I’m Not Here

At our Dome group meeting, Jen — our chairperson — said, “I’m not here next meeting, so we need to choose a theme for next month.” A few of us laughed, and someone replied, “Well, I’m Not Here sounds like a theme in itself.” And just like that, the idea settled over us, light as a wink.

The Geelong Library and Heritage Centre … affectionately known as The Dome.


And for Sadje’s, What do you see # 337- 20 April, 2026, I chose her first prompt image >> What do you see # 337- 20 April, 2026 – Keep it alive

This image shows someone holding three cups and the cups are made in the image of a woman’s face. The expression on the three cups are slightly different from each other.





I’m Not Here

I’m not here — I’m in limbo,
behind a solitary glass window,
there on the north side of the Dome;
it stands out like a fairy’s magical home.

I’m not here, but I am somewhere
high above the Gingko in the fresh air,
where I hear the fairy Godmother’s vacant chair
whisper haunting poetic quotes by Voltaire.

“‎Life is a shipwreck, but we must not forget
to sing in the lifeboats.” ~ Voltaire
“The right to free speech is more important
than the content of the speech.” ~ Voltaire
“Many are destined to reason wrongly;
others, not to reason at all; and others,
to persecute those who do reason.” ~ Voltaire

And still, from that quiet window in the Dome,
I’m not here — yet somehow feeling at home.




Somewhere between presence and absence, the music carries what words can’t quite hold.




Ivor Steven ©  April 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.

34 thoughts on “I’m Not Here”

  12. A good theme, indeed! 🙂 Love how you’ve duo-ed your words/poem with Voltaire’s words! 🙂 Fab song/vid choice, too.
    The Dome is lovely…so mesmerizing and amazing! 🙂
    ‘Tis a wonderful feeling to feel at home wherever you land. 🙂
    (((HUGS))) ❤️❤️❤️

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    1. Thank you very much for all of your fabulous words, Carolyn … I’ve been with the Dome poetry for a long time and I always love our monthly get togethers 🥰📖📘🎶💕🤗🌏

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  15. Love the architecture of the Geelong Library and Heritage Centre! With all those panels of glass I can see where your inspiration came from. And the Voltaire quotes are quite thematic as well.

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