» Mark grew up in metro detroit and now works + lives in Chicago.IL. Mark mostly makes programmatic work, authoring systems to interact with our common forms of language, interface, and communication. Using programming languages as a tool and a medium, his work often exists in the realm of the functionless. Past projects have dealt with how we use language, mapping the connections between user's of a poetic system or using a form of common communication to develop a new form of communication.

» And then I understood that's how it ends. But soon I saw you wanted nothing of me, I guess it doesn't matter why we failed, You said, "Well, ask me anything you want." But I was much too frightened to ask why. After the last train has come and gone. Or why I love you after what you've done, Always, you said, always we'd be friends. I miss you and I love you, even though When we broke up, you said you'd always love me. I guess it's always easier to lie. Or why the harshest truths must be unveiled What happened lies too deep for me to know. You said, "Well, it's much harder than I thought." Hangs softly on the hills where I must go. I do not know you well, but what I know I cannot hear the words, but what they say Enchants me, like a song sung far away. A hard decision one is certain of. I'm not your parent, nor are you my slave. I wouldn't try to say what you must do. And both of us should such encroachments end. So if your friend still wants you for his* own, But if you love someone, it means you care Love is fragile, delicate, and fine; It hurts me that you want him* for a friend. It means sometimes that two in love must share How what you do affects the one you love. To keep it whole, one has to draw a line. You alone will judge how you behave, And do what you consider best for you. Our mutual commitment should be known, To labor in the labyrinth Having been away That underlies our joy. Love returns on Saturdays, How could he forget so fast? Why did he stop loving me? Does he still feel love for me? How could such sweet love not last? You're the Atlas who holds up my world, The Venus that arises from my sea, Gives me messages from my own heart. The Athena who with wise words There is a mountain somewhere near Where I can go sometimes to view The harbor of our love Our marriage from above. A girl can ask a guy out on a date. Please don't spaz if I should ask you out. If she likes the guy, I mean, why wait? Taking risks is what it's all about. I find my happiness in loving you. The woods are a cathedral where I pray Though my love is not returned, I don't mind waiting. For the beauty and grace that lie within my heart. Eventually, you'll understand I love you. Miracles turn commonplace in time. Years enough to shade you from the wind. Like saplings planted in your yard, will find I'll simply be, and then my feelings for you, So I'll just say, "You're in my heart" instead! I miss you, though I'm not quite sure I love you. Tempestuous or still, but never ending, Love, like prayer, should not be lightly said, An opening into my changing heart. Missing you, for me, is something new: But feeling what I feel for you's a start. Something that once there will always be. Love is something that I won't yet do, All I know's I like my music sad. And while you're gone, I'm never really glad. But that is not the message that I'm sending. Crystal days I'm pensive, thinking of you, I think of love as some enormous sea, There is no way I'll love you more and more each day. That I can say Though my time with you is thin. Do not doubt how much I love you Always loving you within. I am always thinking of you, I never wanted to invade The forest of a friend. I never meant to plant myself Beyond where I might end. Beyond where I might end. The forest of a friend. I never wanted to invade I never meant to plant myself I want what's best for you, But not away from me. I want to help you fly, But fear what that might be. The stars sang in tune. My heart sang its glory, When you said, "I love you," I went over the moon. In doing so, you've given me a picture But even more, for what you made of you. Is less than what I've seen as you have striven You've found your one and chosen not to move. More potent than the most persuasive lecture, Despite the doubts and troubles that you've gone through, More beautiful than any I might draw, To make your lives a lesson I might learn. Of love and time and money and concern So much you've given me! Yet what you've given With far more force than any rule or law. There is no doubt at all about your love. I'm grateful for the things you did and do, Though many now change partners when they want to, How beautiful! we murmur, weeping, You press my hand. You say: Our tears like music. Yes. It is. I tell you now, yes! In the fierce sunlight we sense joy I can't believe it! I can't believe life has always been so lovely! Life passes by unseen. Yes, it is, my darling, Why haven't we known this all along? In an open field we dance But cannot clearly see. It's as if we were riding in a sealed railroad car. Then someone throws open the door. I tell you, my darling, Under sun and moon and stars all together. There has to be a way across these mountains. Swallowing the hope we had allowed. The setting sun casts rows of jagged shadows Somewhere there's a pass we haven't found. And, like the sun unceasing, pour forth light. So will I, till you come home again, Yet knows that one must soon that fortune lose, Then one must find the beauty in one's story, Still feel this joy resplendent through my pain. Glad today but wary of tomorrow, Sunlit sadness weeping golden tears, Must meet its gaudy end in unsought night, When at the same time one feels joy and sorrow, Half-consumed by pride and half by fears; Rich in all that happiness requires, When the day, rolling in its glory, Yet poor, for what one knows one would not choose; When one possesses what one most desires I'm still in love with you. There's not much one can do. When love is an affliction, Despite the way you've treated me, Not knowing why, nor looking much inside. I used to feel an angry, bitter hunger, Using girls, then tossing them aside. I used to be completely cruel and heartless, I live within you, yet you hold me fast. Before our love is unimagined past. You are my rock, my anchor, and my sea. I breathe your soul. Your thoughts so blend with mine I can't distinguish a dividing line. There is no after--now is all to me. No heart, no mind--just bone. I thought I must give up on life And turn into a stone; The desert wind quite suited me: The roll books of the stars are kept Would fill up all the skies. In files atom-size, Yet just one glimpse of you or me Am still a slender moon, Too sharp to touch too soon. A scimitar about the heart Do not love me yet, for I Yet now I cannot speak unless I cry. All the things you did for me when I Was going through my adolescent hell. Every time I see you I remember Know I can't imagine so much pain; Of course I know I can, but I must give Romance must have a language fit for feeling More than fits between the earth and sky. But I must light my love with poetry. For love there cannot be a floor or ceiling: Without you; you're the person of my dreams. So when I say I cannot live without you, And when I claim to always dream about you, My love goes down too deep and flies too high. My heart room to tell it as it seems. The sun reveals cold truths for all to see, I look at you and think: I cannot live Well, know the moon is happy once again. I tell you this that you might think of me. But there are things I feel the need to say As something more than just a passing friend. You seem so lovely, like a melody Telling me to put my thoughts to sleep. I hope for you it's not too great a leap Rather than more days of silence keep. To hear me talking to you in this way. You haunt me still, and so I won't pretend: I do not want this poem to go too deep. That haunts me with the wisp of something true. Ever since we met I've thought of you It's premature, and love's too far away. My fears sometimes my sentiments betray, Limping into everyday Dreams do come true, but only when Transformed beyond repair. They make it through despair, We snowmobile and laugh and hang And don't hurt anyone. Young and lovely, strong and sane, Life's a lot of fun. All I ever wanted was to love you Too young to hold the demons long at bay. A hunger I could neither suage nor feel. And gorged myself on fantasies to sate We have moved on, as is mature and wise. And settled into other lives. And yet But love, though long abandoned, never dies. The past like some unquiet ghost still moves As when I saw you first from far away. But then it was my sweet mistake to have you Eventually, we both found other loves For years I hated you, for only hate Within, too fraught with longing to forget. Could cauterize the wounds that would not heal, Whom later he would marry. I didn't know he had his way. I only knew he stopped for tea And found within a fair young maid Yet all that vivid color and perfume Free as the strange bright outbursts of a bird, Exist to serve the interests of the flower. Comes not from sweat or sacrifice, but pleasure. Price varies inversely with true worth. Life itself's a free gift of the earth Born of ecstatic joy in plant and beast. What more exquisite present than a bower Of wild roses in adolescent bloom? Equally uncanny and absurd, Remember that the greatest gift is you. Love is such a gift. One trusts its treasure, The greatest gifts are those that cost us least: I'm grateful for the gift you bought. But do That what you said was true. Sorry for being a jealous cow And not trusting you. Love should have moved me to believe Nor will you know till it vanishes again. Even so, it's truer than you believe, Yet roils over what you leave behind. Whenever you love, it's too good to be true. The chance of happiness equals the risk of pain. Time is a sea which opens where you cleave That I can say I'll love you more and more each day. There is no way But there is much that such a union bars. Two tiny people sit, for now together. Beneath the canopy of moon and stars Love binds them, they would like to hope, forever; Reveling in what our loves reveal. Belonging to what must to all belong. Enjoying what we're given to enjoy, Let me make you part of my sweet song, As I will be of yours, that both more fair The ecstasy that we were meant to feel. For passion is a gift one should not squander: For fear of loss, losing life's best joy, For passion is a lover of fresh air, Relishing the landscape that is there, May part, enriched by what we share, And if it comes and goes, then we must wander, Let me love you well, if not too long, More seized by life, more gentle, and more strong. Let me make you part of my sweet song, For passion is a lover of fresh air, More seized by life, more gentle, and more strong. The ecstasy that we were meant to feel. Relishing the landscape that is there, Enjoying what we're given to enjoy, Belonging to what must to all belong. And if it comes and goes, then we must wander, For passion is a gift one should not squander: As I will be of yours, that both more fair May part, enriched by what we share, Let me love you well, if not too long, For fear of loss, losing life's best joy, Reveling in what our loves reveal. It'll be worth it! As vicious as my love. Watch out! And scatter your undies all over town. But you know what? For years. I'll rip off your roof There's no hurricane You'll pay for it Every time I see you I remember All the things you did for me when I Yet now I cannot speak unless I cry. Was going through my adolescent hell. And so the two of us stand on some brink: And why? Because some guy might look her way, But now my crush on you has been returned, Whose voice makes her feel faint when he's around. She finds herself shivering, shaking, blushing, Her body isn't hers, nor is her mind. Then cast his eyes as quickly to the ground; Weak, tormented, sick, and going blind. A teenage girl's first crush is . . . well, crushing. It can't be love so young, and yet we've learned Slowly, slowly now--we mustn't rush: Love does its will, no matter what we think. Some special one, for reasons she can't say, Let's enjoy this first sweet teenage crush. Tell me more, my love, how much you love me; Though at times I may do aught amiss. When I am hungry, chill me with a kiss. You, of course, may ask the same of me. Never try to hide your fascination, Endlessly proclaim your admiration, Together still, though still apart. No presence more than in the heart. There are no bars to our embrace, We live our lives with love and grace, Sometimes pain long paralyzed by rust. Spinning like a planet through its dust. Sometimes it feels like hatred, sometimes mourning, Love undoes its heritage quite slowly, Yet when I look for you, you aren't there. I didn't get a chance to say I love you. All I know is now I really need you, You were gone before we got that far. Her body isn't hers, nor is her mind. Weak, tormented, sick, and going blind. It can't be love so young, and yet we've learned And why? Because some guy might look her way, Then cast his eyes as quickly to the ground; Whose voice makes her feel faint when he's around. Love does its will, no matter what we think. She finds herself shivering, shaking, blushing, And so the two of us stand on some brink: But now my crush on you has been returned, A teenage girl's first crush is . . . well, crushing. Let's enjoy this first sweet teenage crush. Slowly, slowly now--we mustn't rush: Some special one, for reasons she can't say, There has to be a way across these mountains. The setting sun casts rows of jagged shadows Swallowing the hope we had allowed. Somewhere there's a pass we haven't found. The mountain blows, the landscape is destroyed. How can I have a fight with my best friend? Black lava where flowers once brought joy. A desert where there once were fields and gardens. The person who is loved so passionately. I plead before my only judge and jury: Which rises like a tide beneath the moon. But my poor love's entangled in my pride. We fight, I think, because the stakes are high. I know it isn't fair to try to mold you, To be your only destiny and guide. Ah, love! Please love me even in my fury, I have an uncontrolled need to control you, I want to change, but know change won't come soon. Even though we fight a lot, I love you. But underneath my anger I could cry. I sometimes get so mad I cannot stand you, Love finds it hard to let the loved one be There isn't much I wouldn't do to please you, So tell me what to do to make you care. Take it as a given that I love you, Then tell me truly what you want of me. And why you cannot cherish who I am, Reaching regions deeper than our thoughts. And why you must insist that you still love me The truth is not at all what we imagine, Needs are rarely troubled by opinions, And love gives no advice unless it's sought. When so much that I do you cannot stand. Tell me what it is that turns you from me, So plunge into yourself as in a sea, And let the conversation go from there. That comes between two people once in love. As former lovers slowly move towards touch. But time can tear a mountain down with tears There is no mountain higher than the wall Am still a slender moon, Too sharp to touch too soon. Do not love me yet, for I A scimitar about the heart I need no space for rambling or release. It took some time to see that this was true, Beyond all other dreams and speculations. This is the third time we have tried this love, I know it, and the knowledge brings me peace. And this will be the time that it will last. But now it is the rock on which I stand. That happiness depends on having you. The way is clear; I have no other doors. Love me well, for I'm completely yours. All I am I put into your hands. Our back and forth is buried in the past. Now will never end, as time will prove. I've learned through all the fights and separations I want to make you smile as you make me. You are the stars, and I the empty skies. You ask me what I'm thinking. I can't tell you. I wish you saw my thoughts right through my eyes. Enchants me, like a song sung far away. I do not know you well, but what I know Hangs softly on the hills where I must go. I cannot hear the words, but what they say Too much, sometimes, lies between their sheets. In fact they need a friend to share the sweets Lovers aren't always best of friends: And sorrows of a love that always ends. Yet such talk seems fantasy to me: You're like music playing in my head

Statment Generated from source: poemsforfree.com/lovepo.html
Mark Beasley, 7.31.2008