Hello dear readers and followers, I am now writing for “Coffee House Writers” magazine on a fortnightly basis, and my poem “A Mirror Image of You”, 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.
>> A Mirror Image Of You – Coffee House Writers
Ivor Steven (c) December 2023
A poem from my WP archives (March 2018), that I’ve tinkered with, and rehashed a number of times over the years. The original poem was written years before Carole passed (12 years ago), so the wording is quite ambiguous and introverted, and I’ll leave it up to your imaginations to interpret my thoughts …
Just A Call Away (Revised #2)
Waiting, when is she to summon me
Pondering what might have been
Writing to one and all, a finale
Pen to paper, wanting her to see
How I survived the Tasman Sea
While searching for her freedom tree
Wondering if it’s a selfish sin
To wear my second skin
Under an invisible coat of tin
Ivor Steven (c) December 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
I wrote the original piece on 21st December 2017, and this revised version I wrote on the 21st December 2019.
A Christmas Diamond, a Sparkling Jewel (Revised)
I dreamt of your radiant face last night
So serene, a diamond, a dove, so pure white
Not sad, just vivid memories, oh, so bright
And I’ve plenty of tears, don’t worry, I’m all right
Visions of your bravery, courage above, and beyond
So gracious, an everlasting smile, our iconic bond
Completely in awe, amazing, a personal anthem
And I declare you were natures stellar blossom
I felt your pain, your sorrow, revealed to only a few
So uncomplaining, never a burden, never a shrew
Thinking the whole world should be like you
I wish this hungry planet could be cheerful too
Wondering why is life, sometimes ordained cruel?
But I’ll continue on, for you, my sparkling Jewel
Ivor Steven (c) December 2023
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
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
Hello dear readers and followers, I am now writing for “Coffee House Writers” magazine on a fortnightly basis, and my poem “A Clear Blue Jar”, 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.
>> A Clear Blue Jar – Coffee House Writers
Ivor Steven (c) November 2023
“This Fence” is a poem I posted on my Site when I first began blogging in June/July 2017, however I originally wrote the piece back in 2001, when I was recovering from my first stroke in Sept’ 2000 … My words from 22 years ago seem be applicable today, as I start my recovery program from this week’s diabetes diagnosis…
This Fence
I am quickly nearing this fence.
An obstacle of a lifetime I see.
And from my side of this fence,
The hurdle is too high for me.
And on the other side of this fence,
There seems nowhere to land or flee.
I have arrived at this fence,
Above the pickets, just grey sky.
And on my side of this fence,
The grass is brown and dry.
On the other side of this fence,
The grass is green, but still I cry.
How am I to clear this fence,
There seems nowhere to go or get by.
This fence, all built of stones,
Breaks my spirit, and all my bones.
Ivor Steven (c) November 2023
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 “5 mins” … mine was a rough draft and I actually recite my poem the opposite way round to my finished one below …
No More Tears
Old Tears
How many rivers of tears must we cry
Before all the deepest wells run dry
More Tears
Nostalgic tears never stop
They just have longer dry spells
Between the heavy showers
New Tears
Uncoiled
Barbwire hooks open old wounds
Unveiled
Remembrance tears gush to the surface
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/
OR: email me directly for a signed copy – ivorrs20@gmail.com
Ivor Steven (c) November 2023
Over at Weekly Prompts the Wednesday Challenge word is: Time . To visit their fabulous site, please click on >> Here … my poem “Anti-Rust” spans twenty-three years of “Time”…
Anti-Rust
Twenty-three years have gone
Since I suffered my first stroke
I remember being cold and scared
I awoke the next day in hospital
Feeling like my limbs were full of rust
And my confused mind
Was locked inside a sleepwalking man
Disorientated and not to be trusted
Twenty-three years on
And two more strokes later
My body is still full of rust
But with the wonders of modern medicine
And some plucky self determination
I have recovered my cognitive abilities
And with the aid of anti-rust drugs
I am active enough to type up my canny poems
The Rust, Sivert Hoyem . Lyrics
Twenty hours he is gone
Another time she’s waiting for him
When he comes home
He’s in terrible state
He’s just sitting there by the window
With his hate
A rusty bathtub in the garden
Seven cars are in the yard
And only one that is running
Life is spout??? in the wilderness
But in his heart
It’s not a place for new beginnings
Everything you make make just falls apart
Sometimes she thinks
It’s the rust that eats the soul
In the winter time the sky is burning
Purple orange and gold
So one night like any other
She takes her bags out to the car
She passes a minute
Then she starts down the road
You can get anywhere
On the full tank of fuel
And on an empty heart
It’s not a place for new beginnings
Everything you make just falls apart
The house neglected and forbidden
???
???
Just thinking about it breaks your heart
???? from the ceiling
??? burning stars
So decay and the rust that eats the soul
The winter sky burns eternally
But people come and people go
Ivor Steven (c) October 2023
Happy 47th Anniversary Carole… my sky is still blue and I am still lingering here without you …
Spiraling
I look
upward
near and far
on spiraling
warm air
a white petal
fluttering
like a dove
between
here and heaven
hovering
on a cloud of love
there
waving
from above
my angel
forever
faithful
I wave
“oh, my love,
aren’t you tired yet?”
Spiraling, Appears in my book “Tullawalla” as the ‘Dedication’ poem to my late wife, Carole
Ivor Steven (c) Sept 2023
Ivor.Plumber/Poet 