Category: Weekly Prompts

The Forest Of Doubt

This Saturday, the weekend challenge on Weekly Prompts is: Walkabout. Please go over and visit their fabulous site by clicking >> HERE.  And below is my response their prompt.

 

The Forest Of Doubt

 

Tonight, after dusk

I’ll be in the dark forest of Doubt

On a mystical walkabout

To find those elusive faeries

With their wings of mysterious star-dust

And I shall fill my empty pockets

Ready for Mothers Day tomorrow

Whereupon I’ll spread the magical sparkles

One handful on my mother’s headstone

The second one on my wife’s grave site

And as the same as other years gone by

For us, the faeries willing share their night

 

 

Ivor Steven (c)  May 2020

We’re All Here As One

In this week’s Wednesday challenge “Weekly Prompts” have chosen a very important word for the time we are living in : VULNERABILITY. Please go and visit “Weekly Prompts” site by clicking >>HERE.  Yes we are definitely living in vulnerable times of isolation and distancing. My poem below is about staying connected via our websites. And Hanna Kah’s website platform, is a good example of putting your talents out there, for everyone to enjoy… Here’s the link to their site > https://www.culture-y.com/  , and for an added bonus, if you click onto their site, and click ‘Home’, and then click on the video on their Header Page, you’ll get a video show of Hanna Kah’s live performance, from in her lounge-room studio…. please enjoy the show….

 

We’re All Here, As One

 

Mid afternoon

Time for a cuppa and cake

In the safety

Of my writing haven

Sheltering under the verandah

Listening to Hanna Kay’s music

Via a direct connection to Germany

Playing songs from her lounge-room

All the way to my courtyard

 

I’m all alone here

However, I’m sharing all of my words

To all of you readers

From all around the world

We’re all at a distance apart

But we’re all here, as one

 

 

Ivor Steven (c)  April 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An Old Book Shuts, a New Door Opens

This weekend the challenge from “Weekly Prompts” is: Up and Down. Please go over and visit their fabulous site by clicking >>Here .    My response below is a poem about, the ‘downs and ups’ of our worlds situation at the moment….

 

An Old Book Shuts, a New Door Opens

 

Today I question myself

What do I see?

Upon my worlds’ lower shelf

There! An open wider drawer

Containing a treasure chest

A vast crater of potential

 

An orb with a mystical two piece door

The doors’ bottom half’s pale blue

Like yesterday’s fading blue moon

A book of old testaments

 

The doors’ top half’s bright yellow

A gateway of gilded gold

The book of tomorrow’s future

The new prophecy of days under the sun

 

 

Ivor Steven (c)

 

 

Sage Bush At Guard Tower Twelve(Revised)

This week’s Wednesday Challenge on the “Weekly Prompts” site is the word BOUNDARIES. Please go over and visit their fabulous site by clicking >>HERE  . Below is my poem about the biggest social boundary every put in place on this planet !!

 

Sage Bush At Guard Tower Twelve

 

I’ve been on the run for weeks

Heading towards the Great Wall

From atop this steep hill

My nose tells me, I’m close

And I smell that distinctive sage aroma

Knowing, the sage bush is nearby

Below the gateway to guard tower twelve

My old bones shake and shiver

The Mongolians are closing quickly

Spears and arrows aquiver

 

Fear grips me, and I crawl low

Fingers grasping this granite boundary

Block after block, of the giant blockade

Frightened, I’m too scared to fall

Onto those deadly steel blades

And cold rugged rocks below

I clamber higher, step after step

Finally there above, I see my wish

The flowering sage bush

Mauve blooms bowing in the breeze

My chest sighs and heaves

I clear my lungs, and scream

Soon I’ll be free, as I see

Near the sage bush at guard tower twelve

The Emperor’s warriors, my reprieve

Saved, I fill the Royal message bag with sage leaves

 

 

Ivor Steven (c)  April 2020.

What? Escalation Again

This weekend “The Weekly Prompt” challenge is slightly different from the norm; They have chosen a question, and the question is ‘What is it?‘ Please go and check out their fabulous site by clicking >>HERE…. Above, in the Feature Image, is my photo of “What is it?” , and below is my poem about the object in the photo ??

 

What? Escalation Again

 

Is this the germ?

That mysterious virus

Or maybe the cure

Our miracle antibiotic

Why profoundly round?

A slippery pill of renown

Why be so colourful?

The answers a rainbow, upside down

 

Red’s for blood

Yellow’s our solar sun

Blue for the ocean that surrounds

What about the black crosses?

Sorry, the gravestones

Representing the losses

 

An insightful imagination

Of a sixteen year-old

During the cold-war escalation

His world then, was young and bold

 

 

Ivor Steven (c)  March 2020

The Communities Leap Of Faith. “Pako Festa”, Geelong

Over on Weekly Prompts, this weekend’s challenge is:  Leap. Please go and visit their fabulous site by clicking >>HERE

Yesterday (Saturday), I went to Geelong’s annual Pako Festa event, a gathering, celebrating the colourful multicultural societies that live in harmony within Geelong’s community. These people who have come from all around the world, have taken a giant leap of faith to resettle their lives here in Geelong. There were over 25 different nationalities represent in the glorious parade, and I’ll let my photos below do all the talking today….. I hope there’s not too many photos, but as you can imagine the parade took well over an hour to go pass me !!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ivor Steven (c)  March 2020

 

 

 

 

 

Not So Wise, But My Size

The midweek challenge on Weekly Prompts is T-Shirt Wisdom. An interesting subject/prompt for me, as I am a bit of a T-shirt buyer when I’m on my trips away, and  the below photos are from my collection of T-shirts……. And please go and visit the fabulous “Weekly Prompts” site by clicking >>HERE

Below: My China trip T-Shirts…

Below: My cruise to the New Caledonia Islands

Below: My cruise to New Zealand

Below: The trip to New York and Philadelphia, “Dreams of the Heart”

Below: Gifts from my sister-in-law when visiting Thailand

Below: My ‘Doctor Who’ T-Shirt….           &    a gift from my Canadian uncle

Below: Leonard Cohen T-Shirts (Of course)

Below: “Hanne Kah”, from Germany, who I meet at a music venue in Geelong…. A Geelong Music Festival T-Shirt, from 5 years ago, and the T-Shirt my sister bought for me, when I got home hospital, in time for Christmas 2018….

 

 

 

Ivor Steven (c)  Feb 2020

 

 

A Book Fair

This weekend over on Weekly Prompts, the weekend challenge is; Surface. Please go and visit the Weekly Prompts fabulous site by clicking >> HERE     Below is my take on the prompt, Surface, with photos and my poem ‘A Book Fair’….

 

A Book Fair

 

trestle table after table

there’s rows and rows

of second-hand books

on the surface

the books appear worn

but inside their dusty covers

that untold story awaits

a magical gem for eager eyes

youngsters hungry for a fantasy tale

adults search for a mystery unseen

and hidden underneath their old surfaces

the printed word still astounds

there on display in the town’s historical hall

treasures yet to be discovered still abound

 

 

Ivor Steven (c)  Feb 2020

Melody & Poetry

Here’s a poem I’ve written for ‘Go Dog Go Cafe’s’,  Tuesday Writing Prompt Challenge. Today’s prompt: Write a story or poem that ends with the phrase “he shredded her dreams in dignified air of victory”

Friday evening I attended my first ever Melody and Poetry event at the Analogue Academy & Gallery. The new and interesting night developed into thoroughly enjoyable show, for both the musicians and poets. The poem I recited was “Lost On The River” , here’s the link >> https://ivors20.wordpress.com/2019/06/30/lost-on-the-river/

Melody and Poetry

 

The Gallery’s been darkened

And the room’s illuminated by faerie lights

The Melody and Poetry event begins

On stage, there’s a piano player and guitarist

Improvising their music, to each poet’s readings

And the enthusiastic crowd sings along

To the sheets of printed words

And the poet’s recital is resonating vividly

As he shredded her dreams

In a dignified air of victory

 

 

Ivor Steven (c)  Feb 2020

My Bird Feeder

This week’s midweek challenge on ‘Weekly Prompts’ is: BIRD FEEDERS.  Please go and visit the fabulous “Weekly Prompts” site by clicking >> Here  

I don’t own a bird feeder as such, but I suppose my verandah roof acts as my permanent bird feeder.  Seeds from my neighbours trees seem to naturally end up landing on my verandah roof. The birds can be quite noisy feathered friends, as they clatter around on my verandah. … but while they are busily chomping seeds on my roof, the birds are forgetting to feast on my ripe ‘Rapunzel Cherry Tomatoe’ bush, and some of my readers, might remember what happens to those who steal from ‘Tomatoe Bush’, for a reminder, you can peruse at this link to that post >> https://ivors20.wordpress.com/2018/03/27/how-many-books-do-i-take-on-the-cruise/ …….”BEWARE”…….

Featured Image Above: My verandah roofer, the birds feeding area…!!

Below: My 9ft tall Rapunzel Cherry Tomatoe Bush, higher than the guttering.

 

Below Left: The cherry tomatoe crop              Right: Tomatoes in my Asian salad

 

 

Ivor Steven (c)  Feb 2020