Eye to Eye, or I to I

Down a quiet back lane near the café, this striking street art stopped me in my tracks — it felt like a quiet conversation waiting to happen, eye to eye with the unexpected.





Eye to Eye, or I to I


With one eye querying mankind
and the other eye wondering
about my state of mind —
bewildered and always pondering
what’s real beyond my Venetian blinds.

I am neither refined nor confined,
and I have escaped being quarantined.

I question myself.
Are my eyes behind the times,
or have I misread my bookshelf’s
poetry finds and the fairytale rhymes?





A final glance, and the moment drifted on — leaving its quiet echo behind, carried forward now in the music’s slow drift




Ivor Steven ©  August 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.

31 thoughts on “Eye to Eye, or I to I”

  3. Ivor, it’s becoming a more confusing world. I think some of the factors are disturbing political and economic trends, wars and violence, a loss of empathy and civility in public discourse, rapidly evolving technologies, and ever-more-deceptive and realistic messages powered by AI. ☮️ 🕊️ 🌈

    Thank you for this very relatable post! 💕

    Liked by 2 people

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  5. Thank you, Ivor, for this very relatable and timely poem. It is becoming an increasingly more confusing world.

    I think some of the factors are: senseless wars and violence, degradation of the environment, the disappearance of empathy in government, erosion of dignity and civility in public discourse, suppression of freedom of the press, ever-more-realistic and misleading AI messages, rapidly-evolving technologies, and disturbing political and economic trends in the US and in some other countries.

    ☮️💚🌈❤️🌻

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  9. A powerful image inspiration and a powerful important message poem, Ivor!
    Excellent song choice to round out an excellent trio!
    I hope you and Frankie are having a wonderful day! 🙂
    (((HUGS))) and ❤️❤️❤️

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  12. Sometimes, we isolate ourselves from others in our, external environments too long, we don’t know how to, reconnect with others again, and, actually, all we need to do, is, reach our hands, out, to let, someone, in, to, start, socializing once, more, because, living in isolation, is not, fun, besides, we are, naturally, social and, we need to, get our own feet, back into the, warers.

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  13. Ivor, that street art stopped you for a reason. Because sometimes we need to be stopped. To look something in the eye and ask the hard questions. Are my eyes behind? Am I reading the world wrong? But maybe that’s the point. Maybe not knowing is the most honest place to stand right now.

    “With one eye querying mankind.” Yes. You’re asking the questions that matter. The ones that don’t have easy answers. And that song, it fits perfectly. Eyes open. Still looking. Still wondering.

    Thank you for this, Ivor. For not pretending to have it figured out. That’s the real bravery. 💙

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    1. Thank you so much for your interesting comments, and this poem was an insightful piece, basically inspired by the fortunate discovery of the intriguing street art mural, that truly captured my attention and imaginative thoughts … Khadija 📘💙🌏😎

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      1. There it is. That’s the whole thing right there. You saw something in his words. You held it up to the light. And he felt seen. Now he’s telling you where it came from. That street art. That moment of stopping.

        That’s a conversation. That’s connection. That’s why you’re doing this. 💙

        Liked by 2 people

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