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.

Be a Domino (a Tanka)




Be a Domino (a Tanka)


Assistance aids all

The receiver grows stronger

The giver gains love

Together, friendships thrive

Join the domino effect









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

Happy Birthday Mom

Mom’s birthday and Carole’s birthday were not far apart, and appropriately they enjoyed a very close relationship …
Today is my mother’s birthday, and next Sunday is Mothersday, and coincidently, today was also Carole’s funeral day … Here is my tribute to those 2 magnificent women in my life…


My Women


After I had left the hem

Without women

I could not have survived my time

I would not have braved the climb

Ladies you were my rhyme

My mothers of thyme


Helping me roll away the stone

Maintaining these old bones

Repairing the bridges, I had burnt

Reciting the messages, I had learnt

Cheering from the sidelines

Supporting my broken designs

Women of my rhymes

Mothers for a lifetime








Ivor Steven (c) May 9th 2023

Falling Into Darkness (a Senryu)





Darkness folds into 

Eyes that do not hear the sounds 

Of homeless spirits 








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

Reflections and Revelations, edited by Susi Bocks

Once again thank you to Susi, >>https://iwriteher.com/2023/04/26/reflections-revelations-has-published/ for selecting my poems in her outstanding Anthology, “Reflections and Revelations, The Short of It, Vol 2” … Today I am presenting the second page (33) of my pieces from her fascinating Collection of Short poems and prose … which I have scanned directly from copy of the anthology and attached below …
The paperback version is available on Amazon.com NOW!! If you’re interested in getting a copy, please CLICK THIS LINK!








Ivor Steven (c) May 2023

Hustle and Bustle (a Tanka)


Wishing my Philadelphia cousins a safe trip home today. ✈


Hustle and Bustle (a Tanka)



Excitement arrived 

My normal was disrupted 

Organised chaos 

With, Penguins, Kookaburras

And Tasmanian Devils








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

Unforgettable


Yesterday

Was one of those days


At lunchtime

I went to the Box Office Cafe

I forgot

And left without paying

For my coffee and cake


In the afternoon

I had a doctor’s appointment

I forgot

And left without paying

For the Fee at reception


After Dinner

I caught a bus into town

I forgot

That the ‘open mic’ night

Occurs on the second Thursday of each month


This morning

I watch the sunshine

Flickering on her handmade curtains

I remember

And I relight her candle again







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

Throwback Friday, Today’s Fragments (Revised)

Today’s ‘Throwback Friday’ poem is from my remembrance week a year ago

“Below; I have formed one poem out of four Senryu that I wrote this morning, and I have many fractured thoughts within my soul, a decade after Carole’s passing on May 3rd 2012 at 1.15pm …“

Today’s Fragments (Revised)
(A four Senryu poem)


I am who I am
I can’t be another man 
She’s my hologram

I sat beside her 
Next to yesterday’s campfire 
Embers in the wind 

A red flame flickers 
Above her celestial star 
My eternal light  

On my island home 
Sea mist falls across my arms
Completion awaits 






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

Under The Snow

A special poem I wrote, after I’d taken my Lady to hospital for the last time, on the day of her 65th birthday, eleven years ago. Hello Carole, and I wonder if you still wonder that I wonder, about wandering on your celestial star…….

Under The Snow.

We emanate to a birthday.

We deflate to a final day.

Birthdays, they all come, they all go.

Birthdays, in the sunshine, under the snow.

Birthdays, slow to mature, quickly an aeon.

Birthdays, before we are born, after we are gone.

Birthdays, hanging on by a breath.

Birthdays, nailed to a cross ’til death.

What’s it all mean to be alive and cry.

What’s it all mean to live and to die.








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 4th 2023


Here I Am, Eleven Years On 

Today, May 3rd, is the eleventh Anniversary of Carole’s passing




Here I Am, Eleven Years On 


here I am shuffling on 

the same old yellow brick road 

that I wandered on eleven years ago 


here I am running from 

the same old dark storm 

that I escaped from eleven years ago 


here I am blushing under  

the same old halfmoon 

that I sheltered under eleven years ago 


here I am dreaming about 

the same old red head 

that I dreamed about eleven years ago 








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 3rd 2023