I stood alone in my second-hand clothes
holding her worn out soul
gently, I slid her urn
into that hollow
inside the brick wall
a moment of heartache
hidden in a chasm of pain
stone-faced again
I stood alone in my timeless zone
not wanting to go home
Ivor Steven (c) August 2023
Featured Image Above: I received the photo from my niece, Jasmine, who lives interstate in Sydney. The photo is of an old painting of my wife’s (Carole) that I have not seen for 25 years … and a hearty thank you to dear Jazzy for locating and reframing Carole’s wonderful painting.
A Blue Wonder
“Blue hills or blue waves”
I originally asked her
“Whatever your eyes hear”
She eloquently replied
Yesterday, I received a keepsake photo
Of an old painting of Hers, called “Blue”
Today, the ocean’s deep blue
Is where my veiled emotions lie
Tomorrow, the alp’s serene blue
Will covertly visit my soul
Ivor Steven (c) August 2023
“When you’re sad and when you’re lonely and you haven’t got a friend
Just remember that death is not the end” … Bob Dylan
In The End
Destiny has his say
In the oddest of ways
Destiny has his way
Even on the finest of days
In the end
We do not have a say
At the end
Finality overtakes our stay
Ivor Steven © July 2023
Below the grayness
Naked emotions stumble
Between the shadows
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) July 2023
Today I am presenting another poem that will be appearing in my new book “Until Eyes Hear Sound”. I wrote ‘No Place Like Home’ in August 2020, and the poem will be the opening piece in Chapter 7. Memories and Rhymes
No Place Like Home
A sleeping beauty in her nightwear
Pure honesty lived in our home atmosphere
Her truth breathed, the air we shared
Hiding behind white silent doors
They tried to take her from our shores
By nailing her bed to a hospital floor
They heard my stoic voice roar
I told them, they wouldn’t win
“And watch out!! Don’t throw her in
you’ll surely regret your foolish sin
be warned, she’s Circe the Siren”
When I held her sweetness
I believe I touched greatness
And achieved weightlessness
Today’s poem might be the 2nd poem I recite at Geelong’s Lowercase Poetry Open Mic event tonight … or maybe the piece will be too sentimental for me to read …
A Blanket of Golden Sun
I’m flying above silver linings
Gliding on layers of white velvet
Travelling toward a golden horizon
Looking for her celestial star
Bright as today’s golden sun
That warm blanket of radiance
Lovingly crafted by her gentle hands
Held together by golden strings
From a softly humming violin
That played our song, “Once Upon a Time”
Reciting the golden hours of our love story
“Once Upon a Time”: our favourite version, sung by Bobby Darin
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) July 2023
Hi dear readers, unfortunately, I have tested “Positive” with ‘Covid’ … and will be resting up for a few weeks
A Forever Coat (Revised)
Her favourite coat still hangs in my wardrobe
Every time I open the robe’s door
I inherently see her family heirloom
A gift that was handed down from her grandmother
However, a gift she was not able to wear after her sickness began
Not once, over the next thirty years of her failing frailty
Sadly the declining illness brought about her finality
And nostalgically I held onto her favourite coat
I knew! We all knew. She was amazing
However, she is not going to mystically reappear
And the coat’s warmth will never again cover her gentle shoulders
Consciously I am not sure, why the coat remains
I have tried to give the coat away
To a deserving charity, and even a local actor’s group
Fortuitously her coat has not been accepted
Here in the wardrobe, the glorious fur coat stays
Along with the other trinkets of her forever spirit
Ivor Steven (c) May 2023
Mom’s birthday and Carole’s birthday were not far apart, and appropriately they enjoyed a very close relationship …
Today is my mother’s birthday, and next Sunday is Mothersday, and coincidently, today was also Carole’s funeral day … Here is my tribute to those 2 magnificent women in my life…
My Women
After I had left the hem
Without women
I could not have survived my time
I would not have braved the climb
Ladies you were my rhyme
My mothers of thyme
Helping me roll away the stone
Maintaining these old bones
Repairing the bridges, I had burnt
Reciting the messages, I had learnt
Cheering from the sidelines
Supporting my broken designs
Women of my rhymes
Mothers for a lifetime
Ivor Steven (c) May 9th 2023
Yesterday
Was one of those days
At lunchtime
I went to the Box Office Cafe
I forgot
And left without paying
For my coffee and cake
In the afternoon
I had a doctor’s appointment
I forgot
And left without paying
For the Fee at reception
After Dinner
I caught a bus into town
I forgot
That the ‘open mic’ night
Occurs on the second Thursday of each month
This morning
I watch the sunshine
Flickering on her handmade curtains
I remember
And I relight her candle again
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) May 2023
Today’s ‘Throwback Friday’ poem is from my remembrance week a year ago
“Below; I have formed one poem out of four Senryu that I wrote this morning, and I have many fractured thoughts within my soul, a decade after Carole’s passing on May 3rd 2012 at 1.15pm …“
Today’s Fragments (Revised)
(A four Senryu poem)
I am who I am
I can’t be another man
She’s my hologram
I sat beside her
Next to yesterday’s campfire
Embers in the wind
A red flame flickers
Above her celestial star
My eternal light
On my island home
Sea mist falls across my arms
Completion awaits
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) May 2023
Ivor.Plumber/Poet 