Month: October 2023

Polar Bears and Cold Sheep (Revised)

Today I submitted this piece to the “Positive Words Magazine”(Australia) for one their October Odes Prompts, “Polar Bears”



Polar Bears and Cold Sheep





hello world, do you see my frown?

will the blizzards ever calm down?

will the rains forever fall on broken ground?

will our tears of silence be the only sound?


the frozen wounds are deep

the mountains of snow are steep

humans need to stop being cold sheep

and begin taking their own individual leaps


the rewards of being caring and kind

far outweigh the coldness of being left behind







Ivor Steven (c) October 2023

I Am Tree

Over at Weekly Prompts, the Weekend Challenge is the word: Why. You may visit their fabulous site by clicking on >> Here
Featured Image Above: A photo taken by Derrick Knight, >> https://derrickjknight.com/2023/10/27/autumn-has-arrived/ and again he has kindly given me permission to reproduce his intriguing photo, here on my poetry site … and I am always asking myself, Why?


I Am Tree 

 
 
I am the one 

Leaning against the sands of time  

I am the one 

Binding the earth together  

I am the one 

Delivering clean air to all  


I am the only one! 


Do not slaughter me 

Like another one of 

Mankind’s maniacal genocides  


Please regenerate me  

Before all of my ashes 

Are swept out to sea 







Ivor Steven (c) October 2023

Either Way


Where do the Children play?

Over at Moonwashed Musings, Eugi’s Weekly Prompts is: Either Or




Either Way 


According to the book of Why 

The sun will never die 

And the moon is often seen  

wearing a black tie


 

Either way 

After the matinee 

Where do the children play?  

On our filthy ashtray 







Ivor Steven (c) October 2023

Dream Harder, is in this Week’s Coffee House Magazine

Hello dear readers and followers, I am now writing for “Coffee House Writers” magazine on a fortnightly basis, and my poem “Dream Harder”, is in this week’s edition of Coffee House Writers Magazine. …
To Read my poem, please click on the link below to visit the article, at Coffee House Writers Magazine.
>> https://coffeehousewriters.com/dream-harder/






Ivor Steven (c) October 2023

Throwback Friday, The Poet’s Grotto

Today’s Throwback poem is a rewrite of an old piece called “Paper Tigers” (Feb 2019)





The Poet’s Grotto


My writer’s studio, is the littered part of my bedroom

A paper tiger’s haven, has become a messy grotto

I am ruefully feeling muddled and befuddled

Pieces of paper and cardboard kites

Scatter the atmosphere like withered autumn leaves

Falling upon my untidy and cluttered archives


Scribbled words are yet to be decoded

Foolscap pages overwritten and eroded

Undefined and unlisted

Out of focus and twisted

Upside down and inside out

Uncategorized and full of self-doubt

My desk’s dreamy picture postcard

Looks like a moonscape’s junkyard


My poetic writing quill has been the mythological ruler

Showing no regard for my bedroom’s demeanour

I am sleeping covered in my hurdy gurdy verses

I cannot penetrate the stack of obscure foreign addresses

It is time to cast out the pretentious cosmic curses

Free myself of all unpublished jabberwocky

And let my imagination create a new poetic hard copy







Ivor Steven (c) October 2023

Pushcart Nomination, for my short poem, “The Sum is One”

I Write Her
Thank you to the editor of “Reflections & Revelations”, Susi Bocks, for nominating me …


Announcing The 2022 Pushcart Nominees!

PUBLISHED ON 

It was wonderful to immerse myself again and fully digest the thoughts of all the pieces selected for the second volume of poetry of The Short of It in order to determine which works were to be nominated for this honour.

I am very happy to announce the following poets’ pieces were submitted to the Pushcart Prize Committee. Those selected were nominated for their contributions to the Reflections & Revelations—a collection of the best featured in the online publication.

Phantasma by Candice Louisa Daquin 

remembering by Jane Ayres 

The Sum is One by Ivor Steven  

Old News Is Not Old News by Joni Caggiano  

Winter’s Beauty by Lorraine Lewis 

Anxiety by Radhika Puttige 




My Poem: The Sum is One

The Sum is One (a Oddquain)

One

Sky above

Five oceans bind us

The one air we breathe comes from

Trees








Ivor Steven (c) October 2023

Moon Dew

Please Note: All attached Photos presented in this article were taken by Derrick Knight, and he has kindly allowed me reproduce them here on my poetry site. You may visit his wonderful article, and site by clicking on this link >> https://derrickjknight.com/2023/10/02/moons-for-denzil/



Moon Dew 

 
 
The moon slithered  

into my bedroom 

through a crack beside  

her nostalgic heirloom  

and lowered himself 

onto my breastplate  

stared into my eyes  

and told me straight 


“There is no need for tears  

I am here to ease your fears 

before I leave  

I will give you  

a loving spoonful  

of magical moon dew  

my universal cure  

for the morning blues” 


“Thank you, Mr. Moon”  

as I joyfully sipped  

from his silver spoon




 




Tullawalla is Available From

Jaymah Press:https://www.jaymahpress.com.au/

Ivor Steven: email, ivorrs20@gmail.com

Amazon: search via, ‘Tullawalla by Ivor Steven’


AND
Perceptions is Now Available via:

Amazon: https://amzn.asia/d/4yFHWrT

Jaymah Press: https://www.jaymahpress.com.au/

Lulu Books: https://www.lulu.com/shop/ivor-steven-and-derrick-knight/perceptions/hardcover/product-2pwqe4.html?q=Perceptions+by+Ivor+Steven&page=1&pageSize=4

OR: email me directly for a signed copy – ivorrs20@gmail.com  

Ivor Steven (c) October 2023

The Moon’s Midnight Demise 





The Moon’s Midnight Demise 


The eclipsing clouds unfolded lengthwise 

Masking the chastised moon’s demise 

Falling, ostracized and downsized 

Out of the mesmerized midnight sky 

The fading moonlight capsized 

And sunk into my tired eyes 


Was I to be finally baptized 

Or lying there, tranquillized 

Waiting to be mechanized and dehumanized  








Tullawalla is Available From

Jaymah Press:https://www.jaymahpress.com.au/

Ivor Steven: email, ivorrs20@gmail.com

Amazon: search via, ‘Tullawalla by Ivor Steven’


AND
Perceptions is Now Available via:

Amazon: https://amzn.asia/d/4yFHWrT

Jaymah Press: https://www.jaymahpress.com.au/

Lulu Books: https://www.lulu.com/shop/ivor-steven-and-derrick-knight/perceptions/hardcover/product-2pwqe4.html?q=Perceptions+by+Ivor+Steven&page=1&pageSize=4

OR: email me directly for a signed copy – ivorrs20@gmail.com  


Ivor Steven (c) October 2023

Stony Clouds (a Haiku)

I have been busy today reloading my computer with my printers and scanner, then adding all the necessary apps that I use to organise to my poetry website …
Our spring weather was again atrocious today, but despite the appalling conditions we still managed to go out for our ‘walkies’ …
Images Below: in the right-hand photo, I am sure the big grey cloud was laughing at us, for being the only ones, crazy enough to brave nature’s fierce winds …





Stony Clouds (a Haiku)


The air turned stony

Gales tore in from the south pole

Grey veneered clouds laugh







Ivor Steven (c) October 2023