Life & Nature – Ivor.Plumber/Poet

A Solar Empyrean Halo

A Solar Empyrean Halo

Midmorning’s Rising Sun
Gazing above the usual field of view,
high into the cloudy stratosphere,
I catch sight of a
jetstream’s snowdrops
falling from beyond the rising sun’s
solar empyrean halo.

Twilight’s Setting Sun
Gazing toward the hessian horizon,
below the low misty atmosphere,
I catch sight of an
evanescent cashmere twilight
which had serendipitously caught the setting sun’s
solar empyrean halo.

Let the final light’s echo carry you from morning’s rise to twilight’s hush, and here’s the song that keeps the halo glowing a little longer.

Ivor Steven © July 2026

Tiredness Sets In

Last night’s twilight felt a little weary, the sun dimming behind the clouds as if it shared my winter tiredness. That small moment became this poem.

Tiredness Sets In

Why is the setting sun
looking so tired and underpowered,
there behind the wistful cloud’s
long caramel bun?

Is it the darkness
of the tree’s silhouettes on the horizon
or the sogginess
of the meadow’s lush green ocean?

Perhaps it’s the foreground’s prickly shrubs
that are holding your eyelids up
before you are allowed to clutch
twilight’s welcoming goodnight hugs.

A quiet, dusk‑lit piece to echo the sun’s underpowered drift — a gentle soundtrack for winter tiredness.

Ivor Steven © July 2026

Twilight’s Chromatic Storm (a Tanka)

Last night’s twilight carried a strange chromatic weight — colours deepening, clouds gathering, the horizon holding its breath. And on this cold winter evening, that same wintry mood returned and shaped the Tanka below

Twilight’s Chromatic Storm
(a Tanka)

Dark Ominous clouds
Growl along the horizon
Then suddenly howl
Over trees and open fields
Dumping sharp, icy black pearls

And in the fading light, as twilight settles, the storm’s voice drifts into song.

Ivor Steven © July 2026

Flying Through the Sun-veiled Clouds

While capturing the sun‑veiled clouds yesterday, a passing group of pigeons slipped into my frame — a quiet, serendipitous moment that inspired the poem taking flight below.

Flying Through the Sun-veiled Clouds

My weary wings are cold and old,
yet despite my life’s controlled leasehold —
I have a sense of being almost paroled and sold.

I’m boldly journeying
above the rolling cloud-deck,
toward the transcendental edge
of that unfolding hole in the sky
where the golden seam of light
will once again resurrect
my silhouette’s pluckiness
to continue flying
through the great beyond.

And so I rise, though frayed and worn,
my fading shadow, albeit weather‑torn,
still seeks the glow where new skies are born.

As the cold day folds away, I’ll let the music carry the final light of the day.

Ivor Steven © July 2026

Sandcastles

This poem grew out of three small conversations across the WordPress community — first with Mark, then with Violet, and finally with Susi. Each reply carried its own quiet image, and when I gathered them together, they seemed to drift toward the same shoreline, as if the words had swum through the ocean and landed on one beach.
In stanza order, they are.
1. Mark: WHAT WE BECAME – Havoc and Consequence
2. Violet: Freedom – Revisited | Thru Violet’s Lentz
3. Susi: The Gate To Hell – I Write Her

Sandcastles

Sandcastles built during low tide
are not supplied with an upside,
nor a legible exit guide.

Freedom never comes
in garbage bags full of crumbs.
Freedom calls and goes,
wearing the same old clothes.

Through the cracks’ depths,
the light’s resurfacing stealth
gives us reassuring strength.

Funny how a few quick replies can turn into a whole poem. These little moments across WordPress drift together, and before I know it, they’ve built something on the shore. Sandcastles is just today’s example.

Ivor Steven © July 2026

Throwback Friday, A Finite in the Infinite

This whimsical, philosophical poem was written in November 2020.
“This universe is the wreckage of the infinite on the shore of the finite”
… Swami Vivekananda

A Finite in the Infinite

Curiosity opens my eyes at first light,
I venture beyond my cocoon of fright,
And begin to see the world’s perceived fears —
Wingless, I crawl away from the sea of tears.

Tired of romancing the stone,
I threw a rock into the ocean,
Hit the great white ghost in the head,
And fed the hungry seagulls more bread.

This is no time to throw the towel in;
I just heard the bell for round two ring.
The power of the universe glows at night,
And I am but a finite in the infinite.

And in the quiet drift between the finite and the infinite, a song reminds us what it means to be alive.

Until Eyes Hear Sound

Amazon >> Amazon.com : 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 … and I can send you a PayPal account,
for the Book, plus Postage.

Ivor Steven © July 2026

The Unknown (a Haiku)

Please Note: All the attached images are photo montages that I have created, and then they were enhanced by Copilot.

A lone spirit lifts through the moon‑washed clouds, moving toward whatever waits beyond the unknown.

The Unknown (a Haiku)

Through the clouds I fly
I’m a spirit of the night
The unknown is mine

The spirit keeps drifting, following the quiet pull of the unknown.

Ivor Steven © July 2026

An Interesting Flower

One small flower caught my eye on our walk, and of course Frankie had to follow me in — just to make sure I wasn’t finding something better than him.

An Interesting Flower

We were meandering back
along our beaten walking track
when like an undercover spy
I saw a flower with my inquisitive eye
As I ventured into the shrubbery
there, right behind me, was Frankie
“What’s Dad found in there –
is it something tasty for me?”

Well Frankie, I’ve since discovered,
the flower was an African Iris,
they are drought-resistant and like
those sandy banks near our track.

Frankie approved the flower — and he definitely approves this track to finish the walk.

Coffee House Writers Magazine features my new poem, “Is My Horizon Unreachable?”

Hello, dear readers and followers. I contribute to Coffee House Writers magazine (USA) every second week, and I’m delighted to share that my latest poem, “Is My Horizon Unreachable?” appears in the new issue. You can read it by following the link below.
>> Is My Horizon Unreachable? – Coffee House Writers

Some moments arrive with a kind of stillness that asks you to look a little longer. Today, the sky was crossed with dark, wiry lines and the slow sweep of wings, each moment carrying its own quiet message. As I followed those shapes toward the brightening horizon, a poem began to form — unplanned, but insistent — rising out of the light which was beyond my reach.

Beyond the last pylon, let the music carry you the rest of the way toward that unreachable light.

Until Eyes Hear Sound

Amazon >> Amazon.com : 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 … and I can send you a PayPal account,
for the Book, plus Postage.

Blue Jay Ballet

And so the final arc of my rainbow trilogy rests here, carrying me gently into tomorrow.

Sunday arrives with a softer kind of clarity — rainbow light lingering after the night’s dream‑relay, a lone bird rising through the blue, and the moon keeping quiet watch above it all. After drifting between yesterday, tomorrow, and today, I find myself settling into the calm of the morning, letting its gentle hope unfold in its own time.

Blue Jay Ballet

Dreamtime is a relay
where thoughts have no say;
they inwardly sway
between yesterday,
tomorrow, and today –
they don’t go away.

Old windows don’t fray,
new doors are on delay
in different ways

Life’s calmness
paddles across the bay
Life’s quietness
shares my causeway
Life’s loneliness
is here to stay –
come what may

A gentle reminder that tomorrow still waits in the light — and so the sky carries me forward, come what may.