This is the Final Day of the WordCrafter Poetry Treasures 5: Small Pleasures Book Blog Tour:
Kaye Booth, our editor, is wrapping up the WordCrafter Poetry Treasures 5: Small Pleasures Book Blog Tour. We’ve all had a great tour this past week
Please click on the link below to read Kaye’s informative article.
Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/PT5-SmallPleasures
Ivor Steven (c) April 2025
This is Day 6 of the WordCrafter Poetry Treasures 5: Small Pleasures Book Blog Tour:
Kay Castaneda is giving today’s presentation. It features DL Mullan reading her poem “Daybreak.”
Please click on the link below to read Kay’s informative article.
Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/PT5-SmallPleasures
Daybreak, by DL Mullun
Daybreak
The heavy sky lightens.
Night retreats.
Illustrious topaz hues sharpen until the grand arc
is a cascade of brilliant blue tones.
Cloudless, the sea’s reflection smooths away
any hint of the cosmic shroud.
Behind the rays, stars slumber and planets wait.
Yet, the moon hangs there: tranquil and sheer
an unfinished watercolor, framed.
Never ceases to reveal itself, the satellite balances
the Earth and shifts the tides.
Now, the once opaque sphere fades away; time reaffirms
that this guardian too must conceal her mysteries.
Although the waning gibbous departs, she remains our
silent company throughout the constellations.
Daylight irradiates.
The waking world glows
Ivor Steven (c) April 2025
This is Day 5 of the WordCrafter Poetry Treasures 5: Small Pleasures Book Blog Tour:
Today’s presentation is by Michelle Ayon Navajas. It features Barbara Harris Leonhard reading her poem “Sleeping with Giants.”
Please click on the link below to read Michelle’s excellent article. I assure you that her informative post is well worth reading.
Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/PT5-SmallPleasures
Ivor Steven (c) April 2025
Thank you to Carla for her fabulous Promotional Post about “our” Anthology, Poetry Treasures 5: Small Pleasures
Please click on the link below to read her entire article …
Ivor Steven (c) April 2025
Picture Caption: WordCrafter Poetry Treasures 5: Small Pleasures Tour Banner
Welcome to the WordCrafter Poetry Treasures 5: Small Pleasures Book Blog Tour. We have a great tour planned, and I hope you all will stick with us and visit each stop, because comments at each stop enter you for another chance to win one of three digital copies of Poetry Treasures 5 in our giveaway. We’ve got guest posts from contributors Michelle Ayon Navajas and Dawn Pisturino, readings from Barbara Harris Leonhard, Ivor Steven, and DL Mullen, and a special interview with Dawn Pisturino. Plus you may find a couple of early reviews from our wonderful tour hosts. So please join us and follow along on the schedule below to learn more about this outstanding poetry anthology and enjoy a few Small Pleasures.
Available on Amazon Australia.
Also available on Amazon US here: https://www.amazon.com/Poetry-Treasures-5…/dp/B0F3VJC23W.
April 21-28 – Poetry Treasures 5: Small Pleasures, by Kaye Lynne Booth, et.al.
Mon. 4/21 – Opening Day- Writing to be Read – (Intro. post & Book Trailer)
Tues 4/22 – Colleen Writes & Publishes – (Dawn Pisturino. Guest Post)
Wed. 4/23 – Patty’s Worlds – (Michelle Navajas Guest Post)
Thurs. 4/24 – Carla Loves to Read– (Ivor Steven Reading))
Fri. 4/25 – Poetry By Mich – (Barbara Harris Leonhard Reading)
Sat. 4/26 – Book Places – (DL Mullan Reading)
Sun. 4/27 – Writing to be Read – (Wrap up) – Undawnted (Interview with Dawn Pisturino)
Open the cover
and you will discover
Poetry Treasures
from the guests on
Robbie Cheadle’s 2024
“Treasuring Poetry”
blog series
on Writing to be Read.
Join poets DL Mullan, Barbara Harris Leonhard, Jude Itakali, Ivor Steven, Robbie Cheadle, Michelle Ayon Navajas, Gwen M. Plano, Elizabeth Gauffreau, David Bogomolny, Dawn Pasturino, Maggie Watson, and Colleen Chesebro share their own small pleasures in poetic verse.
Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/PT5-SmallPleasures
This tour we’re giving away digital copies of Poetry Treasures 5: Small Pleasures to three lucky winners. Follow the tour and comment at each stop, so we’ll know you were there. You’ll be entered for another chance in the giveaway at each stop. Winners are chosen through a random drawing by WordCrafter Press. We’ll be watching for your name.
A special thanks goes out to Teagan Genevieve for our lovely book trailer. Thank you so much Teagan.
You will meet some of the contributors along the way on this tour, but in this opening day post, I’d like ton tell you a little about the editors who put this project together and made it happen. I also thought it might be interesting to share a brief glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes when putting together a poetry anthology, which I hope you’ll find of interest.
For Kaye Lynne Booth, writing is a passion. Kaye Lynne is an author with published short fiction and poetry, both online and in print, including her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction; and her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets; Books 1 & 2 of her Women in the West adventure series, Delilah and Sarah, and her Time-Travel Adventure novel, The Rock Star & The Outlaw,as well as her poetry collection, Small Wonders and The D.I.Y. Author writing resource. Kaye holds a dual M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing with emphasis in genre fiction and screenwriting, and an M.A. in publishing. Kaye Lynne is the founder of WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services and WordCrafter Press. She also maintains an authors’ blog and website, Writing to be Read, where she publishes content of interest in the literary world.
My job is to edit the final manuscript, format and publish it. I find poetry to be a personal endeavor, so I do very little editing of the actual poems for fear of changing the poet’s meaning, since poetry often does not follow the rules of grammar and punctuation which apply to the English language. In addition, we have poets from all over the globe included in the anthology, which makes for variation in style and differences in spellings, so I pretty much leave the poetry as is unless it is something I know is a typo or mistaken word.
But the person who truly makes this anthology possible is my co-editor, Robbie Cheadle, who finds and schedules poets to be interviewed on the “Treasuring Poetry” blog series on Writing to be Read. It is Robbie who selects and interviews each poet, and she usually reviews their latest release, as well. Then, at the end of the year, Robbie sends out invitations to the anthology and collects and compiles all the materials into a manuscript before turning it over to me. Without Robbie to do all of the preliminary work, there would not be any Poetry Treasures Anthologies. I couldn’t do it without her.
South African author and illustrator, Robbie Cheadle, has written and illustrated sixteen children’s books, illustrated a further three children’s books, and written and illustrated three poetry books. Her work has also appeared in poetry and short story anthologies.
Robbie also has two novels and a collection of short stories published under the name of Roberta Eaton Cheadle and has horror, paranormal, and fantasy short stories featured in several anthologies under this name.
You can find Robbie Cheadle’s artwork, fondant and cake artwork, and all her books on her website here: https://www.robbiecheadle.co.za/
That’s it for today’s stop. I hope I gave you enough of a taste of this delectable poetry anthology to make you want to sample more. There are several more tasty morsels from then contributing authors along the way. Join us tomorrow, on Colleen Writes & Publishes, where author/poet Dawn Pisturino will share a guest post and poetry from Poetry Treasures 5: Small Pleasures.
_______________________
Ivor Steven (c) April 2025
A special thank you to Robbie Cheadle of “Robbie’s Inspiration” for her majestic review of “our” book. Please refer to her complete article by clicking on this link >> https://robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com/2025/01/24/robbies-inspiration-book-reviews-perceptions-by-ivor-stevens-and-derrick-knight-and-amanda-in-scotland-by-darlene-foster/?_gl=1*3amfe7*_gcl_au*Mzg4MTk1MzY0LjE3MzcwMjMwNTI.
Robbie’s Inspiration – Book reviews: Perceptions by Ivor Steven and Derrick Knight
This colourful and fascinating book is a collection of collaborative articles. The photographs were taken by Derrick Knight from the New Forest area of southern England, and associated ekphrastic poems were written by Ivor Steven from Geelong, the other side of the world, the southern end of Australia.
I am a fan of Ivor Steven’s poetry and also of Derrick Knight’s photography so this combined collection of poetry and photography is a real treat.
Ivor depicts everyday events and life through a lens of beautiful and uplifting words which is a marvelous talent. Derrick captures everyday life in an unusual and special way. I really enjoyed these combinations.
A few examples of the poetry with descriptions of the accompanying photographs:
Sunset couple on bench – a gorgeous photograph of the sun setting over water and flooding the world with golden light with a silhouette of a loving couple on a bench.
The words: A Rainbow Dance
“At the end of the rainbow
We shall dance and glow
On nature’s golden plateau”
Autumn woodland – a wonderful photograph of a wooded area during autumn which the trees are a variety of yellows, greens and auburns. There is a large bush, in shades of beige, in the forefront.
An extract from Connected:
“up there
under draconian dark clouds
I see a blue moon rising
gracefully shrouding the horizon”
Ferns and grasses – a glorious picture of ferns and grasses adorned in shades of green and yellow, dancing in the sunlight.
Extract from The Ancient Fern Survives:
“selfish, unopened minds remain numbed
False eyelashes are heavy and closed
Botoxed lips are silent and sealed
And elephant ears have been pegged out of sight”
This book is a special combination of visual and literary delights.
Purchase Perceptions on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1387487302
Purchase Perceptions on Lulu.com here: https://www.lulu.com/shop/ivor-steven-and-derrick-knight/perceptions/hardcover/product-2pwqe4.html?q=Perceptions&page=1&pageSize=4
Ivor Steven (c) January 2025
Featured Collage Above: the photos were taken by Derrick Knight, and kindly with his permission, he allows me to reproduce them here in collaboration with my poems. >> https://derrickjknight.com/2023/03/12/a-frantic-baaing/
Hi, dear readers and followers, the Book Launch of “Until Eyes Hear Sound” is next Wednesday, and today’s poem “Arriving and Leaving, Visiting Her” was selected by Robbie Cheadle as her favourite poem in her wonderful review of my book …
https://writingtoberead.com/2024/04/17/treasuring-poetry-meet-prolific-poet-ivor-steven-and-a-review-poetry-poetrycommunity-treasuringpoetry/
“My April Treasuring Poetry guest is the talented and prolific poet, Ivor Steven. Please enjoy his thoughts about poetry and some of his favourite poems.”
Arriving and Leaving, Visiting Her (page 102)
arriving
via the cemetery gate
holding her flowers
hands quivering
heart quickens
bowing silently
reminiscing
smiling
wondering why
closing time
and visiting time
co-exist in life
leaving
via the cemetery path
renewing goodbyes
crying silently
breathing slowly
smiling
wondering why
closing time
and visiting time
co-exist in life
Ivor Steven (c) July 2024
Thank you, Robbie Cheadle, for sharing my thoughts on poetry and for reviewing my new book, “Until Eyes Hear Sound” for Treasuring Poetry on Writing to be Read!
I invite you to read my interesting interview, and her fabulous review, which I have linked below.
Ivor Steven (c) April 2024
A huge thank you to Ingrid from Experiments in Fiction. Please visit her fabulous site by clicking on this Link >> https://experimentsinfiction.com/
My article here is a Direct Copy of her post she published on her site earlier today
If you are looking for some recommended reading, I have the following book reviews for you from Merril D. Smith, and Ivor Steven/Derrick Knight. Curl up with a cup of coffee and read on…
This delightful volume of over 50 original poems is Merril’s debut poetry collection, published by Nightingale and Sparrow Press. The striking cover was designed by Merril’s child Jay Smith, maintaining the strong family connection which runs throughout this book, dedicated to the memory of the author’s mother, Sylvia L. Schreiber.
The book is haunted by ghosts, from the title poem onwards:
ghosts in dusty grass
sit still in the long ago,
a gull’s laugh breaks the silence…
echoes
These echoes are a recurring and unifying theme throughout the book, in keeping with the author’s dedication to her mother, whose “laugh still echoes.”
There are echoes of the distant past, in poems such as ‘Antikythera Mechanism’ and ‘Jawbone: Homo Sapiens,’ which display Merril’s interest in, and strong connection with, ancient history:
His epitaph,
“eight teeth, one broken.”
Not living,
no longer here,
yet not completely gone.
True, too, of the skeletons of the more recent past. ‘Observe, And Again’ carries echoes of the Holocaust:
Freighted bodies bound for
the unknown—
a train to hell
where fear is the constant.
Atrocities prefigured in ‘The Pogrom:’
and I do carry within me the burnt ruins
of that long-ago pogrom—
an incipient conflagration—who knows?
All levels of history and deep time are here, from human history to the evolution of the universe; subjects close to my heart, as is the historical reputation of women, so thoughtfully examined in ‘Through the Ages, She Is Blamed:’
scared of her knowledge, scared if she’s free
those named and nameless who do not see
it is they, not she, who commit the atrocities.
There is so much to love in this collection! I could go on, but I encourage you to discover this stunning debut for yourself: River Ghosts is available from Amazon.
Perceptions is a cross-continental collaboration from poet Ivor Steven (Australia) and photographer Derrick J. Knight (United Kingdom). Here are dragons, faeries, foals and swans captured in verse and image, which complement one another perfectly. The images are predominantly of nature, and perhaps reflect humanity’s struggle to find a place within the natural world, in the ruins of so-called ‘progress’, as evinced by Ivor’s poem, ‘Mankind’s Dirty Hands:’
within nature’s naked forest
waiting for mankind’s dirty hands
to stop the desert sands
from ravaging the last strands of what remains hanging over our land
The poems are a mixture of haiku, senryu and longer poems featuring Ivor’s trademark end-rhymes:
All the world is green
within my midday dream
please, do not disturb me
let me sleep, let me be (from the poem, ‘Let It Be’)
Other contributors who deserve credit are Derrick’s wife, Jackie Knight, who has provided some excellent photography (I particularly like her images of birds) and of course, Ivor’s niece, Kerri Costello, who designed the cover, and linked the book to yet another continent (she lives in the US).
The book (available from Lulu) is a fortuitous combination of verse and image. Despite his own advice to the contrary in the section ‘Do not quote me,’ I will end with what strikes me as a most pertinent quote from Ivor:
“A poet following a poet, gives you poetry in motion.”
It is a testament to the friendships formed on WordPress that these two artists have been able to collaborate successfully and bring this globe-spanning project to fruition!
Happy Reading,
Ingrid
Again, Thank You Ingrid, and here is a poem you mentioned in your review …
All the world is green
Within my midday dream
Please, do not disturb me
Let me sleep, let me be
Let it be, let it be
I do not comprehend
Your unnatural trends
Of killing your neighbours
After kicking in their sacred doors
Do not listen to me
Hear the breeze among the trees
There, under nature’s ancient marquee
She wisely decrees
Live in harmony like the bees
Co-existence is free
Let it be, let it be
Perceptions is Now Available via:
Jaymah Press: https://www.jaymahpress.com.au/
OR: email me directly for a signed copy – ivorrs20@gmail.com
Ivor Steven (c) January 2031
This weekend, on Weekly Prompts, the challenge word is: Review (2). Please go over and visit their fabulous site by clicking on >> Here.
Below is my review of of C Faherty Brown’s new book “Another Yellow Door”, and you may visit her site via this link>> https://bikecolleenbrown.wordpress.com/
“Another Yellow Door”, by C Faherty Brown, my Review.
And you find Colleen’s book on Lulu Books, and also read all the other great reviews via this link >> https://www.lulu.com/shop/c-faherty-brown/another-yellow-door/paperback/product-r9jk4m.html?q=another+yellow+door&page=1&pageSize=4
“Another Yellow Door” enticingly invites you to join Bronagh on her travel log of adventure across USA, via an “off the beaten track” journey. Bronagh has converted her purpose-bought cargo van into a self-contained home on wheels, which has a distinct side opening “Yellow Door”. The door on her van proves to be like a yellow honey hive, attracting various characters who are openly curious enough to enquire about Bronagh’s fascinating van and her journey’s adventures. Bronagh is brave, but not overly confident of what she wants to achieve, or the actual purpose of her quest. She doesn’t know where she is traveling to, or why she is traveling in that direction … No Matter, jump aboard, sit in the empty passenger seat and enjoy the ride. You won’t be disappointed with where ever her journey happens to take you, and you’ll be more than enchanted with whoever she meets along the way. There were times I smiled with tears of joy and sometimes I cried tears of sadness … and overall I thoroughly enjoyed reading “another” fabulous book by C Faherty Brown
My collection of Colleen’s fabulous
I think Colleen has the same number of books as “Leonard Cohen” in my bookcase.
Ivor Steven (c) August 2022
Ivor.Plumber/Poet 