Category: Lifestyle

Creative Geelong Market Day, This Saturday, April 18th

It’s Market Day this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
* Our popular monthly markets are all undercover at Centrepoint Arcade on the third Saturday of every month.
* They feature art, unique goods from local makers, second-hand goods, plants, books, and more.
* There are also open art studios, Yesterday Vintage, Untether Gallery, HBT Collectables, and the May’d Shop.
* Grab a unique gift for Mother’s Day! 

All at, Centrepoint Arcade
132 Little Malop St, Geelong
From 10 am to 3 pm

And I’ll be there with ‘Frankie’ and my “New Bookstall Set-up“








Ivor Steven ©  April 2026

A stitch in time, or: A rengay

My thanks to David, of “The Skeptic’s Kaddish,” for inviting me into this rengay. It was a pleasure to weave our lines together and watch the threads find their own shape.
>> https://skepticskaddish.com/2026/02/23/a-stitch-in-time-or-a-rengay/



A two-person ‘Rengay’

A stitch in time, or: A rengay

By Ivor and David

1 (db)
weeks before Purim—
sticky glue smears small fingers,
needles pull bright threads

2 (is)
intricate puppet costumes
tangled in the maker’s strings

3 (db)
small gnat in a web
silver threads keep their design—
the body trembles

4 (is)
the wood manikins
loose joints suddenly collapse
first aid kit required

5 (db)
eight waiting legs lose purchase
their radial craft undone

6 (is)
unfashionable 
staples, glue guns, costume pins 
become quick-fix threads




A little Purim mischief to echo the threads and tangled costumes of our rengay.




Ivor Steven ©  February 2026

Aspiring to Spiral Higher

Today we drove to downtown Victoria

There were many inspiring spires

We had lunch at the Flying Otter Restaurant

Victoria’s Inner Harbour area

The shopping mall and my purchase at Russell Books

My photos of some fascinating street art murals

.

Aspiring to Spiral Higher

.

Higher than the hovering bees,
I am gazing beyond the towering trees.

Wondering:
Does all that sky ever feel at ease
Hanging above our polluted seas?

Wandering,
Through life on blended knees,
I am like yesterday’s mountain breeze-
Aspiring to spiral around the big freeze.

.

.

Ivor Steven (c) Sept 2025

Watching Over Us (a Tanka)





Watching Over Us (a Tanka)




I watched you depart

I knew it was your last flight

Life’s one way ticket

And now it’s my turn to wait

For time to arrest my soul









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) January 2024

Imperfectness (a Tanka)


My imperfections

Are perfectly camouflaged

Underneath the trees

Where moon shadows protect me

From the world’s imperfectness




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:

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). December 2022

A Universe Above The Sky

Walking in the rain

Wearing water-logged boots

I am dodging millipedes

And hopping over puddles

With the footpath crickets


I see a universe above the sky

As the liquid clouds

Drop their weight

Upon my empty hands

Filling them with verses

Of memories and rhymes






Ivor Steven (c) April 2022

Concrete Void

Originally posted on my site, 27th November 2017.
Yeah .. my concete void has finally been filled ..


Concrete Void


I’m becoming impatient,

Here waiting,

Waiting for a concrete lid.

Too many stop signs,

And lifetime bans.

I’m a good man,

So I’ve been told.

But there’s a chasm,

And the concrete’s,

Yet to fill the void.

……..To my readers that knew about my new verandah, “now nine months old”, and sadly it has been without the patio/floor area being concreted for all that time..  Yippee, today the mission has been accomplished. Thanks to my newly appointed concreter “Damian Maloney”, Yep, he’s on my recommended list. And Lizzy The Lizard Of Wizardry, was curiously looking on…..

20171121_132650






Ivor Steven (c) April 2022

“Where Have All The Good Times Gone”

A few days ago(29th Nov 2017), I had started writing a poem about Penny Farthing Bicycles, prompted by an article in the Geelong Advertiser newspaper, the arrival in Geelong of eight members of the Melbourne Bicycle Club in March 1880, as per featured picture above, courtesy of the Geelong Heritage Centre Collection. Then I was chatting with my friend Jane of Janebasilblog, she had just sent me the song and lyrics of the Mary Hopkin hit, “Those Were The Days”, from 1968, and I mentioned The Kinks were one of my fav’s from that era, and of course their song “Lola”. After our chat, I starting thinking [which is dangerous for me] about writing a crazy, combined, mixed up poem… The piece below is the result of those thoughts, and to my older readers, you’ll notice all the phrases written in Italic, are song titles taken from The Kinks album “The Kinks Collection”. So apologies to Ray Davies for using his song titles in such a manner.

“Where Have All The Good Times Gone”


I remember the olden times

Of pennies and farthings

Pounds and pence

When money made no sense

Mary Hopkins sang

“Those Were The Days”

And the Kinks song “Lola”

Was the best number one ever

Many a lazy Sunny Afternoon

Spent down near Waterloo Sunset

Where we would all dance

All Of The Day And All Of The Night

My Friends would all dress-up

Like Dedicated Followers Of Fashion

Unlike that lonely Plastic Man

Who faked the Death Of A Clown

Way back then, You Really Got Me

You fired me up, here in Victoria

Thousands of Days forgotten in the burn-out

Charred in a cloud of Big Black Smoke

But now, I’m Tired Of Waiting For You

Wondering, Where Have All The Good Times Gone





Ivor Steven (c)

Originally Posted, 29th November 2017.  4.00pm