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.

Blue-stone Cellar (A Repost)

I’m having technical problems try to submit my article to Coffee House Writers this evening, and I am getting frustrated .. so I decided to “Leave The Table” for a while, and found this poem that I wrote after a enjoyable night out, in November 2018, and I’m reposting it here on my site tonight …

Blue-stone Cellar (A Repost)

Old wooden steps

Going down, worn and steep

Revealing a cellar, candle-lit

Walls of blue-stone blocks

With a stained cedar ceiling

Creating a friendly aura of closeness

Intimate and cosy

A perfect place for Mr Cohen’s spirit to be

Sweet Amie Brulee

Sings and plays his songs

And in between, graciously reads his poetry

Jovially chats to the audience

Relaxed and carefree

Her demure smile is spontaneous

Divulging stories about his works

With enthusiasm and passion

Infusing her own subtle wit and humour

A show of genuine warmth and charm

From his tower of song, Leonard would be pleased

Ivor Steven (c) June 2022

Ding Dong and Bang Clang?

I was in a dazed shock

As the bedside table rocked

When my alarm clock piercingly rang

Ding dong and bang clang it sang

Like a hammering chain gang

Breaking rocks, bang after bang

Awakened by the brutal ding and bang

Out of bed I sprang

Then abruptly, my mind went clang!

When the bells of Sunday morn began!

Ivor Steven (c) June 2022

Throwback Friday, Eating Chocolates and Watching Wars, by Ivor Steven

Chocolates are delightfully delicious … wars are deadly and destructive …

Go Dog Go Café

Yesterday we went to the Moorabool Valley Chocolate Cafe, for a coffe and cake, which prompted me to remember this poem that I wrote in August 2018 …

Eating Chocolates And Watching Wars

Hungrily I’m eating a liquor chocolate

A selfish heavenly delight

Arousing my old minds senses

I wonder

What she would be thinking

Looking down from the stars

Through her sensitive olive eyes

Her everlasting smile

Her gracious courage

Her generous heart

Her forgiving soul

Her love for me and you

I wonder

What she would be thinking

Seeing these futile bloody wars

Through her compassionate olive eyes

The dead and maimed

The millions of shuffling homeless

The distraught broken families

The crying children locked in sheds

The desperate refugees with no beds

I wonder

What she would be thinking

While she preciously holds the last white dove

Observing these senseless wars

That never never end

Ivor Steven…

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Infinity Times Infinity (Revised)

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a ‘Tanka’ called Infinity Times Infinity, and here today I have altered the Tanka, to form an eight-line poem .. For betterer, or worserer .. here is my revised piece … below: after my poem is the ‘original Tanka’

Infinity Times Infinity (Revised)

Between flying high

From here, to out there

Beyond the daylight

A trillion light-years away

Is there further light?

Where does the universe end?

Is infinity times infinity,

The foundation of light?

Infinity Times Infinity (a Tanka)

Beyond the daylight
A trillion light-years away
Is there further light?
Where does the universe end?
Is infinity the light?

Ivor Steven (c) June 2022

A ‘Penguin Waffle’

Over at Weelkly Prompts the Wednesday challenge is the word: ALARMS. Please go and visit their fabulous site by clickng on>> Here .. and below is my response to their prompt …

A Penguin Waffle

This year, all around the world

The alarm bells have been ringing loudly

Today, I have escaped to the country

Away from humanities blaring sirens

I am at the Moorabool Valley Chocolate Cafe

Relaxing with a mug of coffee

And a scrumptious piece of cheesecake

Then suddenly, without warning

My sweet tooth starts chiming

There on the counter I spied a ‘Penguin Waffle’

And as my mom used to say

“If you have a sweet tooth, sometimes

you just must have chocolate”

Ivor Steven (c) June 2022

Tomorrow’s Cake (a Senryu)

I formed this Senryu from a comment I made in response to a poem ‘Willow’ wrote on her site on the 9th June .. thank you Willow for prompting these words … https://willowdot21.wordpress.com/2022/06/08/ronovan-writes-sijo-wednesday-poetry-challenge-13-use-future-as-your-inspiration-this-week/

Tomorrow’s Cake (a Senryu)

the future tastes like

yesterday, but is topped with

venom from today

Ivor Steven © June 2022

The Ancient Fern Survives

Featured Image Above: by Derrick Knight > https://derrickjknight.com/2022/06/10/rich-pickings/

The Images below: are from my courtyard ..

The Ancient Fern Survives

Selfish, unopened minds remain numbed

False eye-lashes are heavy and closed

Botoxed lips are silent and sealed

And elephant ears have been pegged out of sight

But there under our careless feet

The earth’s ferns have agelessly survived

Three hundred and sixty million years

Without changing the appearance of their golden leaves

That timelessly regenerate themselves

By naturally releasing their fertilising spores

Ivor Steven (c) June 2022

Promote Yourself Monday: June 13, 2022

Dear readers and followers, here’s a great opportunity for your writings to be read by other writers, and also to find and meet other writers. You are very welcome to participate, come along and visit our writer friendly site…..by clicking on the link at the bottom of this article >>
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Go Dog Go Café

Welcome toPromote Yourself Monday. All Go Dog Go Cafe community members are invited to postonelink to one specific piece of their writing (600 words or less please!) they have published on their blog, Facebook page, or Instagram feed into the comments section below.

If you post a link, be sure to read some of the other great writing people have linked to.

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Dreaming in a Dream & Rumblings, are in the March Issue of Positive Words Magazine

I am pleased and proud to announce that 2 of my poems, “Dreaming in a Dream (a Tanka)” & “Rumblings (a Senryu)” are published in the June Issue, Positive Words Magazine, and thank you to the Editor, Sandra, for selecting my poems… For further information about this fabulous Australian magazine, visit their site via this link > https://positivewordsmagazine.wordpress.com/
Attached below, I have scanned the poems directly from my copy of the Magazine.

Ivor Steven (c) June 2022

Throwback Friday, Artic Winds, by Ivor Steven

This week I am celebrating the 5th Anniversary of my WordPress blog/website, and back in 2017, “Artic Winds” was one of earliest poems that I posted on my site, and which I later submitted to ‘Vita Brevis Press’ and was subsequently Published by in 2018

Go Dog Go Café

Featured Artwork Above:by my niece Kerri Costello (Philladelphia)

This week I am celebrating the 5th Anniversary of my WordPress blog/website, and back in 2017, “Artic Winds” was one of earliest poems that I posted on my site, and which I later submitted to ‘Vita Brevis Press’ and was subsequently Published by in 2018

Arctic Winds

I am winter hibernating

Inside an Eskimo’s hut

Feeding only on fish oil

And frozen blue blood

My heart’s cold and dormant

Cowering under a dampened vestment

Pumping only yesteryear’s rust

And icicles of my dust

My eyes are swollen rocks

A midst polarized sockets

Terrorizing all that’s passed

Like forgotten arctic icebergs

My veins are hollow crevasses

Inside a glaciers ice-flow

Sheering and groaning chasms

Like my memories sharpest spasms

Ivor Steven (c) August 2017

G’day, and welcome to my blog site. My name is Ivor Steven, I live in Geelong, Australia. I’m…

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