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.

Where Is Mother? (A Senryu)

Where is Mother? (a Senryu)

Floating on blue sky

An ocean whale’s young spirit

Searches for mother

The attached music/video, “The Whale”, was a #1 hit in Australia back in 1972, written and sung by my good friend Terry Fielding, and we celebrated his 76th birthday during the week.

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, Cocoons of Hope

Today’s ‘Throwback” poem, from September 2020, will appear in my upcoming new book “Until Eyes Hear Sound” … It’ll be the 1st poem in “Chapter 3. Nature and Existence”

Cocoons of Hope

the wizard’s blizzards have melted

dormant cocoons are wriggling

spring has exploded

out of the starter’s gun

with an awakening bang

and the chirpy blackbirds

are chorusing a different tune

their winter blue songs have gone

suddenly, warmth and sunshine

muster in the air

heralding a new season

of hope and prosperity

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

Birds and Trees (a Haiku)

Birds and Trees (a Haiku)

Trees are for the birds

Nature’s protective towers

Don’t destroy their homes

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

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