My Neighbour Wasn’t Mowing His Lawn (Tullawalla, page 144)
I saw a broad sign, painted by His hand
the words, I did not understand
I thought why? Put another brick in wall
ascending the crooked ladder, too afraid to fall
there I stood alone, and stared
above the galaxy’s glare
my retinas were burning
last night’s moon had fallen
beyond the broad blue dawn
and my neighbour wasn’t mowing his lawn
I then saw in our narrowing crevasse
the universe, in a blade of grass
Ivor Steven © October 2022
Appropriately the “Tullawalla” journey began in Geelong, and I am proudly ecstatic to have my book launch here, back where the “Story” belongs …
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We Lost the Sea (a Haiku) … Tullawalla, page 117
Bridges of dreams crossed
The ocean and river spanned
Waters of love found
Ivor Steven (c) September 2022
Decades of Storms (Tullawalla, page 48)
Over the decades
I’ve lived through many storms
Yesterday
I read about an Atlantic island storm
After midnight
I had a dream about my life’s storms
At dawn
I shall open my door to the storms
I will then wait for my storms
To vacate the dark
And ask the morning sunlight
“Am I still the pilot”
Ivor Steven (c) September 2022
Slow Motion (a Haiku)
Spring grass, lush and green
Yellow flowerbeds abound
Butterflies slow down
Ivor Steven (c) September 2022
Presenting another poem from my new book “Tullawalla”
I wrote “My Broken Mast” in January 2020, and the poem appears in my new book “Tullawalla”
My Broken Mast
Yesterday, a sudden stormy gale
Ripped through my leafy sail
And tore my oldest branch down
Crashing onto the ground
Leaving my main mast, hurtfully marred
A long open wound, and I’m painfully scarred
Mother, will dry my weeping tears
And I’ll recover to live another thirty years
Fatefully, my debris fell safely
All my owner’s guests escaped injury
And I left their ship damage free
Tomorrow they’ll clear my messy sea
Then rest under the shade of me
Ivor Steven (c) January 2020
G’day, and welcome to my blog site. My name is Ivor Steven, I live in Geelong, Australia. I’m an ex-industrial chemist, and a retired plumber, and a former Carer of my wife(Carole), for 30 years, who suffered from severe MS. I Write poetry about those…
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Tullawalla is now available at Amazon
>> https://www.amazon.com/Tullawalla-Meeting-Memories-Australian-Languages/dp/0645377023/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2NUSUI90AWK6&keywords=Tullawalla&qid=1663851584&s=books&sprefix=tullawalla%2Cstripbooks-intl-ship%2C301&sr=1-2
Who’s Left to Row the Boat
… This week it is 22 years since I suffered my first stroke …
The storms are too many to count
Emotional lows had weathered me out
Her journey with MS was a struggle
How much lower could our lives sink
After fourteen years of our battles, I suffered a Stroke
An ambulance came, my brain was in a boat
Floating out to sea, overboard and panic-stricken
I wasn’t swimming, barely awake, and drifting
I had fallen, nothing was working, and not talking
She’s crying, I’m sobbing, my heart is dying
And who’s left to row the boat, I’m thinking
I was jabbed with a needle and silently sleeping
I awoke a day later, in hospital, feeling wasted
My face was limp, mouth parched, was that death I tasted
My mind was active, I thought, where is she
I knew I was bad; the room was all blurry to me
Strong anxieties had set in, I needed to know
Nurses came to me, I pleaded, I wanted to go
“Help me to see her, just give my bed a tow
Please let me go, before I’m covered in snow”
Ivor Steven (c) September 2022
Tullawalla is now Available at Amazon
>> https://www.amazon.com/Tullawalla-Meeting-Memories-Australian-Languages/dp/0645377023/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1IICHBAUD55HH&keywords=Tullawalla&qid=1663803829&s=books&sprefix=tullawalla%2Cstripbooks-intl-ship%2C276&sr=1-2
A Haiku from Tullawalla, “Page 118”
In Your Time (a Hiaku)
You can’t fly pass time
Travel with time, hand in hand
Time is not faceless
Ivor Steven (c) September 2022
I Am Exhausted (a Tanka)
Beyond the Ashes
Memories and rhymes survived
Seeds were implanted
Dreams of the heart were written
Afterward, exhaustion dwelled
Ivor Steven (c) September 2022
My old school-case from sixty-years ago, full of “Tullawalla Books”
My house has been invaded by “Tullawalla Books” … come over and join the party, and lets celebrate … my long awaited SELF-PUBLISHED new edition is NOW available
… contact me via my web-email >> ivorrs20@gmail.com The book is only $20.00 AU plus postage & handling. If you are interested in purchasing a book, send me an email, I’ll send a PayPal Invoice out to you.
This Fence (Tullawalla, page 33)
I am quickly nearing this fence.
An obstacle of a lifetime I see.
And from my side of this fence,
The hurdle is too high for me.
And on the other side of this fence,
There seems nowhere to land or flee.
I have arrived at this fence,
Above the pickets, just grey sky.
And on my side of this fence,
The grass is brown and dry.
On the other side of this fence,
The grass is green, but still I cry.
How am I to clear this fence,
There seems nowhere to go or get by.
This fence, all built of stones,
Breaks my spirit, and all my bones.
Ivor Steven (c) September 2022
I can hear the echoes from Tullawalla sounding closer …
My night’s sleep was calm and sound
Despite the deafening noise of echo’s lost a found
I heard the midnight owl singing
Replaying tunes, of last year’s bells ringing
My blankets had not been disturbed
As if my shadow had slept unperturbed
And my mind had been emptied of yesterday’s wind burns
Then my morning song whispered the words, “sunshine returns”
Ivor Steven (c) August 2022
Ivor.Plumber/Poet 