Category: Life & Nature

Shangri La, Volume 12. Resuming the Climb

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 “1901” 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 12, Resuming the Climb
OR …
Click on this link >> Shangri La, Volume 12, Resuming the Climb.pdf





Resuming the Climb


From beyond the grand universe of mime
The eternal wings of time
Embraced the muse of my rhymes
Rewinding my heartstrings’ chime

Words cascade onto my blue lines
And valiantly my soul resumes the climb







.


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) February 2025

“We Were the Last Mohicans”


Over at Weekly Prompts, the Colour Challenge for February is Green. To visit their fabulous site, please click on >> Here.
Hmmm, no green words in my poem, but there was a showy “Green” succulent plant under the cafe’s verandah




“We Were the Last Mohicans”


Saturday at the Cafe
It’s not as hot as Helios
But the mid-summer sun
Is flexing his Solar Plexus
I’m sweating
And Frankie is panting

The open verandah is shady
With an occasional zephyr
Wafting over our table
Refreshing enough
To keep us comfortable
Pleasant enough
To allow me the energy
To write these casual words

Mid-afternoon
The cafe’s patrons
Are gradually departing
And we are the last Mohicans






.


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) February 2025

Throwback Friday, Playing Cards

Today’s Throwback Friday poem is from January 2021, and it was a piece that I had forgotten about, so it was a pleasant surprise to find the poem while searching my files this morning.






Playing Cards

To many questions
And I do not have the answers
I am running out of rhyme
Is it time?
To go back to school
Me, a forgetful old fool
Or, I could stay here
Wait for the anteater to cheer
Sit in my garden courtyard
Avoid soul searching and just play cards
With Oscar the wise old owl
And Phillip the penguin, he’s my pal






.


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) January 2025

Floating In Exile




Floating In Exile 
 
 
I am flying inside a dream  
somewhere between  
twilight’s dark indigo sky  
and earth’s blackest ocean  

I see a grey horizon  
floating in exile  
upon a moonlit lagoon  
without a compass or a sundial  
 
meanwhile  
swimming across the Nile 
they refile my profile  
from butterfly to freestyle  
 
then I wake up inside a crocodile  
and wonder, have I the guile?  
to walk another mile  
toward the exit turnstile 






.


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) January 2025

A Nest That Never Rests






A Nest That Never Rests



On this sombre Sunday morning
the day is typically quiet
and under the hanging grey clouds
there is a whispering cool breeze
for the birds to hover upon
where they uniquely monitor
the unpredictable world below


And while lazily meandering
I cannot help but wonder
what do the birds perceive?
of us, unappreciative homo-sapiens
as we continue to vandalize our sacred planet
and randomly ravage our own nest




“The Wild”, lyrics, Mumford & Sons

We saw birth and death
Can’t we be still
What makes you kind
From where comes your sparkling mind

Was it under the earth?
Tied up in a knot
Which I forgot you were ever there

Do not be afraid
Do not be afraid

What’s that I see?
I think it’s the wild
Puts the fear of God in me

And was there a grudge
Up from the dust
Inconceivable lie

What’s that I see?
I think it’s the wild
Puts the fear of God in me




.


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) January 2025

Is This the Right Time?





Is This the Right Time?



we slept in this morning
we are behind time

or are we on time
for whatever time
decreed by time
to be the right time

time is neither more nor less
time is endless

there are many times
we need a hand
but time hears no command

time is here and now
time is the universe’s eternal vow







.


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) January 2025

One Day at a Time/or, Is There Time?


Over at Weekly Prompts, because It’s the last weekend of the month, it’s time for the “One Day” Prompt! … To visit their fabulous site, please click on >> Here




“One Day” at a Time/or, Is There Time?

Time to relax
Time for coffee and a snack
Time for observing
Time for listening

Time is neither lost nor found
Time rebounds
Without a sound

Time cannot be unwound
Time is all around







.


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) January 2025

Flying Through Time



Flying Through Time

Flying below the clouds
or
Zooming above the bay
or
Swooping across the paddocks


My wings
are oblivious
to the climb
And do not hear
the sound of time






.


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) January 2025

Throwback Friday, Dragonfly, Nature’s Guardian Eye

Featured Image: my dragonfly photo from Thursday.

Yesterday I successfully photographed a Dragonfly in flight, which inspired me to post today’s Throwback Friday poem, “Dragonfly, Nature’s Guardian Eye”.

Below are Images, from 19th March 2023: I am thrilled to say that the attached photos are mine, and they are my first-ever successful photographs of Dragonflies …





Dragonfly, Nature’s Guardian Eye



Long before homo sapiens overachievers
You were the swamp’s incorruptible believer
Overseer of the planet’s rivers and valleys
The weary world’s ardent ally

Long before the floundering Ark
You were our wisest Monarch
Overseer of the forest’s unpolluted sky
Nature’s sprightly guardian eye







.


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) January 2025