, ‘As We Toil and Spin’, ‘There Are Chapters’ here are the most concentrated form of wisdom and philosophy. His excellent use of splendid imagery throughout the verses evokes beautiful emotions by causing mental reproduction of sensations. His adoration for the great poet Dylan Thomas has acquired much sensitivity here through his amazing tribute poem. His love for nature appears to be fresh and original in the poem ‘The Kingfisher.’
This book is a vital source of not only the noble truth about life and love but also an explanation of surrealism which guides us towards this world’s reality. One of the chief purposes of his poems is to communicate poignantly a certain truth about our spiritualism- ‘Treasured Energies’ is indeed a powerful depiction in this respect.
This beautiful book of poetry is not a substitute for a sedative but its purpose is to arouse and awake us into life, to make us more alive…
Munia Khan, Author of Evince the Blue , Bangladesh
Bravo to Scott Hastie on an authoritative masterpiece that mends the heart, shifts the mind, and elevates the spirit. Every single verse provides ‘healing like warm stones’ that allow us to ‘repair our cracks with gold… And glow again’ Perhaps also find ‘some bejewelled purpose too’.
The spiritual journey of threads represents Scott’s best work yet and encourages us recognize: ‘a need to pause’ for rebirth, restoration, and reconciliation with self. He philosophically blends the heart and soul of words so that their wings may take flight into our hallowed domains. Thank you, Scott, for encouraging us to ‘feed with fury, flourish, burn our lives famously – then run like the wind’. I am running. And reading again…and again…and again.
Rochelle Soetan, Tuesday Morning Love , Washington ,USA
Reading and devouring Scott’s past books brought me to become an ardent lover of all he writes!
And his newest collection Threads has even more seductive personal overtones of such feelingly expressed joy and sorrow belonging to Scott’s fathomless soul written within!
This amazing book has such romantic overtones whilst still remaining so well grounded spiritually! Truly, his writing is like rare wine, becoming ever more precious and leaving you always greedily craving for more! perfecting them further!!!
If you are familiar with Scott’s poetry, you will just LOVE Threads – I promise you that!!!
Laura LaVeglia, author of Metamorphosis, USA
Like a dexterous musician who plays memorable music to his audience, Scott Hastie’s magnificent poems bring spiritual calmness to his readers’ hearts and touch them with transcendental light of wisdom..Scott’s words are meritorious, bespeak the universal language of kindness and make us think about the infinite power of goodness.It is always a pleasure to me to read what he devotedly pens.
Mahnaz Mohafez,, Student of Literature, Iran
In his soul stirring, sometimes poignant, sometimes dark, but always inspirational book of poems, Scott Hastie explores the archetypal questions all great poets face—what is the point of life and how do we make meaning of it?
“The day is done
And no one is immune,
It’s true.
That sense of a voyage
Slips seamlessly past,
Though there is a beginning;
An end to everything.”
Scott manages the difficult task of reflecting on death and its inevitability without giving into despair…
“And still the darkness
Waits for me,
As I know it will”
But rather he holds firm to the light within which will “… keep me safe and warm,
Till my own time comes.”
This light within is a joyous affirmation that inspires him to question
“What shines so bright within?
For nakedness of spirit
Is at the heart of everything.”
Scott doesn’t pretend to have answers but rather offers up an irrepressible curiosity about what life will offer next.
“Just think
How many
Extraordinary opportunities
We still have,
Within our own control” he muses.
He concludes “Nothing is ever Ours to keep, Rather only to glory in For a while…”
And
“Oh that I had the strength
To seize
Every exquisite moment
And was able to do so.”
Scott exhorts us to drink deep and live life to the full. He explodes in a puppy-like enthusiasm to just ‘whirl and dance’ ‘be free and forget instead’. Existence is ultimately a series of experiences, of exquisite moments. Scott is a hopeless Romantic who flirts shamelessly with life and death while he urges his reader to live fully and to ‘Shine whilst you can, Without fear.”
He warns that
“Too often
We choose instead
To become lulled,
To forget life shrinks or expands
In relation to courage showed.”
I shall pin that quote on my mirror.
Margaret Nash, Author, Hypnotherapist & Life Coach, Mexico
threads: journeying within the soul
It seems as if the world all around us is collapsing into a fen of racism, terrorism and underneath it all a current of xenophobia driven by fear. This is the poison within our societal well. Yet, in Hastie’s newest tome, Threads, he reaches into our fears, and finds, beneath it all beauteous rills of hope.
He asks us to be better, to strive for that, which is exalted, the great goodness within all humanity. This is not done in the guise of Priestcraft or demagoguery, but instead it is executed with subtlety and poetry. It is present in such as lines as:
Nothing that sings so
Can ever evaporate,
Be excised,
Burnt out of your soul
Here he is speaking not only of the revivification of lost love, but of the echoes of the heart. And indeed he finishes the poem by bringing us back and reminding us of the resilience within humanity, to feel, to long and to love. At the denouement of the poem he writes:
We too can repair
Our cracks with gold
And glow again.
Crazed by life,
More beautiful than ever before
The themes of love, rejuvenation, sadness, the ability to mourn and then repair what has been lost, are plangent within. In Here I am, he confronts dead on the fear that like a viper sleeps within us all:
For isn’t it true that,
Without fear,
We are capable of anything…
Yet he does not leave us hanging, but continues in a lovely stanza that not only captures what he is saying but is poetic and metaphoric without being banal:
The smell of fresh rain,
Like gunpowder on the lawn,
Embellishes the day,
As the summer rips on
And so we press on with reading not because we must, but because like a symphony it ebbs and swells, and within its culmination sweeps us up with orgiastic verve. There are treasures within that are little slices of life, such as the lovely lines:
If we always knew for sure
What lay ahead
Would we still stir
Each and every morning?
For me, my warm,
Soft sheet, snuggled erections
Are daily optimism personified,
Transitory stiffened dreams
Riven with hope
And it is hope that permeates throughout , yet it is a hope measured with meter that breathes, and has a real strength of purpose. It is not so much the grinding through of each day that matters, but the moments along the way. Do we share them with loved ones, or huddle beneath our blankets, cowering in fear? Scott Hastie asks us to take those moments and walk with him, dance the verse of life and thought and rhyme.
Aria Ligi, Poet (Temple of Love & Blood, Bone and Stone) San Francisco, USA
In Hastie’s poems there is an urgency to realise an “…ambition to touch the very face of God!” The burden of mortality never sings more frantically than in his cry “Needing love, We squeeze what we can From a fluid landscape Of life and light”.
The exquisite joy of life is juxtaposed against the ever-present spectre of death, the terminal journey of a short span of glorious days, through which a thread of gold tenuously links the known with the unknown or half-remembered. What to do with the knowledge that we are potentially so much more than our petty span allows?
“Inside every single, Obdurate, intractable skull Is an entire universe humming, Every bit as vast As the heavens above, From whence we all came.” Scientists Rupert Sheldrake and Einstein “the universe can be found in a grain of sand” would understand this dichotomy.
Why are we so much more than our physical lives permit us to be? Why are we cursed with “…the encumbrance of time in that race”. That race to realise our potential against a backdrop of ignorance and uncertainty. “Our lives A long line of enquiry Inevitably riddled with mistakes.”
It is easy to feel Hastie’s frustration at life’s limitations “It seems to me Our existence In this world Is one long string Of occurrence. A twisting, twirling skein Of patterns, of habit, Of chances taken And oft forsaken too.” How much have we missed through fear? Ignorance? Plain old fatigue?
And yet, and yet… through all the numbered days there glitters a single thread of pure gold tethered to a balloon called heaven. Despite the roadblocks, Hastie urges us all to “ Burn your life famously! Then run like the wind For the hills of Elysium.” And in the end he has convinced me that it’s possible.
Wendy Waters, Lyricist & Author of Catch the Moon, Mary – Queensland, Australia
There are sacred things that soothe my heart and mind when I’m troubled and the poetry of Scott Hastie is one of these. His inspired words give meaning to both the shadows and light of the past, present and future. He shows us that there is worth even in our pain, if we would simply take the time to look. Simply Beautiful….
Rebecca O’Donnell, Author of FREAK: The True Story of an Insecurity Addict, – New York USA
From his opening lines Scott Hastie affords us, the reader, a wonderfully meaningful presence among his words. Upon every page rests a profound beauty of the human condition and the spirit that guides our heart and soul.
Expressions as: “Healing like warm stones” employs responsive engagement through this poet’s vision, his perceptions of life as it touches us in fleeting moments, and again through: “Reaching out towards the improbable.” Therein lies the essence of this poet’s inspired words and a journey so well taken.
In threads Scott Hastie channels the marrow of being in its simplest, most profound terms with inspired affirmations of life and its giving. I was deeply touched by ‘Pause’ in which this gifted poet shares in his distinctly esoteric fashion:
“It’s at times like these
That I best notice
A bewilderment of gifts,
Treasures I never knew I had.”
Don MacIver, Editor, Writer & Poet, Canada
Threads – an academic review by Nivedita Yohana
Graced with the chance
To be here,
Even if only fleetingly,
Embrace
Whatever comes your way
And, in so doing,
However enchanting
Any treasures
You uncover might be,
Their loss
Should never be your concern
Scott Hastie’s poems in his sparkling new collection Threads are witty, chatty, sensitive, solicitous… Like a loyal friend and brother conversing, as a sympathetic observer of folk and the world about him. A sagely philosophic commentator on his own poetry, on questions of life, and indeed on some of the vexing, unsolved problems of existence. His poetry shows him as a lover, a sage, a mystic; but above all just another human being fearlessly exploring every possible dimension of a spiritually evolving soul.
Whenever you can conjure
The stillness to notice,
There is
A sense of the ancient
Hanging in the air.
A lingering spiritual fragrance,
Full of knowing,
That dresses
Contemporary journeys
Like ours.
Scott’s poetry engages a meaning-making process that underpins our understanding of the world more broadly and he is simultaneously creating and investigating this meaning. Creation entails something new, never before considered, investigation entailing something that already exists to be investigated. His words therefore sit on the precipice of a paradox, threatening us with a relative state of weightlessness and quickened understanding. Scott’s poetry is not abstract philosophy, but grounded in our bodies; the “metaphors we live by” extend from our physical experience with each other and the world around us.
Scott has always been a man of few words and his every word certainly speaks volumes:
That sense of a voyage
Slips seamlessly past,
Though there is a beginning;
An end to everything.
The reality is so eloquently put – deeply philosophical and spiritual in this deceptively simple extract. We can also consistently see a metaphysical fervor – in the notion of “Carpe diem” which looms so large in his poetry. The gathering in of moments of life that are so fleeting, suggesting the ephemeral quality of life, as in Robert Herrick‘s “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time,” which beseech readers to live life to its full potential, singing of the transitory nature of life itself:
Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today
Tomorrow will be dying.
We all have our own voyage to carve from the moment we enter this world and death is always our shadow. However Scott is never shy of cajoling all of us to seize every opportunity and live moment to moment to the fullest… To capture it in our being and then reiterate the process so as to derive on going nourishment for the soul on its voyage. As the law of nature goes, all physical entities have to die and come to an end, but not the soul which the poet shows us forever needs to be replenished, unabating with life’s zest.
In “Every new dawn” his readers are showered with abundance, optimism and positivity, showing us the way he feels life is best perceived:
Every new dawn is a flitter,
A speckled film
Of light and possibility,
Upon which
Even the saddest
Amongst us
Re-materialise daily
As nothing if not indefatigable
Creatures of hope.
Here there is ineffable and perennial belief in life in these challenging times, coming from a sensitive and knowing soul. His words scream of unrelenting hope and repeated emphasis on the importance of freedom to an individual’s intellectual and spiritual development. Freedom to make choices- the choice to be happy, the choice to keep things simple, the choice to say “yes” to life and the choice not to let your spirit be dragged down.
The precious insights gained by reading Scott’s words are powerful enough to be a surrogate of the human experience itself; the same embodied processes that make human experience meaningful make engaging in this, his poetic experience, almost as meaningful! The philosophical nature of his words building so profoundly on this poetic perspective and very specifically too, with the gathered knowledge of human experience. Scott’s poetry has real moral and social value.
In the concluding poem to threads, “Some say” Scott certainly doesn’t spare his words, passionately calling out to all of us to grab a life that’s filled with true spirit and to maximize its vitality:
Feed with fury,
Flourish,
Burn your life famously!
Then run like the wind
For the hills of Elysium.
When he says “Burn your life famously!” the poet’s intention is to reflect the soul’s constant rejuvenation – the cycle of birth, death and resurrection, just as the metals are purified in the fire.
Via love’s powerful energy, life’s vivacity and all its limitations too – delightfully encompassing such a broad range of subject matter, styles and moods, Scott beautifully leads readers by hand embracing them in such sweet pearls of wisdom. This a long learnt and carefully meditated level of being from an inspired and beautiful writer who has truly lived. Individual experience so keenly observed, with every fleeting emotion most passionately felt in his ongoing preoccupation with such themes as nature, mortality and indeed the supernatural potential that surround us all, but that we knew it!
Nivedita Yohana, Literary Academic, Amsterdam.
REVIEWS for Angel Voices
Angel Voices is a gentle reaching out to people from all over the world by the spiritual poet, writer and artist Scott Hastie. As life often plays incomprehensible games with our fragile hearts, how easily we tend to draw to darkness and despair. Scott Hastie ever so gracefully points to ways in which we can all find moments of lightheartedness and inner joy, despite the difficulties and riddles inherent to human existence. Angel Voices is the work of a compassionate and giving artist daring to travel deep within his own heart in order to find “clues embedded in swaying shadows”. He wishes to bring these to the surface, share his own experiences with his readers, so that they can make them their own. With Angel Voices, Scott Hastie does achieve this goal in the most beautiful way.
Dr Jelka Samsom, Holland
“Angel Voices is a brilliant, moving, sensitive saga about life and the forces that empowers us. It is so true to life’s expectancy and experience of any soul, and delicately crafted in threads of the poet’s beautiful imagination and mature understanding of our universe. I highly recommend this collection of poems by a well travelled and insightful poet whose works speak beyond boundaries, and is filled with glimpse of hope, love and a blessing to share for which Scott invites us all through his ‘angel voice’ to gather together in our hearts to connect, complete and celebrate our life.”
Banu Bidarkund, India.
Angel Voices captures the essence of life’s eternal quest for meaning through meditative reflections and transcendent verses that lead the reader from questions to mantras…. The new poetry featured in this book is both romantic and tender prose that touches the very depths of the heart.”
Shari- Jo LeKane Yentumi, USA.
‘Impressions’ – Angel Voices: the poetry of Scott Hastie
A review by Don MacIver
At long last author/poet Scott Hastie brings us the much anticipated Angel Voices, a tremendous compilation of compelling poetic verse, richly steeped in a life force that is a deeply personal examination of life and its living. His telling words are a creative testament to this gifted poet’s heart and soul.
Hastie writes of how: “when our souls are open connections occur” and indeed they do, as he shows us so beautifully. The poet’s compositions embrace wonderful transitions of metaphoric phrase that truly capture the essence of human purpose, spirit and journey. An eloquent and seasoned poet, Scott Hastie’s written verse is inspired, optimistic and rich in its delightfully spirited perceptions, affectionately nostalgic in its reflection and careful acknowledgement.
Angel Voices portrays an unassuming and remarkably engaging blend of sculpted word craft painting the most beautifully textured images in the reader’s mind, as though oil brushed on canvas, softly sensual and wonderfully spiritual too, in one’s own fashion. His writings are soulful expressions of innermost feelings of hope and desire for love, for life and its living that we can all relate to.
Among my favorite quotes here is his reference to an inner “sanctuary, sacred space to distill” which is wonderfully representative of the spirit and emotions experienced through his words and that treasured sense of connection that runs right through Angel Voices, like a golden seam. An evocation of moments past and present, the author’s voice speaks volumes to the human condition, our existence and cohabitation.
Perhaps the most powerful and impressionable of references within this outstanding collection of poetic verse is the truly inspired call to: “follow the very scent of our being”.
You are encouraged to engage in this, Scott Hastie’s blessed journey and to enjoy his extraordinary voice of enlightened poetic devotion that is sure to delight in Angel Voices.
© Don MacIver 2013; All Rights Reserved
Scott Hastie’s Angel Voices are gently calling to us that the meaning of life is to be found in the detail—moments of passion, of love, of enlightenment and understanding. A passing stranger in the street—the glimmer of recognition and attraction, old lovers, meaningful friendships—these moments of shiny pleasure stand between us and death, and give our lives joy and purpose.
Scott’s message, (the angels’ message), is to seize life when and where and while you can, in all its intricacies and glory. For ‘The time to consolidate such moments, Often hangs by a thread.’
His exhortation is to ‘Burnish your day whilst you can’, before you disappear forever. ‘This is the religion Of elevated experience,’ which Scott embraces fully and invites us to follow. The choice is ours: give into despair and meaninglessness, or embrace purpose, joy and bliss in spite of encroaching age and the inevitability of death. Scott makes the brave choice of optimism, and contentment ‘to love, to dazzle in the light, If only for moments…’ in other words, to follow his angel voices.
Margaret Nash
Author & Life Coach, Mexico
www.margaretnashcoach.com
“Once again Scott Hastie has honoured me with the task of reviewing his collection of poems. I use the word collection deliberately because I see his poems as exquisite items that make up a lovely whole. Is there a theme? Yes, this time, Scott’s theme is hope. For within the diversity of subject matter and seemingly disparate views, one idea emerges: we are all brushstrokes on a divine canvas, intimately bound to our fellows and integral to an emerging picture.
And despite the lottery of our gifts, the thinness of our brushstrokes and regardless of being “fractured by birth” we are all reaching for the sun and in that reach inevitably there is an unfolding. Scott assures us that there are moorings in the melee – places of rest where we are free to pause and consider life’s portrait. One such mooring is the exceptional collection of Scott’s poetry and I would advocate a cup of tea, a cookie or two and thee, Scott Hastie.
Devour this feast and feat of words and be inspired to add a little lustre to your own brushstroke.
Thank you Scott.
Wendy Waters, Australia.
There are sacred things that soothe my heart and mind when i’m troubled: pine trees whispering on a moonlit walk, geese murmuring on the water, the smell of grass when I’m lying in a field on a summer’s day…and the poetry of Scott Hastie. His words are akin to these balms, giving meaning to both the shadows and light of past, present and whimsical future. He shows us that there is worth even in our pain, if we would simply take the time to look. Beautiful.
Rebecca O’Donnell
Author of FREAK:The True Story of an Insecurity Addict
In Angel Voices Scott has captured life around us with beautiful poetry. As wine perfects with time, so does this poet… This writer never seizes to amaze me, hitting the bulls eye again and again with another inspirational poetry collection. I would highly recommend this book for the old hand and the novice alike, because the selection of poems within are easy to read and understand. It is all quite lovely and one of the poems has already brought me to tears! This collection will be my regular night table companion, for sure!
Laura Laveglia, USA
Angel Voices: the poetry of Scott Hastie – A Review
‘Solving the Perpetual riddle of life’ by Vinita Agrawal
“How stubborn life is,
It clings like silver in our souls”.
Angel Voices is Scott Hastie’s third and most significant collection of poetry to date, providing definitive evidence of his evolved voice and enlightened philosophy. His hauntingly beautiful poems are reverently presented in this rich volume, without the appendage of titles – they flow freely like a river, carrying in their bosom the fertile alluvium of deeper meanings of life, unfolding with a relentless spiritual power that draws on the true colors of love, pain, hurt, grief, hope and optimism.
His words arrow straight into the reader’s heart, aimed concertedly at the soul. Look how he openly he admits:
“Already I ache for all the lives
I will never be a part of.”
And elsewhere, on mortality:
“Like the soft dusting of fallen snow on hollow bones,
On the already broken, spilt corpse
Of souls long since departed.
Strengthened by the certainty
That the light I cherish and hold dear within
Will instead keep me safe and warm,
Till my own time comes…”
And on questions of inspiration:
“Sometimes illuminations come to us
From a past so long ago
That to fathom them is a test”
In Scott’s poems we find benevolence, kneeling before us – assuring us of light, when all around is dark. What choice do we have then? Other than to be humbly shepherded into this divine space, sparkling with new a dawn. Angel Voices becomes a guiding star that dispels misery and despair. It is like a breath of fresh air, much as the poet himself who is self-admittedly:
“Endowed with a hungry soul,
That’s been enchanted to risk too much.”
Here is another illustration here of his lyrical voice:
“So to have been where you have been
And to still have joy,
Dazzling in your heart,
Now there’s a thing to make the whole world smile.”
And again:
“If you can be,
Be entirely naked – as one to another.
Not just in your body,
But surrender also
Every close kept need,
Your fears, all that you hold dear…”
Marry that to yet another verse and you have it all:
“And, once achieved,
Should the levy of age,
The passing of years
Ever tempt you to doubt it,
Just pause for a moment and feel
How such sweet pivots in time
Remembered,
Ripen still, even in solitude.
Like fabulous guests
Re-visiting a sun-lit porch
That has waited seemingly forever
To welcome them home again.”
There are 96 pages of scintillating, inspirational poetry in Angel Voices, a brand new anthology that is an artful collection of carefully chosen gems from his previous title – Meditations, together with the best of his most recent unpublished writings. Furthermore, his poems seem to have emerged after prolonged personal battles with the unpredictability of life and it’s hapless challenges. Scott’s gentle voice and his golden innate wisdom guide one carefully towards a greater acceptance of things as they are. Don’t let go of the perspective, his poems urge… Accept the travails of time, conquer your inner struggles, fight injustice, above all, be generous and open hearted and bow humbly to happenstance. Such are the treasures you can joyously re-emerge with, after diving deep into Scott’s perennially intense poetry.
“The searing light of morning
Asks unwelcome questions,
Fragile hopes soon blistered by daylight.”
However later, in a substantial and coherent expression of surrendering to the universe, he writes:
“Needing love,
We squeeze what we can
From a fluid landscape of life and light,
Gifted to us but for a moment
In the grand scheme of things.”
And then further still:
“Born, fractured by birth,
Into this place
Of limit and misapprehension,
Seemingly doomed before we begin.
But our salvation
Is the element of precognition,
Glowing seeds of foreknowledge,
Eons old, we all still carry within us,
That just sit awaiting triggers,
Resonance.
Dormant in our soul
Every single moment we live and breathe.”
Scott’s poetry has the unique quality of turning bitter reality into a sweet pill that becomes easy to swallow, as he gives his readers the priceless vantage point of eternal hope. His soothing words can make even an emotionally devastating experience bearable, because they connect unerringly to an undeniable divine goodness. Indeed, positivity is at the core of his writing, which is always undoubtedly sanguine, buoyant, cheerful and idealistic – but never in an over the top, sermonizing way – but rather more in the form of delightfully delicate, knowing whispers…
See how he writes:
“Ultimately the challenge is simply
One of love and generosity
That brings all things together again.
Just to be open and joyful in your heart,
To have grace and compassion,
To trust that what people call God
Can be found in the spaces in between.”
One can only wonder at the source of Scott’s endless joy and his unhesitating imparting of the same with his readers. Perhaps the answer lies somewhere in the deep alleys of the human soul – that indivisible, indestructible channel of consciousness that strikes at the festering base of materialism and transcends human emotions to higher realms of peace. Indeed, it is likely that the poet has experienced transcendental human nature… How else does any creativity display such sage-like, saint-like wisdom? The USP of his poetry is its ability to inspire! Such sacred talent can only be saluted for it has immense practical value.
Typifying the inspiration available is this:
“For sure, on some days,
Fate may seem heartless,
As if acting with intent to interfere,
To punish, or to twist you away
From where you think you want to be.
But there are surprises.
Fresh hope, new life
Sometimes finds its breath
In just such a clash of expectation.
And, as stories of destinies retold
Often remind us,
Even in a cruel coming together
Of opposing forces,
Something rare and beautiful,
Something precious can emerge.”
Angel Voices does not belong to your bookshelf. Its real place is next to your pillow – for that spell of night reading that liberates your soul and unmasks your inner yearnings. These are poems you walk into and tuck under your arms, like exquisite blooms that solve the conundrums of life. And then, when the journey gets rough, you can simply extract them and absorb the succor they provide and move ahead again, fortified with a new breath of precious courage.
“Life, wherever it leads,
Will always be the same,
It begs for the best of you”.
Another choice stanza epitomizes this:
Instead a permanent path
That, once illuminated,
Goes ever onward – a way home…”
And others, offering hope:
“And still the darkness waits for me,
As I know it will…
And ever more avariciously still,
As it senses my journey comes closer to fruition.
I know in my heart it is a given
That I can never entirely banish
This spectre of the night,
It will always be beside me, as it needs to be.”
There are also poems here that are startlingly direct, like a jolt on the elbow just when you’ve drifted into a dream like state. Such poems are frank and more temporal, providing just the right amount of relief from the atmosphere of abstractness. But even these verses are cohesive with the basic theme of Scott’s poetry – which is that everything, whether man or nature, shines with an inner brilliance of its own.
For example:
“Just as, in perfect symmetry,
The emerging budded plant
Opens wide, toward the sun
And a stiff phallus will forever beg
For its home, for its comfort,
Its release,
Deep into a soft inner refuge
So that it may speak, discharge itself.”
Or this:
“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.”
While dejection and pessimism have no place in Scott’s poetry, authenticity and a valiant inner searching always do… This is what keeps Scott’s poetry rooted to the reality of our times.
Two very metaphoric extracts embody this aspect of his writing:
“How barren is the vessel
That has no seed left within.”
And this :
“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.”
Analytically, Scott’s poems seldom revolve exclusively around love. Especially not the slushy, superficial commercialised notion of love that so pervades our current culture. Instead, for Scott, love is both a divine and organic pulsating nerve that is knitted into almost all his poetry. It is grand in expanse, but brief like silhouettes in terms of its presentation. A remarkable artistic achievement!
His poems are fluid in form as well as in thoughts. He puts deliberate stress on the deep emotional connection of love, far above than the physical, lustful element. He vividly brings alive that first moment in which such emotions are successfully cocooned, rather than placing emphasis on the long drawn aftermath of any relationship. For Scott, love is nothing less than the instant conflagration of all senses – providing an all pervasive source of uplifting warmth that so beautifully creates inside us what he sees as vital niches, built for access later into what he identifies as potentially vast oceans of spiritual absorption and enlightenment.
Embodying this he writes:
“I am just like you,
Destined to play my part.
And leave,
In the nature of my departure at least,
Some kind of sweet message behind
In the fathomless pattern I make.”
And
“Mislaid flame of tender emotions
Rekindled.
Together we live to the point of tears,
I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
Scott’s enviable poetic skill also lies in his ability to express profound thoughts in very simple language. Rarely is his poetry didactic or pedantic – instead his poems are endearingly simple and transparent. Like these lines:
“I am sad, like the hot dust on the streets
And the music of fresh fallen leaves
Caught in a sliding summer breeze.”
It is easy to conclude that Scott’s poetry is born from the travails and tribulations of the business of living, but the lessons that he imparts are unlike that of any regular advisor or counsellor, instead more like an intimate dialogue shared with a special friend, who always offer their shoulder to the one in need; his words written like a confidante – in fact like everyone’s true soulmate… For just how deeply he understands the realities of life and, as acknowledges candidly in one of his poems:
“Circumstance toys with us all”
Nevertheless, Scott is also clearly a believer in destiny and his ultimate message to his readers, through his poetry, is to do whatever you feel you have to do, always with an open heart and as much honesty as you can muster.
Encapsulating this so beautifully, he writes:
“Give not honestly of yourself,
And you will corrode the core
Of much that matters.
Shine true instead
And you may well linger
In the light of love,
Maybe even longer
Than you feel you have a right to.”
Angel Voices is not a book to be missed! It can be read seamlessly by experienced literary enthusiasts and novices alike. And, given that rare quality, it is surely destined to sit not only on many personal bookcases, but also in the collection of every library, belonging to the great universities and esteemed literary institutions around the world. It is truly a milestone collection of timeless inspirational poetry, deserving of serious scrutiny from students and teachers of poetry, as well as readers from literally all walks of life, culture and faith. Without doubt, this precious little book therefore deserves its brilliant and well-earned place in the endless sunshine of literary immortality.
Vinita Agrawal
‘Angel Voices: the poetry of Scott Hastie’
an academic review by Niveditha Yohana
With several illuminating collections already to his name, Scott Hastie now offers us Angel Voices, an extraordinarily refreshing masterpiece that is his defining creative achievement to date. This new body of work succeeds in being deeply spiritual without being at all didactic and seeks to realize the ultimate goal of all mystical, philosophic paths through the everyday experience of love, common expectation, disappointment, hope and resilience. Most of all, it reminds us of the ultimate gift to mankind – the impetus to love, in spite of all and any rational reason not to do so.
John Keats, in his letter to Benjamin Bailey (March 13, 1818) writes:” Scenery is fine — but human nature is finer.” In Angel Voices, beautiful symphonies are heard from the language, metaphors, images and rhythm, all wonderfully penned by the poet. The pristine human soul can be heard loud and clear here, again and again. Hastie consistently keeping the language simple yet elegant, begins with profound wisdom of the ages:
‘Sublime moments refracted,
Even if only for seconds,
Caught forever in your soul…’
echoing Keatsian sensibility, looking to capture arresting, fleeting moments of life and render them permanently inspiring through art.
Angel Voices explores all the various hues of life, looking to fully resuscitate human consciousness. It begins in Age Gathers with the poet contemplating the ephemerality of human life, as if a delicate bubble:
‘Be content to love, to dazzle in the light,
If only for moments…
And then be gone,
With gladness in your heart,
Before the creeping shadows
Claim too much your sadness at leaving.’
Each and every poem reverberates with positivity, asserting the beauty and ambition of a human spirit that is capable of loving fully, but then also letting go when it is time to do so. We also find a shade of Samuel Beckett’s words here too: “Let us do something, while we have the chance! … Let us make the most of it, before it is too late! Let us represent worthily for one the foul brood to which a cruel fate consigned us!” Hastie very astutely takes his readers too into every fibre and every layer of consciousness, but with the aim of diving into the vast sea of human psyche and bringing us the most radiant of rare pearls to reflect upon. The poet walks us through man’s eternal quest to be fulfilled and content, firstly with a simple acceptance of life as it truly is and then revealing how, from this humble base, any individual existence can still go on to become so effervescent.
The poems encourage their readers to believe that, despite the temporal nature of human life, key memories and traces left behind are of permanent and enduring value. These experiences becoming engraved in our hearts, building an aura of gratitude, hope and real joy that gives us some chance of loving and smiling our way through the challenge of our eventual mortal departure. Hastie forever emphasizing how, in the physical dimension, the discussion of permanence and non-permanence can be entirely valid, but never in regard to other myriad dimensions. Asserting that whilst everything that paves our way in life will, sooner or later, have to leave us, the essence of these experiences can never be expunged, becoming part of us, part of our enduring spiritual being. What we do with the lessons learnt and sweet moments of intimacy and love lived, is then entirely up to us. And since our level of commitment is only a matter of choice and faith, Hastie tenderly suggests we therefore might as well choose to be grateful than to resent this opportunity. As in When in love the poet underlines this very thought with:
‘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.’
The poet here is always looking to assert the eternal truth that all spiritual paths devote themselves to – namely “ the struggle to be serene” in a world of conflicting and stormy emotions.
In Busy city we are offered the following carpe diem thought:
‘For the briefest, sweetest of moments
To catch the eye,
To share a smile,
To touch the soul of a stranger
You may never see again.
This is as it should be.’
There is a seemingly inexhaustible positive spirit that shines through these words, recognizing the potential for an inner harmony that is instinctive. Together with a happiness that is wonderfully accessible to all, without the need necessarily to first scale some vast fortress of academic understanding and/or personal enlightenment. That is a key gift that Hastie’s own very special depth of soul, experience and learning seeks to unlock for us all.
Neither does this poet’s voice allow us to look away from death or have a euphemistic attitude to life, but to honestly accept the fact that life will soon be gone and therefore why not exercise our choice to still be generous and seek joy whilst we can? The very titles of the poems in Angel Voices themselves reinforce the crux of his message: What are we… On the high road… The perpetual riddle… Be you… However beautiful… And still the darkness… Sometimes illuminations … Life collects… Throughout Hastie invokes the need for us to see him first as a fellow physical presence and then artfully encourages us to begin to resonate and share his personal experience in the undulating, transient world of the spiritual and creative landscape that he seems to navigate so effortlessly.
Angel Voices ends with an astounding poem leaving the readers with a profound thought that shining hope lies in these very footprints of life. As Hastie surefootedly convinces us human nature is fallible, yet has an astonishing capability to learn and move on – not be suffocated with guilt, but to be revived by mindfulness, not to be perfect but to understand our imperfections perfectly, not to be arrogant but to have the humility and hope to be better human beings and for a better world.
So, show me the wonder
Of all you’ve seen so far,
Stretch the day to its limit,
And let us have no guilt
Left to waste for dreaming still.
Certainly, the Poet’s determination not to be bogged down by the storms of life will keep readers delightfully stimulated and inspired by his contagious optimism. This indeed is truly an ‘angelic voice’ that offers deeply rich nourishment to any sensitive and seeking soul. For here Hastie has overwhelmingly succeeded in capturing the eternal truth of mankind, by defining its glorious and ongoing hunger to distill something beautiful that death cannot ever capture. And all this is stunningly achieved utilizing common experiences, which will be reassuringly familiar to any of its readers.
Angel Voices creatively provokes us to rethink life, from a different perspective and on a higher dimension, through a certain level of detachment. It traverses the boundaries of cultures, faith and belief systems converging to the confluence where the spirit of humanity meets. This is truly enlightening, inspiring and beautiful lyrical work which captivates the pulse of the readers. Angel Voices is sure to stand the test of time and takes it rightful place in the global pantheons of poetic and philosophic literature.
Niveditha Yohana, Research Scholar, University of Mysore February 2014.
REVIEWS for Meditations
“The most that poems can do is inspire us in ways that can change our lives forever. The least they can do is provide us glimpses into the poet’s mind, its subtleties, its comprehensions and its sensibilities. The thing with poetry is that the ‘least’ aspect is always there, it is a given. Poems always provide a window to the intellect of the mind that wrote them. But rarely, very rarely, do they afford a look into a heart overflowing with words, very rarely do they take us on a journey of the soul and very rarely do they expose, without reservations, the delicate wounds inflicted by time on the poet’s psyche and its resurrection thereafter. Meditations by Scott Hastie does all that and more. Pick up this book and you risk being changed forever!
Scott Hastie is astride the winds of divine inspiration in his latest collection with poems that are deep and filled with positive notes, like precious emotional crutches for those moments when nothing in life seems to be looking up.
The poems seem to be drawn from the depths of universal wisdom, brilliantly sorting out the spiritual from the mundane, the eclectic from the monotonous and the obscure from the obvious.
In a poem titled, When in Love, he writes,
However ready we may or may not be,
And 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
Reading Meditations is like drowning in a sea of words and surfacing with treasures of meaning at every breath.”
Vinita Agrawal INDIA
“There is still an ongoing debate as to whether poetry is too elitist. When reading Scott Hastie’s poetry, this question quickly dissolves. How exquisitely refined and subtle the language he uses, yet how accessible it is, at the same token! With a philosophical, sensual and spiritual eye, he paints with tender pencil strokes the questions our daily lives confront us with. Scott’s new collection Meditations offers us a very beautiful and valuable focus on a spiritual perspective to life and consistently reminds us of the alchemy of the unexpected.”
Dr. Jelka Samsom HOLLAND
“There is a new book coming out of rural Hertfordshire, England. The writer, Scott Hastie, has presented here a panoply of beautiful and inspirational verse. Each poem, in it’s own way, is a reflection of the writer himself. A man of peace and reflection, Scott Hastie has summoned up a lifetime of knowledge and distilled it into a beautiful volume worthy of placement on any serious poetry lover’s bookshelf. His reflections on our place in the Universe, being humbled by the glories of Nature, simple admiration for the journey of the human spirit and the contemplation of simple objects into wonderful works of art reminds me of the finer works of Gary Snyder and Robinson Jeffers. But here there is an even added layer of modernity that makes these poems in Meditations more relevant than ever. I highly enjoyed these individual pastiches of rumination and would also highly recommend them to any future reader.”
Laura Bailey President Greenwich Books USA
“A close kept secret wand of words and wit that summon the soul … to paraphrase Scott Hastie’s own words. Such is the power of Hastie’s poetry he captures moments that would otherwise slide away in the slipstream of life, ideas that remain unpondered in the domino days and blank nights of normal life… His world is one in which the soul argues for purpose, reason, explanation and I think the poet Hastie argues against his own doubts and, within that inner dialogue, his coined lyric prose persuades … Maybe not ever quite his restless self! But certainly his readers… Perhaps, after all, it is best that Hastie himself remains forever uncertain, always chasing that illusive butterfly called the soul for his beautifully woven fragile net of words capture our imaginations, agitate and thrill the very spirit within that he chases ever-gallantly on our behalf and for our illumination.”
Wendy Waters AUSTRALIA
“Scott Hastie weaves poetic prose with words of wisdom and love like a finely tuned instrument to bring new understanding to readers of all ages about themselves, their relationships, and the world in which we live. Reminiscent of the transcendental qualities of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Hastie is clearly in touch with natural beauty and individual expression. For Hastie, life is truly a gift to be appreciated, even if we see it through different lenses; and he inspires faith in the possibilities of becoming more than ourselves, in the goodness of others, and in all of our precious potentials.”
Shari Jo LeKane-Yentumi USA
“I was delighted to read Scott’s new book, Meditations and so while being acquainted with his work, was happy to further discover this lovely volume. From the beginning: One has the feeling that they are setting foot within the poet’s realm and vision of life. His many insights ask us to ponder the connectivity ourselves to one another: “ Not damage for its own sake, But an attempt to sever connections, To abandon convention, obligation. To escape pattern.” To : “Two souls clinging on tight To an endless arc of solitary dreams, Illuminated only fitfully by love and loss.”
To his biographic poem entitled “Sylvia and Ted”
“I can imagine that, Before she left him, They might have often sat indoors, Hidden away from the awful truths They had uncovered, Watching the heat from the fire, Cast in germ-like shadows, Rise slowly up the wall.”
And his sweet homage to Marilyn Monroe:
“Wounded? Yes, hopelessly so. But with a soul that, despite any indignity, Remained stubbornly luminous.Radiant, sparkling, Diamond-lit, effervescent. Such a glorious woman, But no ingénue, Who somehow, it seemed, Already felt and knew too much of life.”
Each stanza will resonate with all who partake of them.
“Remember that everyday you still awake, With good fortune and opportunity, To the gathering warmth of a new day.”
His poems are not only packed with insight, but steeped in undertones– layers of meaning and truth. This is a volume to read and then re-read at leisure, because there are so many jewels sewn within.”
Aria Ligi USA
But once in a very long time we are blessed to have discovered, sometimes quite by accident, the writings of one we come to treasure as we do life itself, words upon which we become lost in the moments of reading, of absorbing, of embracing… Scott Hastie is one such author of words, a poet of grace and distinction who lays out his words on a tapestry of floral deliverance, heart sounds of letters, words and lines embracing life in a seemingly symmetrical balance and embodiment of souls.
Habitually, as a writer and poet I am forever exploring the writings of those who share the beauty, elegance and tapestry of our language, its interpretations, its remarkable depth and the emotional connection that is realized from the far reaching dynamics of poetic verse.
I came upon the writings of Scott Hastie some time ago now and am forever touched by this poet’s sense of our gift of life. Scott shares his passion for the written word here by offering that his “focus is to share light and hope, creatively and spiritually, to seize and celebrate the extraordinary opportunity of being alive.” Indeed, Scott Hastie has bejewelled the many splendours of this world and our brief yet remarkable time on this earth.
Experience his words here. Engage in this man’s heart sounds through the pages of Meditations, words that bring together heart, mind and soul, timeless verse that transcends the human spirit, uplifting and inspirational in its delivery. Experience… Scott Hastie’s journey in verse.
Don MacIver Canada
In Meditations, Scott Hastie Gets It…
Yes, he does. Scott Hastie ‘gets’ his readers–the depths and heights to which emotion and reason can rise and fall, the triumphs and troubles. . .
In Meditations: New Poetry by Scott Hastie, this Hertfordshire, UK based poet understands and speaks to the whole of the human condition. And by ‘getting us’, he gets it right. Does he ever. In personal works as finely spun as gossamer we see, not the poet, but ourselves. It’s a fine balancing act, yet blindfolded and without the benefit of a net, as it were, he executes each passage flawlessly, again and again.
It’s a question of unseen attention to detail. For instance, although this may seem a small thing, I feel it safe to say among readers of poetry that there is something in the touch of a fine volume that comforts in ways that an e-book cannot. What you’re feeling, literally, affects you as much as what you’re feeling, figuratively. In fact, this is one of the most beautifully presented poetry collections in paperback I own–from slipcover to typestyle to broad, generous margins–the stock’s creamy thickness and texture are exquisite and it’s a rich pleasure to turn its pages. Meditations is also a pleasure to reach for late at night. It’s a volume that lends itself to this. Deceptively simple yet deep in dancing archetypes, let a poem or two accompany you into your dreams.
In ‘Sylvia and Ted’, while acknowledging the harrowing turmoil and tragedy that defined the lives of Plath and Hughes, Hastie conjures a dancer’s joyous pirouette, this image giving of itself while compelling us towards the comfort to be found in the moment:
“Be content to love, To dazzle in the light, If only for moments… And then be gone, With gladness in your heart, Before the creeping shadows Claim too much your sadness at leaving.”
Meditations: New Poetry by Scott Hastie is a work that will find its way into your heart, its words turning and returning–as you will to them.
Sondra Kelly-Green
As a writer and poet I am forever exploring the writings of those who share the beauty, elegance and tapestry of our language, its interpretations, its remarkable depth and the emotional connection that is realized from the far reaching dynamics of poetic verse.
I came upon the writings of Scott Hastie some time ago now and am forever touched by this poet’s sense of our gift of life. Scott shares his passion for the written word here by offering that his “focus is to share light and hope, creatively and spiritually, to seize and celebrate the extraordinary opportunity of being alive.” Indeed, Scott Hastie has bejeweled the many splendors of this world and our brief yet remarkable time on this earth.
Experience his words here. Engage in this man’s heart sounds through the pages of ‘Meditations’, words that bring together heart, mind and soul, timeless verse that transcends the human spirit, uplifting and inspirational in its delivery. Experience…Scott Hastie’s journey in verse.
What a lovely testimony to Scott’s work!
The lonely and somewhat isolated road that the poet walks
Is illuminated and when others walk beside us
In the harmony of images, ideas and words.
Responses from readers are like fellowship with friends.
Scott’s work has had such and impact that I will be sharing it at the University of Nebraska.
His work is splendid and needs to be shared.
Hey, it’s Rammis here… I enjoyed reading your articles – there’s a very nice collection on your blog.