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.

Celestial Birthright


Acrux rises over the opal sea—its light, my inheritance.


In the hush of night, beneath the Southern Cross, I find myself wondering how far starlight travels—and why it feels so familiar. This poem is a reflection on cosmic legacy, distance, and the quiet claim we make on eternity.



Celestial Birthright


Tonight,
there above the horizon’s
dark blue oceans,
deep in the black opal sky,
I see the bright Acrux Star.

Then I wonder: how far away
is a million light-years from today?
And why is the star’s infinite light
eternally my birthright.



Music/Video: The final 3 minutes of “Sea of Stars” – 10-hour, ambient space music




Ivor Steven ©  October 2025

Chattering to the Birds




Chattering to the Birds



Wandering down the winding road,
Chattering to the friendly birds–
Fluttering quietly nearby,
Waiting patiently for their replies.

Wondering, do they understand why
flying freely in the sky transcends
crawling around on contaminated ground.





Lindsey Stirling’s “Song of the Caged Bird” is more than just a haunting violin piece; it’s a visual and emotional journey inspired by Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Stirling imagined a bird gazing longingly from its cage, yearning to soar like the others. Though it cannot escape, it finds joy in sharing its song, lighting up the world around it.
Stirling writes: “Oftentimes, we can’t control our circumstances. However, it’s up to us to determine how we will respond to them. We all have a voice to find and a gift to share.”



Ivor Steven ©  October 2025

“Before, Between, and Beyond”, is in this week’s Coffee House Writers Magazine edition.


Hello, dear readers and followers. I write for Coffee House Writers magazine (USA) fortnightly, and my poem “Before, Between, and Beyond” is in this week’s edition. The full title in my ‘Office Documents’ is “Before, Between, and Beyond (or, Under a Cloud, to Beyond Cloud Nine),” but that was too long for the Magazine.
To read the poem, please click the link below to visit my Coffee House Writers Magazine article.
>> https://coffeehousewriters.com/before-between-and-beyond/








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Until Eyes Hear Sound

Lulu Books >>  Until Eyes Hear Sound (lulu.com)



Perceptions:

Amazon >>  Perceptions : Steven, Ivor, Knight, Derrick: Amazon.com.au: Books
Lulu Books >>  Perceptions (lulu.com)



Tullawalla:

Amazon >> Tullawalla A Meeting Place Where My Empty Hands are Full of Memories and Rhymes : Steven, Ivor: Amazon.com.au: Books


OR: >> You may email me directly for a signed copy at
ivorrs20@gmail.com


Ivor Steven ©  October 2025

“Man Overboard!”

Daylight Saving steals an hour, but where does it go? This poem wonders aloud, with a wink and a sigh, as time slips overboard. Paired with Tame Impala’s hypnotic rhythm, it’s a meditation on the absurdity of lost time.




“Man Overboard!”


Time vanished overboard,
and was last seen going forward.

Who will rescue the lost hour?
Who has the righteous power,
inside the clock’s stoic tower?

Somehow it doesn’t matter
that no one heard the clatter.

Time has no protective hands.
Time is not a rubber band,
nor a loose grain of sand.

I do not understand
how time’s forgotten hour was banned
and stored away in never-never-land.




Ivor Steven ©  October 2025

Dream Catchers

Over on Weekly Prompts, the monthly colour challenge this weekend is Orange. To visit their fabulous site, please click ... Here. The centre of my new Energy Flow dreamer catcher is Orange.


My old original Man-del-la shield, which was a gift from my Canadian Uncle many years ago, hangs under my courtyard verandah.


“Found at the top of the Skytram Lift, Whistlers Mountain—handcrafted echoes of the alpine spirit.”


My Energy Flow dream catcher, which now hangs on my lounge room bookcase.


And the Vision Seeker dream catcher hangs up on my writing desk



Dream Catchers

With nimble fingers and warm hearts,
the Man-del-la was crafted for me—
or someone much like me.
A symbolic shield to protect,
to bring good health and prosperity.

My Energy Flow dream catcher,
with its unique, handcrafted design,
reveals the scattering of energy
being drawn back to its source—
strengthening my spiritual self.

The Vision Seeker dream catcher
captures bad dreams in its web,
allowing the good ones to pass through.
The quartz stone at its centre
helps remove negative thoughts
and enhances spiritual communication and guidance.







Ivor Steven ©  October 2025

Beasts’ feast; Famine’s rations, or: A rengay

A big thank you to David, of “The Sheptics Kaddish” for inviting me to co-write a “Rengay.” I cannot remember having written a collaborative poem before, but it was so much fun to mix words with such an accomplished writer.
>> https://skepticskaddish.com/2025/10/02/beasts-feast-famines-rations-or-a-rengay/


A two-person ‘Rengay’

By Ivor and David


Beasts’ feast; Famine’s rations, or: A rengay

(Ivor)
i’ve no appetite
to be the new King’s taster
bad seeds don’t regrow

(David)
little princeling muffles heave
spits foie gras into goblet

(Ivor)
royalty’s snobbish ways
are wasted and inconsequential
to hungry grazers days

(David)
pastures lie barren
herders curse the banquet hall
torches flare outside

(Ivor)
the underworld cries
darkness falls on vacant eyes

(David)
pomegranate blood
stains her lips with endless oath
frost devours the bloom






Ivor Steven ©  October 2025

Throwback Friday, Standing On the Edge of Time

Featured Image Above: ‘Weird/Wonderful’, a painting by Geelong Artist Wendy Ratawa.

Today’s Throwback Friday poem, written in December 2022, was inspired by a Geelong Writers Inc. Ekphrastic Photo Prompt (see above image)


Standing On the Edge of Time

Am I dreaming
Sprawled across Saturn’s rainbow rings
Wishing
I was there
On the edge of Jupiter’s
Multicoloured volcanoes
Observing the chromatic universe
Through my kaleidoscopic eyes

I am here
Standing on the edge of time
Above Tower Hill’s dormant crater
Overlooking a picturesque valley
Of blue lakes and
Multicoloured forests






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Until Eyes Hear Sound

Lulu Books >>  Until Eyes Hear Sound (lulu.com)




Perceptions:

Amazon >>  Perceptions : Steven, Ivor, Knight, Derrick: Amazon.com.au: Books
Lulu Books >>  Perceptions (lulu.com)




Tullawalla:

Amazon >> Tullawalla A Meeting Place Where My Empty Hands are Full of Memories and Rhymes : Steven, Ivor: Amazon.com.au: Books


OR: >> You may email me directly for a signed copy at
ivorrs20@gmail.com


Ivor Steven ©  October 2025

Shangri La, Volume 16. Home Away From Home

The title of my new booklet, “Home Away From Home”, mainly consists of poems from my amazing holiday to Canada, ‘Before, During, and After.

FREE PDF COPY >>> Links Below

Hello, dear readers and followers. As you may know, I stopped producing my “Tullawalla Booklets” at #31 because that was the house number of our family’s Tullawalla Homestead.
However, the booklet format is a superb way for me to catalogue the vast number of poems I produce, and as the saying goes, “I Am Turning Another Page”. Here I have begun a new series of poem booklets, called “Shangri La”, the name of my little Villa, and it is my piece of “earthly paradise, a retreat from the pressures of modern civilization”.
I now have “2141” Poems filed in these booklet formats!!
(On my bookshelf, I have “The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, which contains 1775 poems … when I first started writing poems, I never envisaged that I would produce so many poems)

Click on >> Here, for the link to your FREE: PDF Copy of “Shangri La, Volume 16, Home Away From Home”

OR … Shangri La Volume 16, Home Away From Home.pdf





Home Away From Home

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On an island under the northern stars
Among the giant evergreen cedars
Within my personal astrodome
Feeling at ease in my home away from home

I am on top of the world
Uncurling my ancient bones, yet unfurled
Giving my weary soul another joyful whirl

In a land covered by forests and berries
Living a dream on an island with magical fairies

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Ivor Steven (c) September 2025