Throwback Friday, Zither (a Haiku)

Today’s Throwback poem was written when I was on a tour in China, and here we were in Beijing, at an ancient family home (500 years old) being entertained by the lady of the house playing traditional Chinese music on her antique Guzheng instrument.
“Zither”, was the winning Haiku in a Haiku competition run by Vita Brevis Poetry Magazine, in November 2018

Zither – Ivor Steven’s Winning Haiku – Vita Brevis Press.

Nov 2, 2018. Editor, Brian Geiger. For those of you who didn’t know, I hosted an October haiku contest a couple weeks ago. I’m happy to reveal our winner: Submitted by Ivor Steven. Zither 



Zither (a Haiku)


Chinese courtyard sounds

Guzheng music gently strums

Beijing alley hums







Ivor Steven (c) January 2024

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ivor20

G'day, and welcome to my blog site. My name is Ivor Steven, I live in Geelong, Australia. I'm an ex-industrial chemist, and a retired plumber, and a former Carer of my wife(Carole), for 30 years, who suffered from severe MS. I Write poetry about those personal thoughts, throughout and beyond my life as a Carer. I've been blogging for over 2 years, and writing poems for 19 years. Of course a lot of my poems are about my favourite subject Carole, but since I've been blogging my writings have become quite varied, humourous, mystical, observational, and even a few monster/horror poems.

17 thoughts on “Throwback Friday, Zither (a Haiku)”

  1. Ooh! A zither! Zither music makes me so happy! 🙂
    Beautiful winning-Haiku (Congrats! 🙂 ) AND music-video, Ivor! Thank you for sharing these with us! Brings smiles and warmth on a cold winter morn. 🙂
    How wonderful that you got to experience that in person! 🙂
    (((HUGS))) 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you Carolyn … it was definitely the most memorable moment of my trip to China … an evening (we had a home cooked meal too) with a Chinese family in their small house 🏠 with a tiny courtyard and we all sat there mesmerised … 🌏🎶😊⛩️

      Liked by 1 person

  2. I love this post, Ivor. The haiku and the music are both enchanting! ❤ ❤ ❤ I was in Beijing in 1990. We saw art and acrobatics and visited a hospital, the Great Wall, and a magnet school for musicians, but we heard no zithers! Thank you so much for sharing!

    Liked by 1 person

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