picnic in the trees
among birds and butterflies
without council fees
Ivor Steven (c) Sept 2021
picnic in the trees
among birds and butterflies
without council fees
Ivor Steven (c) Sept 2021
On “Weekly Prompts” the Wednesday Challenge is, AUTUMN MAGIC. Please go and visit their fabulous site by clicking >> Here and the below poem is my response to their ‘prompt’ ..
Mad-hatters, No Matter the Season
The latter of matter
Did not scale the ladder
The origin of matter
Is in our hearts pitter-patter
Matter is neither flatter nor fatter
“What does it matter
If we are all mad-hatters”?
We are but leaves and twigs of the ground
Awaiting nature’s beckoning sounds
Ivor Steven (c) Sept 2021
Again, many thanks to the editor Kristiana for accepting my poems, and for all her hard work in producing this beautiful anthology. The publication features the work of many talented poets, and I can’t wait to read my copy!
Issue III: hestia (hearth & home) is now available to download!
The digital download is completely free but if you wish to donate/pay as you feel, you can do so through the Donate tab.

Issue III: hestia (hearth & home) explores what home means to us all through poetry, prose, photography & artwork. Contributors reveal how it feels to belong, how we are defined by people and places and how Hestia’s legacy lives on.
Below, Home is the Air I Breathe, is the 2nd of my two contributions to this fabulous magazine
Home Is the Air I Breathe
welcome to our home
the house of rustic timber and stone
home is where my heart is now
and now I live here alone
but I am comfortable
wearing the same old shoes
walking her every mile
she’s in every corner stone
she’s in the marrow of my bones
we share the air I breathe
inhaling her gracious spirit
capturing her living essence
absorbing her love into my blood
pumping through my empty veins
cascading upon my open heart
caressing my solitary core
embracing our souls as one
Ivor Steven (c) Sept 2021
Featured Image credit; Maksym Harbar @ Unsplash
In response to Sadje’s Photo Prompt #Whatdoyousee – 101.
https://lifeafter50forwomen.com/2021/09/27/what-do-you-see-101-september-27-2021/
“Sentinel” (a Haiku)
Ancient clock-tower
Rural city sentinel
Over cobbled streets
Ivor Steven (c) Sept 2021
sometimes I wished
for love to linger longer
other times I wished
my soul was stronger
old love lingers on
within lullaby songs
is my heart right or wrong?
sometimes when the music plays on and on
I hear my angel humming along
Ivor Steven (c) Sept 2021
Many thanks to editor Kristiana for accepting my poem, and for all her hard work in producing this beautiful publication. The publication features the work of many talented poets, and I can’t wait to read my copy!
The digital download is completely free but if you wish to donate/pay as you feel, you can do so through the Donate tab.

Issue III: hestia (hearth & home) explores what home means to us all through poetry, prose, photography & artwork. Contributors reveal how it feels to belong, how we are defined by people and places and how Hestia’s legacy lives on.
Below, Between The Lines is one of my two contributions to this fabulous magazine
Between the Lines
Do you see, a man walking on water?
Did you see, the refugees bleeding?
Do you read, the missing scriptures?
Did you read, your own family tree?
Do you hear, old angels singing?
Did you hear, the songbirds crying?
Do you feel, the erased eons calling?
Did you feel, the hard rains falling?
Do you know, who is doing the lying?
Did you know, the earth is dying?
List of Contributors: Ken Anderson, Jaya Avendel, Jude Ballard, Enrico Barigazzi, Corrina Board, Constance Bourg, Karan Chambers, Emma Conally-Barklem, Rachel Dickens, Caitlan Docherty, Brianna Flood, Karen E. Fraser, Devereaux Frazier, Rebecca Green, Morgan Hayes, Kevin Hüttenmüller, Laura Jameson, Nameera Anjum Khan, Lamarriv, Richard LeDue, Barbara Leonhard, Lorraine Lewis, Liyona, Dee Li, Charles T. Low, Sarah Beck Mather, Marisela Brazfield, Jennifer McLamb, Emily Mew, Gabriela Marie Milton, Ellie Morfou, Soph Murray, Vanessa Napolitano, Jonathan O’Farrell, Lisa Perkins, T. S. Priest, Victoria Punch, Sunra Rainz, Kristiana Reed, Poppy Revell, Rebecca Rijsdijk, Faye Alexandra Rose, Jasleen Saini, Lara Simpson, Sebastian Nguyet Snow, Ivor Steven, Diana Story, Greta Unetich, Aleksandra Vujisic, Lynn White, Robin Williams, Ingrid Wilson, Howard Young & Lori Zybala.
Ivor Steven (c) Sept 2021
Eugi’s Weekly Prompt – “Connector” – September 23, 2021, click on the link to visit her fabulous site . >> https://amanpan.com/2021/09/23/eugis-weekly-prompt-connector-sept-23-2021/

Where to Now?
Where do they hide?
When the sea is at full-tide
What lays beyond the sand?
In foreign hands on distant lands
Their long windy road is untraveled
With trials of fear yet to be unravelled
Ivor Steven (c) Sept 2021
My poem today is actually made up of 3 different Haiku, however, as what often happens with my jumbled words and thoughts, the 3 stanzas seemed to fit together to form “one” poem …
Right or Wrong
As we scrape along
In life, we are often wrong
Before our swan song
Are we wrong or right?
Why do we let the moonlight
Disappear from sight?
Gloom enfolds the view
Gey clouds cover rainbow hues
Darkness stalks us too
Ivor Steven (c) Sept 2021
“After you have exhausted what there is in business, politics, conviviality, and so on – I have found that none of these finally satisfy, or permanently wear – what remains? Nature remains.” ― Walt Whitman
Intertwined
Why are we deaf and blind?
How can we be so silently unkind?
Nature is not our kitchen to be redesign
Mother Earth is our holy shrine
Our one and only protective rind
All we need, is her love intertwined
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Featured Image: Forest Garden, Mt Dandenong, Victoria, by Greg Brave
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Ivor Steven (c) Sept 2021