Featured Image Above: by Derrick Knight, who kindly allows me to reproduce his photos here on my poetry website …
A World Of Puppets (a Tanka)
Are we the puppets?
Punch and Judy’s without strings
Who’s contolling things?
As Putin’s a dummy too
Ask the children in Russia
Ivor Steven (c) February 2022
Featured Image Above: with the kind permission of Derrick Knight >> https://derrickjknight.com/
The ediditor of Red Wolf Journal, Irene Toh, is pleased to announce the release of the Spring 2022 Issue.
The poets with work in the A Change of World edition are:
Dmitry Blizniuk
Paul Brooke
Jeff Burt
Joe Cottonwood
CS Crowe
Mary Anna Scenga Kruch
Ron. Lavalette
Joan Mazza
Karla Linn Merrifield
Peter Mladinic
Misky
Larry Oakner
Frederick Pollack
Emalisa Rose
Timothy Resau
Rikki Santer
Emil Sinclair
Ivor Steven
Debi Swim
You may download a copy of the PDF release here.
A Change of World Spring 2022 Issue 20
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You’re invited to submit to our new issue, also titled A Change of World, Fall 2022 Edition. Read our submission guidelines here. Happy writing!
Irene Toh
Editor
Spring 2022 Edition
_____________________________________________________________________________________
A sincere thank you to the editor Irene, for considering two my of poems for her superb anthology “A Change Of World”
New Mushrooms
After the storm
Old boundaries were transformed
Fences were moved and torn
Fields smelled of rotting corn
Patient vultures remained airborne
Above the drowning longhorn’s
After the storm
I rested under the peppercorn
And I saw new mushrooms rise with the dawn
Ivor Steven (c) February 2022
I have a few thank you’s to accompay the writing of my piece “The Final Sunset”.
Firstly my opening stanza was written as a response to Susi’s inspiring post today, thank you Susi. https://iwriteher.com/2022/02/24/peace-please/ Thank you to David Redpath, for reminding me of Bob Dylan’s poignant protest song, “Masters Of War” , which I have attached below. https://highwaybloggery.com/2022/02/24/masters-of-war/ , and thank you to Derrick Knight for allowing me to use his stunning “Sunset” photo as my featured photo here on my site, https://derrickjknight.com/2022/02/24/the-assistant-photographer-saves-the-day/
The Final Sunset
Wrong versus right
War versus peace
Greed versus commonsense
Destruction versus harmony
Killing versus living
War is not the people’s choice
Is this to be our final sunset
Will she justifiably refuse
To open her golden eye
Upon another shattering dawn
Of our manufactured doom
Ivor Steven (c) February 2022
Featured Image Above: By Derrick Knight, and I am sincerely grateful to Derrick for allowing me to use his wonderful photos here in collaboration with my poems.
Until Eyes Hear Sound
The air I breathe
Purifying within
free to leave
free as the wind
I wonder at nature’s freshness
early in the morning
we take her for granted
our perennial mother earth
nurturing a new start to every day
I wish mankind could
begin afresh like her
Searches are many
answers unwound
mirrors our insanity
until eyes hear sound
Ivor Steven (c) February 2022
Photos: Please note, that all the “Snail” images here on this post, were taken by Derrick Knight, who at my request, kindly delved through his many years of Archives, especially for this article and I am sincerely grateful for his generosity and diligence.
Winter Snails (a Haiku)
Autumn leaves did fall
A winter sun warms our souls
Snails renew their trail
Ivor Steven (c) January 2022
Featured Image Above: Taken by, Derrick Knight, and reproduced here, with his generous permission.
The Above Photos, are of my courtyard’s Osteospermum’s (Daisies)
Pushing Up Daisies
I am not crazy, nor am I lazy
I am living in a foggy haze
In the middle of this planetary maze
Am I out of phase?
When I say
This world is a dying daisy
I have abandoned my computer desk
A messy digital mirage, so grotesque
And searching the cosmos for a pink moon
Away from this dizzy burlesque
Am I out of phase?
When I say
That out there in the Milky Way
There is another pink moon
Actively interested
In growing yellow daisies
Ivor Steven (c) January 2022
My poem today is based on a poetic ‘comment’ that I wrote on the “Chatter Blog’s” site, after reading her interesting article. For those who follow Colleen’s site, would agree that all of her posts are thought provoking and interesting, and you may visit her article by clicking on this link >> https://bikecolleenbrown.wordpress.com/2021/12/29/hasnt-been-back/
Mankind’s Dirty Hands
I am an ancient oak tree
leaning against the prevailing breeze
the winds of time have shaped me
after blowing my disguise into the sea
now here I stand
a lifeless shadow
of leafless branches
within nature’s naked forest
waiting for mankind’s dirty hands
to stop the desert sands
from ravaging the last strands
of what remains hanging over our land
Ivor Steven (c) January 2022
Featured Image Above; and the two images below, are photos from Derrick Knight’s recent post “Pool Patterns”, and you may visit his article by clicking on this link
>> https://derrickjknight.com/2021/12/16/pool-patterns/
Pool Patterns
Future Skies
An old graceful world
Shimmers upon mirrored pond
Timeless images
Nature’s blameless history
Awaits future smogless skies
Ivor Steven (c) December 2021
Introduction
This booklet is a collection of twenty collaborative articles. The photographs were taken by Derrick Knight, and the associated poems were written by Ivor Steven
The Photographer: Derrick Knight (New Forest, Southern England)
He is a septuagenarian who enjoys rambling physically and photographing what he sees, and rambling in his head as memories are triggered. He also rambles through a lifetime of his photographs.
The poet: Ivor Steven (Geelong, Australia)
He was formerly an Industrial Chemist, then a Plumber, now retired, and has been writing poetry for 20 years. He is on the committee of the Geelong Writers Inc.(Australia), a team member with the on-line magazine “Go Dog Go Cafe” (America), and also writer for “Coffee House Writers” magazine (America).
As far as I can ascertain(??) from my poetry files, “The Faeries of Fry’s Lane” is the first poem I wrote in association with a Photograph/s taken by Derrick Knight from his wonderful blog/website … I have now compiled a PDF Booklet of all our twenty (I think) collaorations … If are you interested in receiving a free PDF copy of “Perceptions”, please contact me via this email >> IR.Steven@bigpond.com
The Faeries of Fry’s Lane
Walking down Fry’s Lane
Sheltering from the misty rain
I did spy among the hedgerow berries
A Frolic of mystical faeries
Like iridescent glowing canaries
A fluttering of night-time luminaries
Trying not to disturb their magical home
I quietly asked them, “Are you all alone”
The faeries laughed and danced
They replied, “Your vision is by perchance
and your dreams may turn to stone
if you wish for a golden throne”
Suddenly the glittering sands of time
Illuminating the faeries wings of rhyme
Begun jumping off the falling star
And the faeries quickly flew back to their green Avatar
Ivor Steven (c) December 2021
Featured Image Above: has been cropped from the photo below, which was taken by Derrick Knight, and again I sincerely thank Derrick for allowing me to reproduce his photos here, in conjunction with my poems. You may visit his fabulous site by clicking on this link
>> https://derrickjknight.com/
A Sunday Dream
did you hear the stars sing last night?
no
neither did I
did you see the sun cry at dawn?
no
neither did I
did you hear the bells ring this morning?
no
neither did I
did you feel the earth sigh today?
no
neither did I
there is you, I, and why
why cannot they see the sky?
why do they always lie?
why do they not cry?
Ivor Steven (c) December 2021
Ivor.Plumber/Poet 