How do we extinguish our burning hearts
How do we stop the hot ashes from blowing in the wind
Please, make it rain
Please, show us mercy, instead of hell
Ivor Steven (c) Jan 2020
How do we extinguish our burning hearts
How do we stop the hot ashes from blowing in the wind
Please, make it rain
Please, show us mercy, instead of hell
Ivor Steven (c) Jan 2020
A big thank you to Kate of “CalmKate” for inspiring me, and rekindling a poem I was working on last week, please visit her forthright article, “fires ignite justice” by clicking >>Here
Waiting
The earth is waiting
Sick of human’s, and their time wasting
Waiting for their promised cheers
Waiting for less destructive years
Will they give her resolutions of better times?
Will they read, Thor’s neon signs
Will they notice, a smoke covered sun?
Will they be able to breath the air, as a united one?
The earth cannot watch, nor wait
While human’s feed their own greedy plate
Why are they celebrating?
Like blind fools, that are always pretending
As if nothing is going wrong
Can’t they hear the whales crying songs?
Can’t they see the polar caps are melting?
Can’t they taste the venom of government’s lying?
In the following video/song, if you could metaphorically place earth and human’s between the lyrics, you might understand why I chose this song by Damien Rice..
Ivor Steven (c) Jan 2020
The First Challenge of 2020 is Something New
From today the Word Prompts and Photo Challenges will cease to be separate. They have merged the twice-weekly challenges and given each of them the new combined title of Word/Photo Challenge. Please go visit their exciting new Format, by clicking on .>>HERE
Something New
I’m at that age, I don’t need material things
Too old for men’s fashion earrings
No more swanky clothes or fancy shoes
And I don’t like trendy blue and red tattoos
I’m now alone, and live a simple life
You could balance my belongs on a kitchen knife
These days I store myself in a computer cloud
Photos, music and my poems, of which I’m proud
Today’s six days after Christmas
But I’m still expecting undelivered business
An annual package from Philadelphia
That’s probably been misplaced by festive hysteria
Then I spot a parcel in the letterbox
Which I excitedly unwrap,, a glorious card and socks
Not just plain socks, but a sporty printed pair
Teary, I read the card, and my heart yearns to be there
Ivor Steven (c) Jan 2020
Tullawalla, Climb Each Stair
Hello dear readers and followers, again I’ve been arduously preparing and typing, to produce my Fourteenth Tullawalla Poetry Booklet….. For new readers that don’t know about these booklets, they are basically the reason why I write poetry. I produce the booklets for the sole purpose of raising funds for my favourite charity organization, the MS Society, in Australia via the MS Charity Shop here in Geelong. And actually all money’s I receive for any of my poetry submissions, I also donate to the MS Society…..Amazingly, there is a total of “573 poems”, in my collection of 14 Tullawalla Booklets. Anyhow the booklet is finally completed, and ready for the New Year, 2020 !! As always, they are available for purchase, either as a hard copy or a PDF format….. All proceeds go to the MS Charity Shop, here in Geelong West….. Please contact me here through my web site page and I can chat about arrangements from there…. Oh, the booklet is called “Tullawalla: Climbing Each Stair”, and coincidently, one of my poems in the booklet “Time Needs No Command” was published by Geelong Writers Inc. on their blog site today!! Click on this link >> https://www.geelongwriters.org.au/paid-member-writing-features/time-needs-no-command/ …. And here is the link to my website >> ivors20.wordpress.com


Ivor Steven (c) Jan 1st 2020
Two Thousand and Twenty: A Dual Haiku
Last year’s sins are gone
New year eerily hovers
Could be right or wrong
The bells toll louder
Perennially we jeer
Is there an answer
Featured Image: From, City Of Greater Geelong 2020 Calendar, photo by Edward, of Eastern Beach.
Ivor Steven (c) Dec 31st 2019
A Poet’s Postcard
Dragonfly wings are open wide
Guarding greenery under her sky
Shading this wilderness courtyard
The old poet’s postcard
Full of eternal daydreams
Nurtured upon a flowerbed’s requiem
Now an empty ballroom’s finale dance
Melpomene’s* everlasting romance
*Melpomene, is the daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne, initially the Muse of Chorus, she then became the Muse of Tragedy, for which she is best known now.
Ivor Steven (c) Dec 2019
Featured Image: by John Walters, Geelong, Tawny Frogmouth Owls
Nobility: A Dual Haiku.
Be fair, truthfully
Humans are not endangered
Show integrity
Animals need us
Ethically let’s unite
Honour our assets
Ivor Steven (c) Dec 2019
Purple and Mauve
As my evening courtyard garden glows
Old flowers cast purple and mauve shadows
Upon the muse of my dreams
Against a background, once leafy green
Hanging there, a mauve fairy lavender
Above an ageing purple avatar
Looking like that flowering woody sage tree
Petals of purple and mauve, waiting to be free
Ivor Steven (c) Dec 2019
After a day of giving thanks
The night sky’s moon did glow
Before the next day begun
In this commonwealth of man
We celebrate Boxing Day
By continuing an old tradition
Of giving gifts to the poor people
With the annual charity gatherings
Of feasts and presents for the needy
And here today, my sister’s birthday
A family party with more festivities
Again a day of sharing love and happiness
Giving thanks for our togetherness
Ivor Steven [c] 2019
Almost There
So I Say Hello to you
I turned away from you
After almost six weeks
Of this harrowing streak
It’s been no stroll in the park
Resting here in the semi dark
The painful knives have been withdrawn
The headaches have almost retired
I’m almost well enough
To enjoy Christmas with family
And by the start of two thousand and twenty
I’ll be almost here, I’ll be almost me again
So I say hello to you
And wish you a happy and healthy festive season
Ivor Steven (c) Dec 2019