All the Essentials are packed
Clunes: here we come!
A Poet’s Paradise, The Clunes Booktown Festival
The Event is probably the biggest Book Festival in Australia, and “I’ll be there this weekend, March 22nd and 23rd,” in one of the many “Book Trader Marquees.”
Ivor Steven (c) March 2024
Over at Weekly Prompts, the Wednesday Challenge is Ragged. Please visit their fabulous site by clicking on >> Here
As you might gather from my poem, I am feeling very “ragged around the edges” … I have been hectically busy preparing for the ‘Clunes Booktown’ Festival this weekend …
Am I The Pilot?
What motivates me?
To walk so many miles
Despite the aches and pains
What compels me?
To write every day
Despite my crusty old brain
What drives me?
Over life’s valleys and mountains
Despite yesterday’s hard rain
Will I still be the pilot?
Of tomorrow’s mystery flight
Despite missing tonight’s plane
Ivor Steven (c) March 2025
It’s not “World Poetry Day” until Friday 21st, but here in Geelong, the Geelong Library held a celebratory event tonight (Wed) … so appropriately, I thought I would repost a poem from my first book, Tullawalla, “Poetry in Motion”
Poetry in Motion
I was searching for words
Maybe the script’s lost in celluloid
I’ve a pile of empty poems
Frustratingly strewn
Here, there and everywhere
But I hear them whispering
“We’re not finished yet
Do not leave us for dead
Under this thick biblical heap
Please tend to your lost sheep”
The mound of poetry pages
Began chanting louder
And I was silently listening
To their distant preaching
But I’m not that proud
And I quickly lit the gunpowder
Ivor Steven (c) March 2025
Of Land and Sky
I am of the land, I cry!
Jealously, I stare at the clear blue sky
Here, the dew departs without a sound
and a freshness caresses the ground
Through the trees, toward the east
I see the sunny morning’s golden beast
Above the trees, looking to the west
I spy the setting moon wearing a sunny vest
Under this land, she eternally lies
and around my heart, I wear a sunny tie
.
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 (c) March 2025
Hello, dear readers and followers. I write for Coffee House Writers magazine (USA) fortnightly, and my poem “Hungry Crows” (a Pantoum) is in this week’s edition. …
To read my poem, please click on the link below to visit the article, at Coffee House Writers Magazine.
>> https://coffeehousewriters.com/hungry-crows/
Hungry Crows (a Pontoum); is my metaphorical interpretation of the ‘infamous’ White House meeting between President Zelensky and President Trump
A Pantoum, Poetry Format
Stanza 1:
4 lines, ABAB rhyme scheme
Stanza 2:
Line 5 (repeat of line 2 in stanza 1)
Line 6 (new line)
Line 7 (repeat of line 4 in stanza 1)
Line 8 (new line)
Stanza 3:
Last Stanza (This is the format for the last stanza regardless of how many preceding stanzas exist):
Line 9 (line 2 of the previous stanza)
Line 10 (line 3 of the first stanza)
Line 11 (line 4 of the previous stanza)
Line 12 (line 1 of the first stanza)
“My Back Pages” Lyrics by Bob Dylan
Crimson flames tied through my ears
Rollin’ high and mighty traps
Pounced with fire on flaming roads
Using ideas as my maps
“We’ll meet on edges, soon,” said I
Proud ‘neath heated brow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I’m younger than that now.
Half-wracked prejudice leaped forth
“Rip down all hate,” I screamed
Lies that life is black and white
Spoke from my skull, I dreamed
Romantic facts of musketeers
Foundationed deep, somehow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I’m younger than that now.
Girls’ faces formed the forward path
From phony jealousy
To memorizing politics
Of ancient history
Flung down by corpse evangelists
Unthought of, though, somehow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I’m younger than that now.
A self-ordained professor’s tongue
Too serious to fool
Spouted out that liberty
Is just equality in school
“Equality,” I spoke their word
As if a wedding vow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I’m younger than that now.
In a soldier’s stance, I aimed my hand
At the mongrel dogs who teach
Fearing not I’d become my enemy
In the instant that I preach
My existence led by confusion boats
Mutiny from stern to bow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I’m younger than that now.
Yes, my guard stood hard when abstract threats
Too noble to neglect
Deceived me into thinking
I had something to protect
Good and bad, I define these terms
Quite clear, no doubt, somehow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I’m younger than that now.
Ivor Steven (c) March 2025
Welcome!
When you walk into my home
You cannot help but notice
That all the walls are adorned
With photos and various pieces of memorabilia
And if you venture out the back door
Into my verandah and courtyard area
You cannot help but notice
That the fence and walls are also covered
With more pictures and Tullawalla scriptures
.
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 (c) March 2025
Our Creative Geelong Market Day was a very warm 33’C. However, we were comfortable enough, and with Frankie’s friendly demeanor and help we still managed to sell a fair few books.
Our bookstall, and Frankie overseeing the setting up …
The market’s Atrium area, and Jen Stevens with her creative pottery display
Adele and her fabulous hand-painted denim jackets …”Twilight” and “Ekphrastic” were inspired by her perusing my books at our previous market day.
A painting I purchased from our adjacent stall holder, Jen McElwee. And an embroidered card that she gifted me, with my poem “Dreams of the Heart” that she copied from my book “Tullawalla”
How the card appeared on the inside
.
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 (c) March 2025
The clerihew is a funny, four-lined poem that often makes fun of celebrities and other well-known people.
Format:
Line 1 (person’s name) (A)
Line 2 (rhymes with A)
Line 3 (B)
Line 4 (rhymes with B)
Yes, Prime Minister (A Clerihew)
Our Prime Minister is Mr Anthony Albanese
He’s not a great philosopher like Socrates
Maybe our head politician is a good theorizer
But the lads at the pub reckon he’s just a dreamer
.
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 (c) March 2025
Today’s Throwback Friday poem was written in March 2022, and appears in my third book, “Until Eyes Hear Sound”, Chapter 1, Little Creatures and Birds, page 6
Innocent Millipedes
Please Mr Shootin’ Putin
Do not roll your tanks of destruction
Over the innocent Mr & Mrs Millipede
Millipedes were the earliest animals to breathe air
And make the move from water to land
They date back 428 million years
Now people of the world cannot hold back their tears
Did you know Mr Shootin’ Putin
That Millipedes are fairly timid critters
Docile decomposers that live in the leaf litter
Of forests all over the world!
They aren’t flashy or fast
And they follow the motto
“Slow and steady wins the race”
Millipedes are peaceful
They don’t bite
They can’t sting
And they don’t have pincers to fight back
Please Mr Shootin’ Putin
Do not roll your tanks of destruction
Over the innocence of creation
.
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 (c) March 2025
ABOUT OUR MARKET DAY
Creative Geelong’s monthly Market Days showcase local artisan products, secondhand goods, clothing, books, records, produce, artistic works and art materials to buy, sell, swap – all welcome to visit.
The Market Day will be undercover in our Hub at Centrepoint Arcade,
This Saturday
132 Little Malop St
In the atrium, and along the arcade
11 am-4 pm
Free and Undercover
Ivor Steven (c) March 2025
Ivor.Plumber/Poet 