Music

The Quill and Self-will

Tired eyes slowly open

The room is blurrily sloping

My lips are numb and dry

And I cannot see the sky

Three weeks I’ve been here

While my body is in recovery

Nurses say I’ll soon be out of this wheelchair

And I’ll be home with community health care

How will I cope I despair

My arm is idle and I cannot weight bear

And my speech is impaired

With a memory drifting in mid-air

I am unable to read or write

And daytime may as well be midnight

Three months have passed by

I am doing a morning crossword and my smile begins to cry

But there is a knowing sparkle in my eye

Upon my notepad I’ve scrawled lines of rhyme awry

Ivor Steven (c) Nov 2020

This week the Weekend Challenge from Weekly Prompts is, Snippet. Please go and visit their fabulous site by clicking >> HERE. And below is my little snippet of a poem, in response to the ‘Weekly Prompt’

The Hummingbird Knows

I’m searching for a safe nest

a place for my weary wings to rest

a hostel for the hovering bewildered

above the rainbows where eagles soar

beyond the clouds silver linings

away from the world’s selfish cravings

a symphonic haven for my soul to call home

where the hummingbird knows the words for my poem

Ivor Steven (c) Nov 2020

Giving Thanks

Love lives on and on

In the tune of every birdsong

And friendships warm the soul

Like the sun warms our body

Love lives on and on

Memories and rhymes remain strong

Love is within our heart

Love is there to be shared

Like the blood in our veins

Love is made for transfusions

Love has been there all along

Love advances right over wrong

Love lives within our sins

Love lives within everything

Ivor Steven (c) Nov 2020

Life’s Baggage

Baggage on a rough ocean, rattles

And snaps like a snake dressed in black

However the angry waves will bite back

And drown the leftover sacred battles

Baggage is only a temporary state

Between carrying life’s extra weight

And waiting for life’s next update

Baggage, imagine the stories

Imagine the hidden dreams

Imagine love bursting at the seams

Ivor Steven (c) Nov 2020

Grumpy Bears in Chains

The crashing noise started after midnight

When the growling thunder gave darkness a fright

I was shaken by the storms furious hard rain

Sounding like grumpy bears in chains

Thumping my iron roof with their heavy paws

And lashing at the awnings with their steely claws

Then the giant drops turned into falling ice-blocks

And I rushed back inside to shelter behind the dog box

Ivor Steven (c) Nov 2020

Sunday’s Cooling Zephyr

Sunday’s Cooling Zephyr

So this is our new Sunday

Finally a return to normal ways

I feel almost alive

Adrenaline’s on a high

No time for my Dell

No time to dwell

Wonder and ponder

About a deep blue yonder

Another hour or so

And I’ll get up and go

Relax at my local Cafe

Enjoy a cake and coffee

And there will be a cooling zephyr

Caressing my brow, soft as a feather

I’ll hear Sigur Ros’s soothing music playing

And daydreaming, I’ll be gently swaying

Ivor Steven (c) Nov 2020

My attached music/video, is a new song by ‘Sigur Ros’, from their yet to be release album, coming out on December the 8th… Their music here is a perfect example of how even though we don’t understand the language and lyrics, the musical performance and their glorious sound is a pure delight to listen to…. I hope you enjoy this 8 min piece of music excellence…

Music (a Haiku)

Live music matters

As we climb every mountain

Proudly, all shall sing

Ivor Steven (c) Nov 2020

The theme of Sigur Ros’s song…
Composed in the 14th or 15th century Odin’s Raven Magic is an Icelandic poem in the ancient Edda tradition (Edda – a term that describes two Icelandic manuscripts which together are the main sources of Norse mythology and Skáldic poetry) its anonymous author clearly had an intimate knowledge of the Edda literature and mythology which alludes to a number of pagan motifs which are now lost. The poem recounts a great banquet held by the gods in Valhalla while they were absorbed in their feasting, ominous signs appeared that could foretell the end of the worlds of the gods and men. The album ‘Odin’s Raven Magic’ is an orchestral collaboration between Sigur Rós, Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, Steindór Andersen and Maria Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir which premiered 18 years ago at the Barbican Centre in London and is now finally almost two decades later being released. The performance honours the poem, dramatic and beautiful, classical and contemporary. A stone marimba was built especially for the performance by Páll Guðmundsson. Odin’s Raven Magic – the poem – had been relegated from mainstream ancient literature ever since 1867, when Norwegian scholar Sophus Bugge claimed it was a 17th century fabrication. This theory has since been toppled with literary and linguistic arguments and new research has concluded that Odin’s Raven Magic was indeed authentic and has finally been reintroduced to the Edda.

Centauress

This weekend the challenge from Weekly Prompts is the word; Noteworthy. Please go and visit their fabulous site by clicking >> Here . The below poem is my response to the prompt.

Centauress

I do not have to be famous to be noteworthy

Nor am I remarkably important

But within my fading soul I feel worldly

I do not have to be a President to be noteworthy

Nor am I significantly superior

But within my weary heart this story is newsworthy

I do not have to be a golden deity to be noteworthy

Nor am I the almighty creator

But within my lonely dreams I feel praiseworthy

I do not have to be anyone else but me

A earthy wordsmith, kind and trustworthy

Feature Image: The Centauress, by Rodin.

The Centauress is a provocative variation on the traditional equestrian monument. Instead of a hero mounted on a horse, the heroine and the horse have become one. Rodin combined two previous works in the design: The horse comes from an unrealized plan for a sculpture of a Chilean general. He adapted the woman from a male figure in The Gates from Hell.

Why create this amalgam? Rodin described a struggle between humanity’s “two natures. . . . An image of the soul whose ethereal impulses remain miserably imprisoned in the corporeal mire!”

Ivor Steven (c) Nov 2020

A Finite in the Infinite

Curiosity opens my eyes at first light

I venture beyond my cocoon of fright

And begin to see the world’s perceived fears

Wingless, I crawl away from the sea of tears

Tired of romancing the stone

I threw a rock into the ocean

Hit the great white ghost in the head

And fed the hungry seagulls more bread

This is no time to throw the towel in

I just heard the bell for round two ring

The power of the universe glows at night

And I am but a finite in the infinite

Ivor Steven (c) Nov 2020

The Ordinary

Today I’m presenting the other poem that I wrote at the poetry forum held on Sunday, a “Writing Circle”, hosted by Ali Grimshaw.

If you are you interesting in joining the wonderful world of Ali’s “Writing Circle” you can find more information via clicking on this link > > https://flashlightbatteries.blog/2020/11/10/sunday-writing-circle/

The Ordinary

Looking out my window

I hear, the wind blowing

I see, the sun glowing

I smell, the garden flowers

Suddenly there’s a thud

On the roof above

A branch from my neighbour’s tree

Landed on my verandah

Curiosity drags me outside

No obvious damage done

I smile and say “Hi”

To my courtyard garden

And the flowers respond

“Good morning Ivor”

Ivor Steven (c) Nov 2020