The World’s Fractured Mirror 

On Weekly Prompts, the Weekend Challenge is the word; BEND. Please go over and visit their fabulous site by clicking on >> Here . The poem below does have the word ‘Bend’ in it, and that’ll be close enough for me …
Featured Image: Another marvelous photo by, Derrick Knight >> https://derrickjknight.com


The World’s Fractured Mirror 

 
 
At the close of day 

Sunset’s empty Amphitheatre  

Descends across a bend in the twilight zone 

And semidarkness 

Oppresses the horizon’s  

Endangered vanishing point 


What loiters beyond 

The skylines diminishing aurora? 

Will the night-fires of war 

Continue to be entrapped 

For ever and ever, inside 

The world’s fractured mirror 





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:

Jaymah Press: https://www.jaymahpress.com.au/

Lulu Books: https://www.lulu.com/shop/ivor-steven-and-derrick-knight/perceptions/hardcover/product-2pwqe4.html?q=Perceptions+by+Ivor+Steven&page=1&pageSize=4

OR: email me directly for a signed copy – ivorrs20@gmail.com

Ivor Steven (c) January 2023

An Unseeded Renewal (a Tanka)





An Unseeded Renewal (a Tanka)




Sunflowers of peace

We have not forgotten you

The war has not stopped

Killing fields are still on fire

Young stems need help to survive







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:

Jaymah Press: https://www.jaymahpress.com.au/

Lulu Books: https://www.lulu.com/shop/ivor-steven-and-derrick-knight/perceptions/hardcover/product-2pwqe4.html?q=Perceptions+by+Ivor+Steven&page=1&pageSize=4

OR: email me directly for a signed copy – ivorrs20@gmail.com

Ivor Steven (c) January 2023

One Land (a Haiku)

One of best Haiku, according to some of my fellow poets here in Geelong, which I penned in June 2020
Featured Photo Above: A painting by Carole Steven



One Land (a Haiku)
Tullawalla, page 119



Upon our torn earth

Let’s sit around the camp fire

One circle of sand






Tullawalla is Available From;

Jaymah Press:https://www.jaymahpress.com.au/

Ivor Steven: email, ivorrs20@gmail.com

Amazon: search via, ‘Tullawalla by Ivor Steven’



Ivor Steven (c) November 2022

A Sad Winter Flame (A Tanka)

In May this year, I attended an Ekphrastic Poetry Workshop at the Foundry Studio & Gallery. Today’s Poem/Tanka is another piece I wrote from that day, and which I have not posted on my site before now.
Featured Image Above: My photograph of, Lee McGrath’s fascinating painting, “Winter Flame Tree” (Acrylic on canvas)



A Sad Winter Flame (a Tanka)


Dismayed, how to stop

Leaning against the hard rain

Unseasonal pain

Sodden, a sad winter flame

Downtrodden, a stained Ukraine







Ivor Steven (c) November 2022

Will the Doves Ever Be Free?

A big thank you to Dale, for who I wrote a 16 word poem/comment on her site
>> https://adelectablelife.com/2022/11/05/weekend-writing-prompt-284-rule/
which later on, inspired to me to create this poem and music/video combination.

Featured Image Above: My photo of the guest bedroom wall, from when I was staying at my cousin’s (Maureen) place, in Philadelphia, May 2019


Will the Doves Ever Be Free?




Sunday morning

The bells are petitioning

For more than a King’s Ransom




Sunday’s doves are loudly singing

Their unceasing

And unfinished Anthem




Beyond Sunday’s unanswered sessions

The bells will not stop resounding

The Chimes of Freedom





Ivor Steven (c) November 2022

A Crescendo For Peace

The weather is wet and windy here in Ballarat, but that does’t matter. I’m resting, relaxing, and enjoying the break. Today’s poem is from June 2019.
Featured Image above; Street art on a building next door to the ‘Analogue Academy’, where my book launch was held on Saturday.

A Crescendo For Peace


Sounds of music, ring in my mind

Our hearts beat, to a slow drum

My soul hears the rhythm of life

I see angels playing a harp’s serenade

In harmony with the royal string quartet

Grand orchestra’s loudly join in

And choirs of the world are singing our song

Together, chiming the peace-bells of our time

Creating a crescendo of music, ringing in my mind








Ivor Steven (c) October 2022

Ask a Blade of Grass

Cassa Bassa. “It’s sad but reflecting a side of truth.
Ivor’s reply. “Despite humanity’s scientific advancements, their humanitarian skills are nonexistent”





Ask a Blade of Grass




Yesterday I looked up

At a grandfather clock

And saw the hands of time


Today I look above

At the gloomy clouds

And see beams of light

Appear through cracks in the sky


Tomorrow I will look down

At our war-torn ground

And ask a blade of grass

Why? Peace cannot be found

In our time






Ivor Steven (c) October 2022

Day One (a Repost)

A poem from early in year, while I am here laid up in bed with a sore back


Day One

Before Day One

I wished upon a star
That the milk-bar
Was not too far away
My life’s bread was crumbling
My weathered hands were funmbling
Witnessing the last supper was humbling

Day One

There, beyond the darkness
Out in the universe
From a million light-years away
Under an alien’s microscopic frame
We would all look the same

After Day One

I wished for the dust to settle
Then waited for rusted gunmetal
To mature into household kettles
Whistling hallelujah to new sunflower petals







Ivor Steven (c) August 2022