I find the Musette’s restrictive poetry format, to be very challenging
A Musette is,
three verses
first line – 2 syllables
second line – 4 syllables
third line – 2 syllables
rhyme scheme – a/b/a c/d/c e/f/e
The title reflects the poem’s content
The Mystique (a Musette)
Friday
I said to you
“Please stay”
You said
“Only one night
Twin beds”
Next week
We savoured the
Mystique
Ivor Steven (c) January 2024
I will be running a book stall at the Clunes Book Town Festival in March, one of Australia’s largest all-town book festivals celebrated on Dja Dja Wurrung country in Central Victoria.
An annual celebration of every aspect of storytelling. Join us on March 23 – 24 2024. Running from dawn to dusk in the historic township of Clunes in Regional Victoria. A two-day festival full of author and artist talks, workshops, and live entertainment for the whole family. Discover the outdoor book bazaar with over a hundred stall holders and immerse yourself in Clunes from cover to cover.
And over at Weekly Prompts, the Wednesday Challenge is the theme: Hobbies. You can visit their wonderful Site by Clicking on >> Here and of course, my “Hobby” is writing poetry
I Refilled My Cracked Inkwell
I am tacking toward the unknown
I will carry pockets full of hope
And a suitcase packed with books
I threw away the map years ago
When I refilled my cracked ink well
And rehabilitated my Tullawalla Story
I am leaving my pet rocks behind
And renovating my vintage quill
To do the anticipated book signings
For my rejuvenated “Tullawalla”
The fascinating ekphrastic collaboration “Perceptions”
And my new evocative book “Until Eyes Hear Sound”
Please Note: The 3 cover designs are by, Kerri Costello
Until Eyes Hear Sound, will be available in March
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:
Amazon: https://amzn.asia/d/4yFHWrT
Jaymah Press: https://www.jaymahpress.com.au/
OR: email me directly for a signed copy – ivorrs20@gmail.com
Ivor Steven (c) January 2024
Hello dear readers and followers, I am again writing for “Coffee House Writers” magazine on a fortnightly basis, and my poem “Destiny and Shame Await”, is in this week’s edition of Coffee House Writers Magazine. …
To Read my poem, please click on the link below to visit the article, at Coffee House Writers Magazine.
>> https://coffeehousewriters.com/destiny-and-shame-await/
Daniel Norgren’s video/song below inspired me to write these reflective words …
The Last Encore
I am standing on the diminishing foreshore
Staring at that missing ground floor
“Like there was a door”
Between here and the last encore … Ivor
Ivor Steven (c) January 2024
“To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else” … Emily Dickinson
Rising moonlight hears the sound of the setting sunlight
The Sound of Time (a Tanka)
I am thinking why
“Is time, such a patient guy?”
I’m always writing
Anything that comes to mind
“Does time hear the sound of light?”
The Last Encore
I am standing on the diminishing foreshore
Staring at that missing ground floor
“Like there was a door”
Between here and the last encore
Ivor Steven (c) January 2024
A Star Called Home
I am high flying
On the back of Phillip
My mystical fairy Penguin
I am the co-pilot
As we zoom over the halfway marker
That line in the sand
Now, there is no turning back
We are a dynamic duo
Wholeheartedly committed
To fulfill our dreams
Ungainly we may be
As we skim above the deepest sea
Toward the blue horizon
Chasing the cosmic sky
Looking for a star called home
“If you actually succeed in creating a utopia, you’ve created a world without conflict, in which everything is perfect. And if there’s no conflict, there are no stories worth telling – or reading!” … Veronica Roth
Ivor’s Utopia
A world made of sunflower seeds
And musical water reeds
A world without greed
No wars and plenty of feed
Where people don’t have to bleed
For being judged an alienated breed
Ivor Steven (c) January 2024
Today’s Throwback Friday poem is a hidden gem from March 2018, and as is my way, I have made some changes, all for the better I hope …
Morning Starshine (Revised)
asleep, out of view
dawn blazes through
blinds me from above
piercing my dreams of love
uncovering memory heartbeats
exposed to the future’s one-way streets
letters sprinkle over my pillow
etching words upon yesterday’s halo
“reflective pages and blotches
wooden posts and hollow notches
under cracked foundation blocks
narrow jargon and hidden plots
inside poems of mine
glazed with her starshine“
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:
Amazon: https://amzn.asia/d/4yFHWrT
Jaymah Press: https://www.jaymahpress.com.au/
OR: email me directly for a signed copy – ivorrs20@gmail.com
Ivor Steven (c) January 2024
Over at Weekly Prompts the Wednesday Challenge is the word: Weather . You may visit their wonderful site by clicking on >> Here
My poem, although not about the ‘weather’, the ‘Sun and snow’ do get a mentioned …
One Go!
All easier said than done
That is what I said to mum
But now I know
Between our days
Under the sun
And that final day
Buried in snow
We only get one go
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:
Amazon: https://amzn.asia/d/4yFHWrT
Jaymah Press: https://www.jaymahpress.com.au/
OR: email me directly for a signed copy – ivorrs20@gmail.com
Ivor Steven (c) January 2024
“The Colour Pink symbolizes love, nurture, and compassion”
A Pink Crescent Moon
Up there
In the rose
Coloured
Evening sky
The Crescent moon
Donned
A pink bandanna
Tonight
The scarf’s message
Caught my eye
Like a neon sign
“I am the Sun’s
dream-time light
transmitting
love and compassion
to all who praise
pink tonight”
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:
Amazon: https://amzn.asia/d/4yFHWrT
Jaymah Press: https://www.jaymahpress.com.au/
OR: email me directly for a signed copy – ivorrs20@gmail.com
Ivor Steven (c) January 2024
Featured Image Above: A small section of “Street Art”, and what I saw in the centre of the original larger photo of artwork, below
“And in the end” I wondered what was the artist’s underlying message, and in my imagination, this poem, is my abstract interpretation
An Ending Before the End, or Beyond the Oasis
An unsinkable planet
Ran aground in a desert
Did you see the end coming?
Maybe I have reached the end
Here
At the end of my quill
My blue ink well is dry
And dead cobwebs
Fill my window sill
Ivor Steven (c) January 2024
Ivor.Plumber/Poet 