Category: Life & Nature

Shangri La, Volume 13. Below My Crown

FREE PDF COPY >>> Links Below

Hello, dear readers and followers. As you might know, I stopped producing my “Tullawalla Booklets” at # 31 because that was the house number of our family’s Tullawalla Homestead.
But the booklet formats are a superb way for me to catalogue the vast number of poems I produce and as the saying goes “I Am Turning Another Page”. Here I have begun a new series of poem booklets, called “Shangri La” which is the name of my little Villa, and is my piece of “earthly paradise, a retreat from the pressures of modern civilization”.
I now have “1950” Poems filed in these booklet formats!!
(on my bookshelf I have “The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, which contains 1775 poems … when I first started writing poems, I never envisaged that I would produce so many poems)

Click on >> Here, for the link to your FREE: PDF Copy of “Shangri La, Volume 13, Below My Crown”

OR … Shangri La, Vol 13, Below My Crown.pdf



Below My Crown

Deep into the Twilight Zone
At that moment above the horizon
When the sun is sliding down
Underneath his eiderdown

Nature dons her noble crown
And declares to everyone in town
“There’s no need to be a sad clown
or wear a worried frown.
Take your time to have a look around,
the world is not falling down”





Ivor Steven © March 31st 2025

Birds on Show (a Haiku)





Birds on Show (a Haiku)



Nature’s Birds on show
Flying the indigo sky
And among the trees







.


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 © March 2025

That In-between Time


The Moonwashed Weekly prompt from Eugi this week features a poem by Eugi for our inspiration:

problems left behind you
bare your soul
reach for infinity

© Eugi




That In-between Time

There
is that unique moment in time
when the horizon’s curtain comes down
and the sun’s afterglow emerges.

There
in between the mystical Twilight zone
and your evening’s bedtime nightgown.

There
where all of your world’s problems
are magically left behind you.






.


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 © March 2025

Do You See the Tiny Birds Too? (a Tanka)





Do You See the Tiny Birds Too? (a Tanka)

There, in the middle
Of the shady sunburnt trees
I see tiny birds
Playfully fluttering from
Gossamer webs to dry twigs







.


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 © March 2025

Throwback Friday, Volume Without Sound

Dear followers and friends of my poetry website; wishing you all, a happy and creative “WORLD POETRY DAY” …
“Let the earth bear witness” – – William B Yeats (1916)

Today’s Throwback Friday was written in January 2023
Thank you to Bartholomew >> https://bartbarkerpoet.com/2023/01/06/fraiku-not-just-a-little-shy/ for initially inspiring my “deep water thoughts” back then …






Volume Without Sound (Revised)




when I swim
at the surf beach
and dive deep down
the eerie fullness
of my silent surroundings
enhances the volume
of those submersed thoughts
floating within my mind



 



Ivor Steven (c) March 21st 2025

Am I The Pilot


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

Of Land and Sky




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

Hungry Crows, is in this week’s Coffee House Writers Magazine edition.

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