When Three Times Three Equalled Minus Three

Featured Image Above: A painting of ‘Three Flowers’, by Carole Steven.

You’re writing your autobiography. What’s your opening sentence?

“Three times, ‘Once Upon a Time” has been difficult to redefine …





Tullawalla:

Amazon >> Tullawalla A Meeting Place Where My Empty Hands are Full of Memories and Rhymes : Steven, Ivor: Amazon.com.au: Books



Ivor Steven ©  March 2026

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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.

28 thoughts on “When Three Times Three Equalled Minus Three”

      1. The Closing Chapter

        After the first page was turned
        The saga progressed slowly
        Unopened books were lost
        Unused words were found
        New novels had to be read
        The search for more
        Went on, and on

        Adventure volumes were added
        Library expansion soared upwards
        Higher than fiction could fly
        Fluttering beyond
        The ladder’s last rung
        Where the quest for more
        Was out of reach
        And the tale of uncharted possibility
        Remained the unfinished story
        Of the final chapter

        Liked by 2 people

      2. The last two verses from Leonard Cohen’ song/pom, ‘The Goal’
        I move with the leaves
        I shine with the chrome
        I’m almost alive
        I’m almost at home

        No one to follow
        And nothing to teach
        Except that the goal
        Falls short of the reach

        Liked by 1 person

  1. That’s a great question and I would love to see a lot of people tell us what their first sentence would be. 🙂 Once upon a time is the opening for a lot of stories and there must be a good reason for it. 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

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