Author: 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.

Down To the Valley





Down To the Valley 

 
 
Roaming. 

Off the beaten track 

Over sagged wire fences 

Through plowed fields 

Down to the valley below 

Where sunflowers grow 


Detouring. 

Across the babbling brook 

Toward the castle of broken glass 

Cocooned together in woven grass 

Until time awakens the past 








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) June 2023

An Untravelled Highway

Hello dear readers and followers, I am now back writing for “Coffee House Writers” magazine, and my poem “An Untravelled Highway”, is in this week’s edition of Coffee House Writers Magazine. … please click on the link below and visit my poem, at Coffee House Writers Magazine. >> https://coffeehousewriters.com/an-untraveled-highway/


An Untravelled Highway


Hello newcomer

How long have you been there?

A stranger in a strange land

Standing alone on harsh ground

Living between a barbwire barrier

And an untraveled highway


Where do you come from?

My coloured one

Where are you going?

Within our vast island home

I wonder. Will you be accepted

By other pretentious squatters  

With tolerance and compassion 







Ivor Steven (c) June 2023

I Could Be Wrong





I Could Be Wrong?


I have completed my ‘New Folder’ of poems

And I am satisfied with my final 160 selections

Sometimes my words sound young and wild

Other times my poems are nostalgic and mild


I write about what my eyes hear

I hear the stars sing to my soul

I see the universe in a blade grass

I feel love and compassion flow from my heart


I have been pondering about a book ‘Title’

For this latest collection of poems

I have tentatively chosen, “Until Eyes Hear Sound”

And I am wondering?

Am I right, or am I wrong?








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) June 2023

Animal Clouds

At Weekly Prompts, the Weekend Challenge is the word: Fresh. Please go over and visit their fabulous site by clicking on >> Here … Below is my response to their prompt Fresh.


Animal Clouds


 

Today, the shapely edges of my sky 

Formed a gigantic picture frame 

Around nature’s enigmatic blue canvas 

A magical background for the awaiting clouds 

To project their showy animal images on 


 

Then the cinematic masterpiece rolled in 

There above I saw a white Whale float by 


And across in the corner of the screen  

A Cheetah crept in, ready to pounce 

Upon the sleepy afternoon moon 









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) June 2023

My Darkest Ocean





My Darkest Ocean

 
 
 
I am not asleep 

Nor am I awake 

I am adrift 

Inside my worst nightmare 


I am paddling my leaking canoe 

Across a thick oil-slick 

A slimy and sickly syrup 

Polluting my Antarctic Ocean 


I see gasping penguins drowning 

I slide my arm around their grease-caked feathers 

Grasping their Frenziedly flailing wings 

Fervently trying to save them 

My canoe is rapidly bulging at the seams 

We are listing, and slowly sinking 


In my clutching arms 

We gather and cling together 

As the cold darkness surges in 

Engulfing my unfathomable dream 








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) June 2023

Throwback Friday, Better Late Than Never

Today’s Throwback Friday poem is from October 2019, a time when I was anxious about trying to finish my “Tullawalla” Manuscript before my publisher’s Christmas deadline. Tullawalla was my first serious attempt at compiling a poetry collection, and I was panicking that I would not complete the project in time … I calmly sat myself down and wrote this poem to myself … “What’s all the fuss about, stop worrying, and just do the best you can” …



Better Late, Than Never (Revised)


Dawn’s morning blues

Drowns me in droplets of dew

I slip into yesterday’s shabby shoes

Rundown, from worrying about you


I’m late, and just waking up

Drinking cold tea, from my enamel cup

Quickly I must rush

Only time enough to catch the bus

But I stopped! What’s all the fuss


Soon they’ll be another one

And today, don’t forget to put a cap on

I’ll get there, only thirty minutes later

Relaxed, not hustled and feeling betterer







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) June 2023

Clouds Are Down

Today I am reposting a poem from July 2020. The day has become very wet and “cool” this afternoon, and coincidently the Wednesday Challenge from Weekly Prompts is the word: COOL. Please go and visit their fabulous site by clicking on >>
Here



Clouds Are Down




Coldness hovers in foggy grey air

The sun’s dirty eye-wear

Icy winter ground

A crunchy grass sound

Blue skies await, clouds are down

There’s hope above, in her golden crown






Hafsol (Sun of the sea), Rigur Ros, lyrics in English.

Sun of the sea

Behind a cloudburst,
the sun awakens from hibernation
Cools off with the cold drops of rain
Plays with the hot flames of fire
Creates a rainbow talking on the arm,
talking on Behind a cloudburst,
the sun awakens from hibernation
Cools off with the cold drops of rain
Playing with my name I would like to look for
Creates a rainbow



Ivor Steven (c) June 2023

Eventide

Hi dear readers and followers, after several setbacks, I have resumed working on writing my third book of poems. Since I published “Tullawalla” and “Perceptions”, I was surprised to discover that I had written over 700 more poems after those 2 ‘manuscripts’ were completed … From these 700 poems I have selected “208” pieces to be considered for entry into my new manuscript. Now! the difficult process of culling the list down to a reasonable number begins …


Eventide 


I looked beyond the afternoon sky 

And shyly asked the sun to guide my eye 

“What is the average number of pages in a book of poetry? 

How many poems should there be in my book of artistry? 


Then projecting out of the blue sky 

The bewildered sun winked into my eye 

And knowingly replied 

“Brush all your self doubts aside 

and let your soul flow with the moon’s eventide” 








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) June 2023

Here at the Box Office Cafe (a Haiku)





Here at the Box Office Cafe



Normality’s back

The cafe coffee tastes great

And Frankie agrees








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) June 2023

Bird on a Ladder





Bird on a Ladder


 
 
I am a blackbird on a circus ladder 

Singing about how the world is feeling sadder 

Or should I sing, “becoming madder” 


Here on the last rung, I stand 

Below, I see a treeless land 

Above, I hear a breathless sky 

After the show, I untangle my necktie 

And I ask you why 

“Does it matter, when I leap, what route do I fly?”  








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) May 2023