Category: Fantasy

A Frollick of Forest Faeries, is in the Geelong Writers Annual Anthology, Eclectic Words 2023

Last evening I attended the Geelong Writers book launch of their annual anthology “Eclectic Words 2023”, and I am thrilled to announce that my piece “A Frollick of Forest Faeries” appears in the poetry section this prestigious Anthology.









The lyrics to “A Faerie Song (We Who Are Old)” by The Waterboys & William B Yeats




Ivor Steven (c) December 2023

His Musical Finale

Over at Weekly Prompts, the Weekend Challenge is the word; Finale You may visit their wonderful site by clicking on >> Here.





His Musical Finale 


 
 
Richard the intrepid snail  

Went searching for the Holy Grail  

He was told by the garden toad  

His goal was on a long frosty road  

Winding down toward the South Pole  

Coolly, the snail began his arctic stroll  

Determined to find the sacred anomaly  

Before the music played at his grand finale 








Tullawalla is Available From

Jaymah Press:https://www.jaymahpress.com.au/

Ivor Steven: email, ivorrs20@gmail.com

Amazon: search via, ‘Tullawalla by Ivor Steven’


AND
Perceptions is Now Available via:

Amazon: https://amzn.asia/d/4yFHWrT

Jaymah Press: https://www.jaymahpress.com.au/

Lulu Books: https://www.lulu.com/shop/ivor-steven-and-derrick-knight/perceptions/hardcover/product-2pwqe4.html?q=Perceptions+by+Ivor+Steven&page=1&pageSize=4

OR: email me directly for a signed copy – ivorrs20@gmail.com  


Ivor Steven (c) November 2023

Throwback Friday, Living On a Wooden Bridge (Revised)

Today’s Throwback Friday poem is a rewrite of a piece original called “Living On a Knife Edge”(Feb 2019). This poem was one of two, that I submitted to be published in March 2020 , but the other poem was accepted ahead of this piece, and here today I have again revised the 2020 poem.

Living On a Wooden Bridge (Revised)


Fire, fire, there’s raging fires

I need help to stamp out the flames

Burning down this old timber bridge

A traveler’s last causeway to the edge

Carrying today’s harsh realities

Spanning a lifetime of dreams and fantasies


Rain, rain, there’s a Noah’s flood

I need help to stop the cascading suds

Fill the sandbags with riverbed mud

Plug the leakages with woolly rugs

Ring out qualms and doubts

And accept the charity handouts


Warning, warning, there’s a heatwave

I need help to see through the shimmering haze

And peer into nature’s fiery atmosphere tonight

Where millions of her fireflies are alight

Forcing eyes to hear the sound of flashing delights

Gathering above the bridge to be the world’s new sunlight








“The Hosting Of The Shee” a poem by William B Yeats, sung by the Waterboys

The host is riding from Knocknarea
And over the grave of Clooth-na-Bare
Caoilte tossing his burning hair
And Niamh calling: ‘Away, come away’
‘Away, come away, away, away’.

The winds awaken, the leaves whirl round
Our cheeks are pale, our hair is unbound
Our breasts are heaving, our eyes are agleam
Empty your heart of its mortal dream.

The host is riding from Knocknarea
And over the grave of Clooth-na-Bare
Caoilte tossing his burning hair
And Niamh calling: ‘Away, come away’
‘Away, come away, away, away’.

Our armsa-wave, our lips are apart
And if anything gaze on our rushing band
We come between him and the hope of his heart
We come between him and the deed of his hand.

The host is riding from Knocknarea
And over the grave of Clooth-na-Bare
Caoilte tossing his burning hair
And Niamh calling: ‘Away, come away’
‘Away, come away, away, away, away, away…’.



Ivor Steven (c) November 2023

Moon Dew

Please Note: All attached Photos presented in this article were taken by Derrick Knight, and he has kindly allowed me reproduce them here on my poetry site. You may visit his wonderful article, and site by clicking on this link >> https://derrickjknight.com/2023/10/02/moons-for-denzil/



Moon Dew 

 
 
The moon slithered  

into my bedroom 

through a crack beside  

her nostalgic heirloom  

and lowered himself 

onto my breastplate  

stared into my eyes  

and told me straight 


“There is no need for tears  

I am here to ease your fears 

before I leave  

I will give you  

a loving spoonful  

of magical moon dew  

my universal cure  

for the morning blues” 


“Thank you, Mr. Moon”  

as I joyfully sipped  

from his silver spoon




 




Tullawalla is Available From

Jaymah Press:https://www.jaymahpress.com.au/

Ivor Steven: email, ivorrs20@gmail.com

Amazon: search via, ‘Tullawalla by Ivor Steven’


AND
Perceptions is Now Available via:

Amazon: https://amzn.asia/d/4yFHWrT

Jaymah Press: https://www.jaymahpress.com.au/

Lulu Books: https://www.lulu.com/shop/ivor-steven-and-derrick-knight/perceptions/hardcover/product-2pwqe4.html?q=Perceptions+by+Ivor+Steven&page=1&pageSize=4

OR: email me directly for a signed copy – ivorrs20@gmail.com  

Ivor Steven (c) October 2023

Throwback Friday, Untethered

Untethered

Today’s poem “Untethered”, is also an uncaptured piece that did not make the final list for the new book “Until Eyes Hear Sound”… hmmm … and I always like to get away in my “Itmims” spacecraft …

Untethered

With my back against the setting sun

I will fly toward a placid place, not yet overrun

Where the ground is not made of buried heads and limbs

I will untether my sturdy spacecraft Itmims*

And traverse the universe to discover a new world

Another planet of wonderment, yet unfurled

Where rivers and oceans are crystal clear

And unmasked, I can breathe the atmosphere

Where flowering plains are home to sacred trees

And native fauna roam wild and free


*Itmims, Ivor’s time machine in micro space







Coming Soon




Ivor Steven (c) October 2023

A Torn Thesaurus

I went to the Geelong Writers monthly social meeting at the Box Office Cafe this evening … I am back home, It’s 10.30pm, I’m tired, my computer is “duck muck” again, so I thought I would a reblog of this ‘appropriate’ poem before I hit the sack



A Torn Thesaurus



With my fiddle and riddles

Here in the middle

Of this unopened universe

Time spirals in reverse


Quills fly in from cyberspace

As alien words unravel and interlace

A torn thesaurus is my database

I wonder

Have I landed in the right place?


But that does not matter

K-9’s happy with the community chatter

Doggie treats and friendly pats

And he presents his paw for more

Like a hungry beggar’s cap






Ivor Steven (c) July 2022

Burning the Fears

Over at Weekly Prompts, the word: Backwards is the Weekend Challenge. Please visit their fabulous site by clicking on >> Here. – Below, I followed Sue’s suggestion and went “Backwards” through my files and found this intriguing piece from September 2017
Featured Image: Artwork, by Kerri Costello, Graphic Design Artist, my amazing niece/second cousin, who lives in Philadelphia, and I think this was the first design that she created for my poetry website.


Burning the Fears


I’m frightened, and too scared to show my face

And knowingly, I’m arriving late

The ghouls are spying from the hill

And lower fools are poisoning her will

Underneath her, a wicker complete

Above, she’s suspended from a stake

The bonfires started, against the rules

And the crowds rejoicing, as the fire drools

Waiting agog, for her garments to ignite

The flames are crackling below her tonight

And the mob’s listening for her ungodly screams

But there’s not a whimper! Within she beams

And secretly, I see her black cat’s drowning tears

Are extinguishing all her burning fears






Ivor Steven (c) August 2023

Throwback Friday, Faerie Pantomime

Today I am presenting another poem that will be appearing in my new book “Until Eyes Hear Sound”. I wrote ‘Faerie Pantomime’ in October 2020, and the poem will be the opening piece in the Faeries Section, of Chapter 9. Humour, Fantasy, Faeries, and Weird. 



Faerie Pantomime


Mid-morning and here comes the sun

The Wala* goddess smiles at everyone

Enriching the bloody goodness in our veins

And saturating our skin when the sky rains



Is your blood the same colour as mine?

Does your skin drip-dry under the same sunshine?

Are your dreams moonbeam snippets of time?

Do you imagine the world to be a faerie’s pantomime?

And we the audience, laugh at their mystical rhymes

Together dancing and ringing the city’s peace chimes




*Wala: Aboriginal mythical sun goddess.







Ivor Steven (c) August 2023

Throwback Friday, Wonderment Rings True

Today I am presenting another poem that will be appearing in my new book “Until Eyes Hear Sound”. I wrote ‘Wonderment Rings True’ in September 2020, and the poem will be the opening piece in the Fantasy Section, of Chapter 9. Humour, Fantasy, Faeries, and Weird. 



Wonderment Rings True


My imagination’s beaming

Alive and dreaming

Even when I’m sleeping

Tired eyes are peeping

Searching for the milky-way

Flying there, on my open sleigh

And sailing the air-waves

High above broadway



Steering my spacecraft, Itmims**

While reading The Brothers Grimm

And playing a tune on my old violin

The theme from ‘Lord of the Rings’



I’m a visionary sky Pilot

With a handful of violets

Travelling beyond a silvery moon

To float upon our blue lagoon




**Itmims … “Ivor’s Time Machine In Micro Space”








Tullawalla is Available From

Jaymah Press:https://www.jaymahpress.com.au/

Ivor Steven: email, ivorrs20@gmail.com

Amazon: search via, ‘Tullawalla by Ivor Steven’


AND
Perceptions is Now Available via:

Amazon: https://amzn.asia/d/4yFHWrT

Jaymah Press: https://www.jaymahpress.com.au/

Lulu Books: https://www.lulu.com/shop/ivor-steven-and-derrick-knight/perceptions/hardcover/product-2pwqe4.html?q=Perceptions+by+Ivor+Steven&page=1&pageSize=4

OR: email me directly for a signed copy – ivorrs20@gmail.com  




Ivor Steven (c) August 2023