Life – Page 11 – Ivor.Plumber/Poet

Who’s Listening (a Senryu)

My poetic response to Raquel’s thoughtful post >> https://lavidaraq.com/2024/03/28/pick-up-the-phone

Who’s Listening (a Senryu)

Looking at my phone

Hoping for that ringing tone

Feeling all alone

Until Eyes Hear Sound is NOW Available From,

Lulu Books: https://www.lulu.com/shop/ivor-steven/until-eyes-hear-sound/paperback/product-jeev886.html?page=1&pageSize=4

Jaymah Press: https://www.jaymahpress.com.au/product-page/until-eyes-hear-sound

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) April 2024

“An Unused Compass”, is in this week’s edition of Coffee House Writers Magazine.

Hello dear readers and followers, I am again writing for “Coffee House Writers” magazine on a fortnightly basis, and my poem “An Unused Compass”, is in this week’s edition of Coffee House Writers Magazine. …
To Read my poem, please click on the link below to visit the article, at Coffee House Writers Magazine.
>> https://coffeehousewriters.com/an-unused-compass/

Ivor Steven (c) April 2024

Jingle Jangle for My Easter Bonnet (Revised)

Another Throwback Easter poem from 4 years ago, was a scrappy piece about my attempt to go on an Easter trip.

Jingle Jangle for My Easter Bonnet (Revised)

My notebook has run out of ideas

There are pages of invisible words

And blue lines are leaping outside

Into my used quills recycle bin

I have old hand-knitted socks

Lining my holey pockets

And my threadbare purse

It is loosely tied to my Easter bonnet

How am I going to fly?

Without, high-priced wings

I’ve not even a jingle jangle

Of silver change

And my dream’s destination

Now, it seems out of range

But I don’t need to travel too far

To reach my Easter avatar

Until Eyes Hear Sound is NOW Available From,

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) March 2024

Throwback Friday, Purple Tomatoe Ferns

I found a poem in my old files yesterday, from September 2018. Here I have revised the wording slightly, but without losing any of the original’s impressive imagery.

Dear friends and followers, as you read my article today, I am on my way to the “Clunes Booktown Festival” and won’t be back until Monday afternoon. But, I have been busy writing and have ‘Scheduled’ a post each day while I am away, but my blogging ‘Comments’ will be minimal … >> https://www.clunesbooktown.com.au/

Purple Tomatoe Ferns (Revised)

I have hallucinations of Vikings sailing in the cold

Plundering forgotten hearts and pilfering gold

I am dreaming of the old farmer’s wife

Milking cows, cleaning, and baking for life

I have feelings for the king, in his isolated castle

Looking forlornly upon his drawbridge, a foodless trestle

I am wandering through an empty paddock

Kicking dew off the grass, searching for a lover’s locket

I have plans for the planet’s desolate future

Growing purple tomatoe ferns until they are mature

I remember her bravery, her ever-lasting smile

Crawling over jagged garden beds, every painful mile

I have finished falling under her broken sky

Claiming peace among tomorrow’s butterflies

Ivor Steven (c) March 2024

Somewhere, Beyond My Time

This is the second piece that I wrote on Monday morning (Sunday afternoon PDT) when I attended the Writing Circle Poetry Group via Zoom with our host/convener, the gracious Ali Grimshaw >> https://flashlightbatteries.blog/online-writing-circles/ and after listening to her recite a second selected piece of poetry, we were then encouraged to write our own poetic response in “6 mins” … and mine was a short 6 line poem

Somewhere, Beyond My Time

Please give me more time

Time to lay a foundation stone

So, I can build my marble stairway

The stairway I need to create

The stairway that I must climb

A climb to somewhere, beyond my time

Until Eyes Hear Sound
Not available on Lulu or Amazon yet … but you may purchase it from me, via this web page or my email >> ivorrs20@gmail.com

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) March 2024

Wishing Tree

On Monday morning (Sunday afternoon PDT), I attended a Writing Circle Poetry Group via Zoom with our host/convener, the gracious Ali Grimshaw >> https://flashlightbatteries.blog/online-writing-circles/ and after listening to her recite a selected piece of poetry, we are then encouraged to write our own poetic response in “6 mins” … mine was a rough draft, and here is my completed poem.

Wishing Tree

I spend my time with words

My time is not just about words

My words evolve from my thoughts

My thoughts are the fruits

Of my life’s Wishing Tree

Faded wishes and lost dreams

Of where my heart has been

New wishes and dreams

Of what my soul is trying to achieve

My time is not just about words

Until Eyes Hear Sound
Not available on Lulu or Amazon yet … but you may purchase it from me, via this web page or my email >> ivorrs20@gmail.com

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) March 2024

Are All the Doors Closed?

Are All the Doors Closed?

Scores of uncultured doors

Closed pores of the old stores

Hiding drawers of past accords

The forgotten ardours of wise mentors

Now, just condescending decors to the new wars

Like cantankerous dinosaurs with itchy bedsores

Until Eyes Hear Sound
Not available on Lulu or Amazon yet … but you may purchase it from me, via this web page or my email >> ivorrs20@gmail.com

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) March 2024

Five Short Poems

I am extremely proud and humbled by the acceptance of five of my poems by the amazing Susi Bocks, Editor-in-Chief at The Short of It! “Hot off the Press” and released for publication today!

Ivor Steven

PUBLISHED ON March 8, 2024

New Light

Cascading sunshine
Falls into my cloudy eyes
Cold ponds feel new light

Further Down

From the Pandemic’s
Depressing downs
Into my Covid
Dressing gown

Finality

after we have consumed
the leftover wine
and desecrated the sundial’s shadow
the dark side of the moon
will finally recede from view

Co-existence

Beneath the trees and bushes
Lives an underground network
Prospering on giving and receiving

Our Time

Time waits for no one
Everyone passes in time
Time hears no commands

~~~

Ivor Steven, formerly an Industrial Chemist and then a Plumber, is now retired; he has been published in numerous anthologies and online magazines. He has two self-published books, Tullawalla and Perceptions. Ivor is an active member of the Geelong Writers Inc.(Australia) and an appointed writer for Coffee House Writers magazine (USA). He was first featured in 2022 and was nominated for the 2022 Pushcart Prize for his piece – The Sum is One. You can read his features and reblog by clicking HERE.

If you’d like to be featured on The Short of It in the future,
click here for the submission guidelines.

Ivor Steven (c) March 8th 2024

Broken is Not a Token (a Senryu)

A Senryu I wrote in response to Susi’s emotional poem “Getting Broken”
>> https://iwriteher.com/2024/02/14/getting-broken/
Featured Imaged Above: with Claudia’s (Humoring The Goddess)
kind permission, from her magnificent story about the artist, Glen Martin Taylor. Please visit her site and read the amazing article.
>> https://humoringthegoddess.com/2024/02/24/sunday-evening-art-gallery-glen-martin-taylor

Broken is Not a Token (a Senryu)

Once the heart’s broken

Kintsugi is a token

For the hurt spoken

Ivor Steven (c) February 2024

The Swing’s Tempo

My poem here, was a response/comment to Jevannel’s positive article, >> https://jevannelacademy.com/just-a-random-entry/ , which I have slightly altered to create this verse

The Swing’s Tempo

Life is full of challenges

Living alone is a challenge

Life’s challenges are there to be hurdled

Don’t let the world bring you down

The trees of life have many branches

Choose your strongest branch

Attach a lullaby swing

And enjoy all the highs

And flow with the lows

Of the swing’s enchanting tempo

Ivor Steven (c) December 2023