Category: Life & Nature

Throwback Friday, Sadness (a Senryu)

Today’s Throwback Friday poem (originally written in July 2023) is drawn from my upcoming book, Time Hears No Sound. It appears as the first poem in the Senryu section of Chapter 10, Time’s Short Poems: Haiku, Tanka, etc.
A small return to 2023, where shadows still had something to teach me.




Sadness (a Senryu)


Below the grayness
Naked emotions stumble
Between the shadows



For a soundtrack to this quiet ache, here’s Leonard Cohen’s Show Me the Place — a voice searching through the same shadows.”





Ivor Steven  ©  February 2026

Our Cafe to the Rescue (a Haiku)

Featured Image Above: Recouping composure, one café moment at a time.


Frankie and I, settling into the calm, captured in little snapshots from our café breather.



Our Cafe to the Rescue (a Haiku)

It’s time to relax
And recoup our composure
A place without hooks






Ivor Steven  ©  February 2026

Above and Beyond the Horizon


Where the cloud‑horizon meets the fading sun, twilight balances its colours on the edge of evening


Above and Beyond the Horizon


Here, beneath the twilight zone’s archway,
I see a phenomenal golden causeway.

There, above the horizon’s sentinal treeline
and below the cloudbank’s grigio plateau –
like another parallel pseudo-horizon –

mysteriously, the yellow band of light
momentarily emerges,
despite the fading sun folding into night.








Ivor Steven  ©  February 2026

A Blackbird’s Night

Featured Image Above: Was created by Copilot and me.





A Blackbird’s Night


Not everything said
understands the light
within our heads.

On a Wolf Moon night,
what I write,
in black and white,
is not always right –
slumber darkens my sight.

I am no white knight,
nor a feathery kite.
And despite
my comfy campsite,

the world’s warring blight
incites me to always fight
for what is right
in black and white.




Footnote: I’m pleased to report that last week’s plumbing job was completed today. Even though I was tired and it was nearly dark, we still managed to go for our walkie …




Ivor Steven  ©  January 2026

The Earth and the Sky

Featured Image Above: Created by Copilot and me. Where light breaks through, and wings find their path.





The Earth and the Sky


“Good morning, Earth,”
Said the solar sky
To my little piece of the universe,
Where I see our illustrious Sun
Illuminating the waning Half-moon.

And there, below the umbrella of cosmic light,
the birds are embracing their empyrean life.





A moment that stunned me into stillness — sky, bird, and song all speaking the same truth.





Ivor Steven ©  February 2026

Who’s Watching Whom

Featured Image Above: Created by Copilot and me.


With two sharp‑eyed magpies and a pale daytime moon looking on, this little poem takes flight as a whimsical protest — a light‑feathered reminder that even the quiet watchers on the fence have something to say about the state of our cluttered world.



Who’s Watching Whom


I’m perched on the fence,
wondering about the world’s
lack of common sense,
and I ask the moon,
“Is there no end to this gloom?”

“Do not worry, my feathered friend –
this is not the end.”

“Soon there will be enough elbowroom
for everyone’s nom de plume
in the planet’s master bedroom,
after Mother Nature has donned
her cleaning costume,
and swept all of the needless showrooms,
backrooms, ballrooms, and boardrooms.”

“And the people should all help groom
their own untidy playrooms
with those unused yardbrooms.”




And here’s a song that hums along with the magpies’ quiet protest…




Ivor Steven ©  February 2026

Throwback Friday, My Mind Meanders (a Tanka)

Today’s Throwback Friday poem (originally written in August 2023) is drawn from my upcoming book, Time Hears No Sound. It appears as the first poem in the Tanka section of Chapter 10, Time’s Short Poems: Haiku, Tanka, etc.


I’ve done lots of meandering today, and now I need to have a doggie nap




My Mind Meanders (a Tanka)

On our morning trail
Where beginnings never end
Imagination
Meanders around each bend
Conscious of nature’s haven






.


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 ©  February 2026

Kissed by Daylight (a Haiku)

Feature Image Above: created by Copilot and me.


Today’s WordPress Prompt

Describe your most ideal day from beginning to end.

“The day’s first glow beckons me to pause, to notice, and to appreciate everything that unfolds.”




Kissed by Daylight (a Haiku)


Out of the darkness
The sun’s glow caresses my eyes
Daylight kisses my world






Ivor Steven ©  February 2026

Lioness Eyes


Two scenes from the same evening — twilight blazing in the west and moonlight rising in the east. Nature offered both, and the music speaks for itself. Which one draws you in?



Lioness Eyes

Who’s winning the mesmerising
photographic contest –
twilight’s effervescent scarlet sky,
illuminating the horizon in the west
or the moon’s royal blue panorama
edifying the evening clouds in the east?

Both scenarios are beautifully picturesque,
and choosing my favourite phosphorescence
is beyond my universe’s tinted opalescence.







Ivor Steven ©  February 2026