My Poetry Day

Friday here in Philadelphia, I spent visiting a couple of historical sites yesterday, and I was fortunate enough to visit the house where Edgar Allan Poe had lived during his time in Philadelphia. I also went to house where Walt Whitman lived in the later part of his life.

If you wish to read the entire poem of Edgar Poet’s “Raven'” please click on the link below.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48860/the-raven

The Raven

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
“’Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door—
Only this and nothing more.”

In My Mind

Inside my head, in my bed

Inside my mind, in a bind

Thoughts of you, always you

Visions of you, all of you

In my mind, I’m so blind

I’m so blind, to my mind

Too many dreams, so it seems

What’s it all mean, so many dreams

 

Ivor Steven (c)  2018

Worms and Ants

I’m under a dome, inside a maze

A giant steel worm farm

Crawling with thousands of ants

Bugs of all shapes and forms

Some are dazed, dumbfounded like me

Others stride out bold and carefree

Seeking their worm’s tunnel

Walking down an endless funnel

Where the guzzling worms stop and go

Slurping ants up, riding to and fro

Oh no, which steel worm to catch

Before the grinding halt, to hatch

Unfazed, into a mysterious belly I jump

The giant worm rattles at every bump

Rolling through underground passages

And all the ants are reading messages

I quietly ask one, “where do I get off this worm”

Ah, “You’re in the wrong tunnel “, I’m lost !!

Ivor Steven (c) 2019

Bedtime Lullaby

https://youtu.be/36tO5sOQaks

Bedtime Lullaby

Scream, scream

Who woke me, from my dream

I was riding on a magic jetstream

Made of purple and crimson beams

The infants screams do not cease

Poor child’s not at peace

Too young to comprehend why

There’s no bedtime lullaby

Mother’s glazed eyes look dry

Her love, caressing the baby’s cries

She’s loyally doing her best

For both, a tough journey, over this distant crest

https://youtu.be/oeZG4cUw4T0

Ivor Steven (c) 2019

Honest Hearts Bleed

The flight is dragging on

But I’m not overly stressed

Nor is my patience running thin

My mind’s drifting back in time

I remember those trying days

Spent with Carole, and the hospital bed

Waiting in emergency rooms

Hours and hours on end

Holding her hand, she wouldn’t let go

Once I sat with her for two days

In emergency, before a bed was available

I learnt about patience and how to wait

I discovered the realities of hospital life

I saw there was always someone worse

Who needed to be treated first

I knew their pain and tears shed

I knew how honest Hearts bled

 

Ivor Steven (c). 2019

Flying High

Take-off and I’m soaring, in an iron dove

High in the clouds  heaven is above

Jetting through the stratosphere

Strapped inside her belly, feeling no fear

 

My rocking shoes have found the aisle

An armchair ride, flying in style

Red wine, to calm my nerves

Delicious food, increase the curves

 

Hours and hours of humming sounds

I hear time echoing on the rebound

My clock is ticking backwards

My life’s shadows are travelling forwards

Ivor Steven (c)  2019

My Going Away Song Choice

Of course, I’ll pick a good Australian band, here I’ve chosen, ‘Augie March’, a lot of you might not have heard of them , from my state Victoria, and a country town called Shepparton. I love this song of theirs, ‘One Crowded Hour’, something like how I’m feeling as I’m heading in the one hour bus trip, to Melbourne airport, getting closer to take off… Yeah….

Ivor Steven (c) 2019