Category: Life

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 

Kunj Parekh – Unsplash

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.

Untitled

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

A Forever Coat, Published in, Write About – Four – Anthology, 2023

December, it’s that time of the year for the release of Anthologies, and here is another annual Anthology that my poems have been published in. This is one has been produced and published by the Belmont Page Writers Group (Geelong) and superbly edited by our convener, Claudia Collins.
Two of my poems were published in this fabulously presented Anthology, and today I am presenting the first one “A Forever Coat”.






Ivor Steven (c) December 2023

In Response, I Say

Over at Weekly Prompts, the Weekend Challenge, is the word; Single … please visit their wonderful site by clicking on >> Here …
My poem below is a “singular”(private), message of sympathy to a friend on WordPress






In Response, I Say




As my tears pass by

I caress my salty eyes

It could be the humid weather

Or the gentle touch of a quill’s feather

No matter, life, brings us together








Ivor Steven (c) December 2023

Throwback Friday, Time and the Sea

A piece I wrote on February 7th 2019. I was in Hospital recovering from my 3rd stroke (a minor one), but it was only 2 months since my previous stroke, and I was wandering around the place like a becalmed sailing ship waiting for the winds of change to send me home … The music I listened to during my stay, were mainly two Icelandic Bands, Sigur Ros, & Solstafir … I didn’t understand the lyrics, but the music seemed to be grand for my anxiety level …





Time and the Sea



There’s wasted time, hours and days gone

My time, between one procedure and the next

Time to explore this healing castle

Time to chat, to eager listener’s

Time to write, about realities and dreams

Time to observe the people’s living within

Time to think about the world’s problems

Time to visualise pictures of tomorrow

I’m not a patient in his bed

I’m free standing and waiting instead

I’m a walking and talking local poet

I’m not allowed to vacate the site

They want me near, to study my plight

They want me here, to secure my bed

They need me near, to look into my mind

They need me here, so I’m easy to find





Solstafir “Midaftann”

https://lyricstranslate.com/en/mi%C3%B0aftann-mid-evening.html

Mid-Evening

Now I have come home
After a journey on the deep seas.
The wave was so high,
The saltiness ate everything up.
I drowned in a black hole,
I pulled at the hand of death.
So high, it was so high,
And the moon lighted a path, yes the moon high in the sky,
And the moon lighted a path, yes the moon lighted a path.
So high, so high, wave of the sins, wave of the sins.




Ivor Steven (c) December 2023