About Marcus Hurst

Marcus Hurst is my name—

And my story I’ll proclaim:

My story began in 1992
And I lived with my parents and eight-sibling crew.
PA was the place where our family was raised,
And milking the cows is how we spent our days.

While in my teens 80 songs that I knew
I stuck in my brain where they all stood in queue,
And then I would sing them while doing my chores
And driving the tractors in fields out of doors.

The first job I got at the age of nineteen,
And teaching at school had become my routine.
Grades seventh and sixth I had taught from my stool,
There at West Cocalico Mennonite School.
Then, at a bicycle shop, I had started,
To work on those bikes was the course to be charted.

And Red Rock Refuge became my career,
To help teenage boys their bad habits to clear.
(It was just in winter, to Red Rock I’d go,
‘Cause that was the time when the bike shop was slow.)
 
The framing of houses I did for a year,
And then I went back to my teaching career.
At a small country school called Limestone Valley,
I helped fourteen students, their numbers to tally.
 
For the past four years I run a workshop for boys
Who are blind or are mentally limited joys.
As much as I can, I work at my writing,
Right now I find poems especially exciting.

 (It was during the shutdown, in 2020,
A change came over me that puzzled me plenty;
It was one morning, from the minute I woke
That rhymes did appear in the things that I spoke.
And a spontaneous poet I have been ever since,
Though that fact never made me any more of a prince.
And now that I find myself being a poet,
I decided I might as well practice to grow it.
So, with rhymes I cope, and I haven’t lost hope
For it is quite amazing, I find,
To tune ears and brain, whether dry or in rain,
And behold what rolls out of my mind.
[When I mention this rhyming, I do not mean to boast;
I’m just sharing the story of my recent diagnosis.])

An author I am, and the last book I wrote
Can be found in the great big Amazon boat.
And now I’ll proceed to make it quite clear,
The link to the book is located right here:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C78QHLM2

I’m also a singer, of low parts and high,
And composing of music is something I try.
I find it hard to believe, but it’s true now I say.
There are 40 some songs I’ve helped write in some way.
Additionally, if folks do not bristle too soon,
I often instinctively whistle a tune.

 Many an experience, that is truly divine,
I have personally witnessed and can claim to be mine.
And my passion in life, which I refuse now to waive,
Is to help other people find the fulfillment they crave.
(And whether or not it may sound rather funny,
Lasting satisfaction is not found in money.
Although monetarily I am actually quite poor
I find I am satisfied, of that I am sure.)

Laying poetry aside, in addition to The Contentment Dilemma, I have written a handful of poems and short articles for various publications. Already, at the age of 16, I had told my father, “I think I’ll be working on some writing project or another for the rest of my life.”