Category: Photos

My Poetry Day

Friday here in Philadelphia, I spent visiting a couple of historical sites yesterday, and I was fortunate enough to visit the house where Edgar Allan Poe had lived during his time in Philadelphia. I also went to house where Walt Whitman lived in the later part of his life.

If you wish to read the entire poem of Edgar Poet’s “Raven'” please click on the link below.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48860/the-raven

The Raven

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
“’Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door—
Only this and nothing more.”

Worms and Ants

I’m under a dome, inside a maze

A giant steel worm farm

Crawling with thousands of ants

Bugs of all shapes and forms

Some are dazed, dumbfounded like me

Others stride out bold and carefree

Seeking their worm’s tunnel

Walking down an endless funnel

Where the guzzling worms stop and go

Slurping ants up, riding to and fro

Oh no, which steel worm to catch

Before the grinding halt, to hatch

Unfazed, into a mysterious belly I jump

The giant worm rattles at every bump

Rolling through underground passages

And all the ants are reading messages

I quietly ask one, “where do I get off this worm”

Ah, “You’re in the wrong tunnel “, I’m lost !!

Ivor Steven (c) 2019

Honest Hearts Bleed

The flight is dragging on

But I’m not overly stressed

Nor is my patience running thin

My mind’s drifting back in time

I remember those trying days

Spent with Carole, and the hospital bed

Waiting in emergency rooms

Hours and hours on end

Holding her hand, she wouldn’t let go

Once I sat with her for two days

In emergency, before a bed was available

I learnt about patience and how to wait

I discovered the realities of hospital life

I saw there was always someone worse

Who needed to be treated first

I knew their pain and tears shed

I knew how honest Hearts bled

 

Ivor Steven (c). 2019

Flying High

Take-off and I’m soaring, in an iron dove

High in the clouds  heaven is above

Jetting through the stratosphere

Strapped inside her belly, feeling no fear

 

My rocking shoes have found the aisle

An armchair ride, flying in style

Red wine, to calm my nerves

Delicious food, increase the curves

 

Hours and hours of humming sounds

I hear time echoing on the rebound

My clock is ticking backwards

My life’s shadows are travelling forwards

Ivor Steven (c)  2019

Beyond A Blade Of Grass

Believe it, or not

I’m travelling around the block

Finally life is not too hot

And I’m not going to rot

Reality has me flying to New York

I’ve been invited to deliver a talk

A speech about spirit and life

The long journey of endless strife

And how, the answer was found

From inside a body unsound

 

Go listen to the Messiah

You’ll not get any higher

Go reach for your stars

Dream like a child going to mars

Go steer a new T-model car

Even Brooklyn Bridge isn’t too far

Go discover your Yorkie, a savour bike

Pedal your way to greater heights

Go explore, beyond your blade of grass

See the universe outside your heart of glass

 

Ivor Steven (c)  2019

The Chosen Two

Dear readers and followers, thank you to everyone who diligently read my post, asking for help to choose 2 poems out of the 5 poems I had selected/presented. Your collective imput and help has been fantastic, give yourselves a big pat on the back. The poem ‘My Rainbow’ was by far the most popular, and easy for me to pick as my first submission. The second selection was a much closer affair, and with me as the author, having the deciding vote, the poem ‘Leafless Branches’ is my second submission. Again thank you all for your interest and involvement. I hope you all enjoyed the process as much as I did… Now it’s all up to the judges, to see if my two submissions are selected for the ‘Geelong Writers Anthology 2019’…..

 

My Rainbow

Over mountains, over a distant sky

Blazing hues of African butterflies

Sparkling reflections of our last goodbyes

 

Did you see my yesterday rainbow

She’s ruby red, yellow and blue

The heavenly ring, in everyone’s view

 

Above you, a perfect archway

Behind you, a forever shining sun-ray

Around you, a golden halo everyday

 

Leafless Branches

There’s a warning sign swirling in my yard

Words are being splattered on my fence

Blown in by today’s gale

Leafless branches are flying around

Nature’s own, final count down

Suddenly, on the horizon, there’s a red-brown cloud

Rolling in, over the barren hills

And a dust-storm quickly engulfs the air

 

Racing silver clouds and blue sky

Invisible through the thick red haze

Dry topsoil from the western plains

Aerially transported by the wind’s angry throat

And there’s no calming the dusty tempest

Until mother nature has had her way

I stand here, leaning against her force

Feeling her violence, pitch dirt in my face

 

 

Ivor Steven (c)  2019