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.

Shanghai, Old And New

Shanghai is a relatively new city in China, growing from a small seaside city and port, in the 19th century, to be the second most populous city in the world, of more than 24 million people in 2017.

Above, The British style buildings of the 1920’s, along the banks of the Huangpu River

Above, the French section of Shanghai, and it’s lane-way cafe’s.

Above, the most famous Buddhist Temple in China, Jade Buddha Temple

Above, The Shanghai skyline during the daytime, of its famous financial institutions district

Above, The Shanghai sky-line by night, on our Wednesday evening Huangpu River cruise

Lingering is Gardens

We walked through a doorway in a white painted brick wall, to discover this extraordinary Chinese garden, originally set up as a nobles city getaway garden area.

Like having a holiday and not leaving home

We’ve been so blessed with glorious weather the whole trip. 😊

Ivor Steven (c). 2018

Suzhou, The Original Venice

The canals of Suzhou are steeped in ancient history, dating back to 514 BC

Slowly cruising up the canals, was like going backwards in the “Time Machine” to those olden days in Suzhou.

Ivor Steven (c). 2018

Touring China 🇨🇳

I’ve lost track of the days. 😊

ABOVE. West Lakes, Suzhou

Above, in the middle of West Lakes, with Suzhou in the background.

A special photo for Gina 😊😊

Below, a fish pond at the Silk Factory

Bullets Do Fly

Enjoyed the high speed bullet train experience from Beijing to Hangzhou

Hangzhou is considered the tea capital of China, and we visited the Tea House at Meijiawu Tea Village

The Tea Village was a beautiful place, set in a lush green valley

A atmosphere of peace and tranquillity within the village itself

Panda’s On View

A few photos from my trip to the Beijing Zoo to see the Panda’s 🐼

The Panda’s and me in a Panda hat, and few tour buddies

The glorious big willow trees at the zoo.

Suzhou Tonight

Hi Dear readers, today is my 6th day in China, and the first time I’ve had a consistent Wi-Fi connection.

Walk To The Moon

I did walk on The Great Wall

The Wall can be seen by a man on the moon

Well look at me now, Neil

Here I am on top of the World

And I saw a hole in the wall

Crouching down low, I peered

Through a bluestone window

And what did I espy

I saw another piece of the Wall

A guardian tower, standing tall

Flying Behind a Mask

I’m on the flight to far away lands

Chatting to a lady beside me, Sue

She’s a fellow poet too

A member of the Canberra Writer’s

I’m a long long way from home

Travelling back in time

Already two hours behind

Jetting my way to ancient China

To visit the old Forbidden City

Palace of bygone Dynasty’s

Then I’ll walk upon The Great Wall

Feel the ghostly bones beneath my toes

Who’s to say dead fish don’t fly

I’m eating Barramundi and bamboo sauce in the sky

Watching Nick Cave performing on screen

His spectacular concert in Copenhagen

Sipping on a Wolf Blass red wine

I’m relaxing and flying high

Odds And Ends, Curiosity Going Around The Bend

Weekly Prompts: Word Prompt, This weeks word prompt: Curiosity. And there’s plenty of curiosity in these odds and ends pieces of poetry that I’ve compiled below. They are all verse comments that I’ve made to some of my readers.

Curiosity

It’s the devil in me

curiosity of a busy bee

I just had to see

your words of poetry

Pencils

I never retire without my note-pad nearby

My lead pencil, my bedtime writing scribe

Sometimes heavy, other times light

A necessary sword to fight off dark nights

Words To You

You write to me

I write to you

Your thoughts say it all

Words do fall

Out of a crack in the wall

Stand on the rubble tall

Let the dust settle

Light up the Kettle

Have a cuppa and a chat

Light flows back, through the crack

Writing is our world

Words are our pearls

Drum Beat

Writing is a conundrum

Keep beating your drum

There’s a tune in your pen, for every line

Do not worry about the time

It’s only the sound of a chime

Everlasting is your journey’s climb

Rain And Pain

I no more seek pain

I feel caressed by the rain

Soothing my daily strain

Let it rain, I’m over being a champion

Clouds

oh, to float on a cloud high

be at peace with the sky

quietly breathe in and sigh

look down and wonder why

Upside Down

hanging around upside down

gives you a top view of the ground

reverses the annoying busy sounds

lets you think of life’s endless bounds

Wet Grass

You lay there bathing in moonshine

Caressing tingles down your spine

Freshening evening dew

Letting the moist grass entwine you

Lovely

Love has all the answers

Let us all pack our travel-bags

Join the world’ dancers

Let us all wave our white flags

Power

Is the shift of power

For every-ones good

Living in their glass towers

Hearts made of plastic wood

Leaving us to bow and cower

Raped by their greedy falsehoods

I Am You

You are you

From top to toe

You are you

From arm to palm

You are you

A heart full of gold

You are you

A light for our souls

Work Of Art

Weekly Prompts: Photo Challenge; This Weeks Prompt is: Work Of Art.

Last weekend I went the Boom Gallery Art Exhibition, here in Geelong, as part of a Ekphrastic poetry exercise, a link to last week’s Ekphrastic Poem is >> Here, and I was thinking of presenting all of those wonderful pictures that I saw, here in this article today. However I’ve decide to present my dear Carole’s “Works Of Art”, that I have here hanging in the Tullawalla Gallery. The featured picture above, is of three pieces of her macrame, which are also made from her own home-spun wool.

Above: More articles of Carole’s macrame

Above: Top left corner, some decorative macrame, around my Malayan Kris and sheath. The Kris has been in our family for over 110 years. And then, there are two of Carole’s long-stitch pieces craft-work. Earlier in her life, before Carole’s MS became too severe, she enjoyed painting, and below are three of her paintings.