Over at Weekly Prompts, the Colour Challenge for July is Black & White. Please visit their fabulous site by clicking on >> Here
Black and White
A calmness follows
The healing of night
As the dark moon
Sinks from sight
Leaving no shadow
Upon this blight
Arise lonely soul
Into the stillness of light
The heart throbs again
As blackness turns white
Ivor Steven © July 2026
A rainbow rose out of the valley this morning, and I imagined a bird hovering above it — watching the land quiver and the world slowly find its light. This poem grew from that quiet moment.
Above Rainbow Valley
Hovering above the tall, showy rainbow,
I watch the quivering land below
graciously and warmly shake hands
with the phenomenon’s vertical strands.
Then I hear the valley’s enchanted trees
majestically applaud with collective glee
about such a surreal, peaceful sight —
as the faltering world finally sees the light.
This poem found its evening companion in Matt Corby’s “All Fired Up” — a gentle echo from Rainbow Valley.
Ivor Steven © July 2026
This lifestyle, philosophical poem was written in November 2022 and returns to a moment of small, steady bravery. Inspired by a lone snail crossing the wet bitumen — slow, deliberate, and determined — it reflects on purpose, persistence, and the quiet journeys we all make.
Steve the Snail. His Story
I wonder what the story was
Why was Steve the Snail?
Crossing the wet bitumen road
There, by himself
Bravely and slowly sliding along
Determined to reach the other side
Steve’s path was a dangerous one
But the purpose of his journey
Remains locked away
Within the privacy
Of his ‘one-story’ home
Steve’s quiet journey reminds us how much courage lives in small, steady steps. Brandi Carlile’s The Story deepens that moment — a song for the hidden reasons and private paths we all carry within our own “one‑story” homes.
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Until Eyes Hear Sound
Amazon >> Amazon.com : Until Eyes Hear Sound
Lulu Books >> Until Eyes Hear Sound (lulu.com)
Perceptions:
Amazon >> Perceptions : Steven, Ivor, Knight, Derrick: Amazon.com.au: Books
Lulu Books >> Perceptions (lulu.com)
Tullawalla:
Amazon >> Tullawalla A Meeting Place Where My Empty Hands are Full of Memories and Rhymes : Steven, Ivor: Amazon.com.au: Books
OR: >> You may email me directly for a signed copy at
ivorrs20@gmail.com … and I can send you a PayPal account,
for the Book, plus Postage.
Ivor Steven © July 2026
A quiet moment in the grass this morning — just me, my camera, and a lone mushroom in the light to guide me down memory lane — a soft umbrella for tired legs and fading recollections. This poem is the path I followed beneath its shelter.
I don’t often do this, but before the poem, I’ve added a song that’s always offered me a quiet kind of shelter. Dylan’s Shelter from the Storm feels like the right companion for this morning’s walk and the memories that followed.
Memory Lane
I’m slowly drifting back
along a familiar winding track.
My old legs feel like used lard —
I can’t travel another yard;
the climb has been long and hard.
Please, can you give me shelter
here, under your mushroom’s umbrella?
Let my weariness rest for a few moments
while my memory lane’s missing residents
struggle to recall who’s the President.
And as the day drifts on, this song carries my missing dreams down along memory lane.
Ivor Steven © July 2026
In the cool, silvery hush between daytime calm and midnight cloud‑glow, tonight’s full moon drifts above, coinciding with the poem’s own shifting rhythms below.
Below the Coconut Palms
The world’s a sphere of disparity,
like the incongruity
between the becalmed daytime moon
and the shiny orb’s cloudy midnight party —
savouring dark-side ice cream with a silver spoon
and sipping on milky star-dust until noon.
While down here on planet Earth,
between Perth and Fort Worth,
I perceive nothing is calm
below the empty coconut palms.
Where wanderlust meets wonder — let this song carry you to the far places your heart remembers.
Ivor Steven © July 2026
Nancy’s, Lai “Singed” challenged me to try the form myself. I’d never written a Lai before, but her poem inspired this first attempt — a small reply shaped from her spark.
Nancy: Singed – The Elephant’s Trunk
A traditional lai is a short French poetic form built on a pattern of nine lines, arranged in three stanzas. Each stanza follows this structure:
The rhyme scheme is: a a b / a a b / a a b
The refrain (“truth hurts”) repeats at the end of each stanza, giving the lai its heartbeat.
And for Sadje’s WDYS >> What do you see # 347- 29 June, 2026 – Keep it alive
Truth Hurts (a lai poem)
I’m an awkward dill
with a broken quill —
truth hurts.
I don’t swallow krill,
nor kill for the thrill —
truth hurts.
I can’t light the grill,
my flame has no will —
truth hurts.
From fog to fire – a quiet truth above, a wild awakening below
Ivor Steven © June 2026
Feature Image Above: A pale, gold sun, a held breath, a path unfolding —and a quiet truth still finds its way through.
Early yesterday morning, I read Gigi’s fierce and tender poem, and something in her words stirred an old ache of my own. What began as a quick response grew into this small reckoning — a quiet look at age, longing, and the goals that slip beyond our grasp.
Gigi >> FYI… | Rethinking Life
Behold
As I grow old
the heart goes cold,
so I am told.
I’ve never been bold,
nor has life been gold.
Dreams remain deep in my soul —
and now, as the mind unfolds,
they’re my only stronghold.
I’m yet to be paroled,
and the resolve of my goal
has been lost and sold.
And so I leave these lines here, drifting toward Cohen’s voice, where the narrowing of life becomes its own kind of truth.
Ivor Steven © June 2026
This afternoon’s quiet wait at the café, with Violet’s poem still echoing in my thoughts, stirred a darker reflection beneath the softening sky. These images and lines emerged as the light shifted and the world felt both beautiful and fragile.
Violet’s thoughtful little poem was the spark that set these lines in motion.
Violet >> Nibbles | Thru Violet’s Lentz
The Impending Implosion
Corruption and corrosion
Decimating nature’s frontlines
Ongoing repetitive ugly explosions
Nagging away at the senses of mankind
Ultimately, there’ll be a cataclysmic implosion
And in the hush between notes, the world feels both fragile and fiercely alive.
Ivor Steven © June 2026
I am extremely proud and humbled by the acceptance of four of my poems by the amazing Susi Bocks, Editor‑in‑Chief at The Short of It. They are “hot off the press” and released for publication today.
A sky full of turning light — a fitting doorway into my four poems published today on The Short of It.
>> Ivor Steven – I Write Her
Two quiet moments from my own walks — small reminders of how light and flight keep finding their way into my words.
Scaling Time
Beyond time
Is there another world to find?
When time returns
Will there be a different mountain to climb?
Inside out
Fortresses and walls.
Inside, we cringe and crawl.
Outside, we see only winter and fall.
Beyond the bricks -who heeds our call?
The Writers
Tired eyes lose sight
Ink flows at night
But still they write
Ink becomes their light
A Moment In Time
Between the descending sun,
And the hessian horizon,
There is a shimmering twilight zone —
Instinctively waiting at the bottom
Of the doorway’s causeway,
For that designated time
When every definitive moment
Emerges into a second.
And now, let the light carry these moments a little further — inside it all, the music finds the same quiet pulse that shaped these poems
Ivor Steven © June 2026
Penned in June 2020, now relaunched for Throwback Friday — a flight through memory and space, chasing love through the stars.
Two glimpses of flight — the bird and the moon — guiding the way toward her celestial star.
Lost In Space (Revised)
I’m leaving this land of lost grace
And flying off into space
It’s time to run away
My aircraft, Itmims, is leaving today
Love is a stowaway in the heart
And love needs a head start
Somewhere in this universe
There’s love waiting in her celestial purse
Let the music drift with you into the long dark, where love still finds its way.
Ivor Steven © June 2026
