Last night’s moonrise over Corio Bay felt like nature’s gentle transition from winter to spring. This Tanka is my reflection (and Frankie’s) on that moment of quiet beauty.
Moonrise by the Bay — a quiet witness to winter’s farewell
My Lunar Lullaby (a Tanka)
Cobalt twilight sky,
With a pink full moon rising
Over a calm Bay-
Winter’s lunar finale,
My world’s springtime lullaby.
Ivor Steven (c) August 2025
Over at Weekly Prompts, the Weekend Challenge is the word Circumspection.
To visit their fabulous site, please click HERE
Away With the Faeries
Walking in a dreamy haze,
Inside a bubble of days.
Yet hearing a silent morning chant,
From the intrigued missionary ant.
Talking to an unreadable cloud,
Ignoring the bewildered crowd.
Yet the sky is a warm winter blue,
And toes are sipping yesterday’s stew.
Meandering and wondering-
Then wandering toward today’s horizon.
A hessian bag of forests and mountains,
A stone’s throw away from tomorrow’s fountain.
An ocean beyond magpies and wallabies,
In a land of bearberries and faeries.
Ivor Steven (c) August 2025
Flying North
I am flying among the clouds,
Carrying my traveling shroud,
Far beyond this maddening crowd.
Leaving my comfy nest, with no regrets,
And disguised as a curious silhouette,
I’ll be traversing many foreign sunsets.
Ivor Steven (c) August 2027
It’ll be a full moon tomorrow, and appropriately, my Throwback Friday is a full moon poem, which I wrote in May 2024.
Please note that all attached images were taken by me late this afternoon (Thursday).
In the Full Moon’s Afterglow
My world’s worn-out words flow
From the torn sunflower meadows
To the silent streets of Moscow
Written on the hills of Dnipro in blue-line lingo
Beyond the reach of the full moon’s afterglow
And painted in lyrical tempo with hypnotic gusto
Am I to be another muted scarecrow
Mutilated by the warlords’ errant crossbows
.
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 © May 2025
Moon Crossing (a Tanka)
I see the white moon
Crossing the afternoon sky
I hear the moon sigh
“Why do I shine so brightly?
When my light falls on dark eyes”
Ivor Steven (c) August 2025
Written for Sadje’s, “What do you see # 300- 4th August, 2025”
To visit Sadje’s (Keep It Alive) fabulous site, please click >> Here
Watching the Sky
I am not a seasoned
international traveler,
but if you wish to go overseas-
Come, fly with me
For your long-distance flight,
So hold on tight
as we hit the heights,
to see all the wondrous sights.
Wave goodbye
to the great southern sky.
Up here, the air is pristine,
and all the world is green.
Ivor Steven (c) August 2025
Today, I became a 74-year-old plumber, and when I came home, I tried to be a 74-year-old poet, with a “Blue Screen Computer”. Without going into the gory details, I had a lot more fun being a 74-year-old plumber.
Beyond Sight (a Haiku)
Good morning sunrise
I soak in daylight’s caress
Until eyes hear sound
Ivor Steven (c) August 2025
Hello dear readers and followers, unfortunately, I have to report that my dreaded “BLUE SCREEN CURSE” has returned, and with frustrating difficulty, I have been able to post this article tonight; however, as for my website blogging activities, I am very much restricted by the amount of available time I have left in between my numerous ‘Mirco Soft Shut Downs’ … Hence, the Beluga Lagoon music/video, “Blue” is my appropriate music choice tonight …
My Sky’s Icons (a Tanka)
The moon and the sun
My heavenly universe
For now, beyond reach
“Patience, my son, worry not
One day soon, your time will come.”
Ivor Steven (c) August 2025
Over at Weekly Prompts, this weekend is their monthly Colour Challenge, and they selected the colour BROWN. To visit their fabulous site, please click HERE.
A big thank you to, Nancy for being the source of my inspiration for this poem
https://theelephantstrunk.org/2025/08/01/the-shells-2/
An Old Snail Shell (a Tanka)
Rusty and earthen,
I supported her burden.
I was no Spartan,
And asked for no one’s pardon-
I’m a bygone guardian.
Beluga Lagoon, The Snail, Lyrics
Pain, no really for me
Some will suffer far more than I will but then we’ll all be still some day
A snail, I’m a snail on the sea
And so slowly I sink to the deep as I try to remember peace
Lions and tigers and beggars and bears
They all live today and they all will decay
The world and the folk and the things you could see
And I swim in the gloom in a room where I struggle to breathe
Where I struggle to breathe
Where I struggle to breathе
Streetlights, gold on cold
Like a beacon
In my sort of soul
Grows so old now the cold
Kills my bonеs
Kills my bones
Kills my bones
Kills my bones
Kills my bones
Graveyards make me calm
I don’t know why
Deepest kind of dreaming
Caribbean coastline
Clear blue water
Clear blue water
Clear blue water
Clear blue water
Clear blue water
Clear blue water
Clear blue water
Clear blue water
Clear blue water
Clear blue water
Ivor Steven (c) August 2025
The title of my new booklet, “Life, Beyond the Lines”, is ironically quite relevant, considering my ‘computer’ problems during the last two months, and it’s almost a miracle that I have been able to produce this ‘Shangri La Booklet.’
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 “2060” 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 15, Life, Beyond the Lines”
OR … Shangri La. Vol 15, Life, Beyond the Lines.pdf
Life, Beyond the Lines
Life’s a continual battle
but the battle lines
are there to be crossed
Life’s wondrous museum
inspires me to keep exploring
the universe’s grand Colosseum
Ivor Steven (c) August 2023
Ivor.Plumber/Poet 