Deep and Deeper? (revised)

A poem I wrote back in April, a piece that did not make the final list in my new book “Until Eyes Hear Sound”, oh damn … maybe one for my next Book! … Anyhow, my poem seems appropriate for the world’s current happenings and dramatic events





Deep and Deeper?




while afloat, we keep seeking 

and building boats that keep leaking 

time sails by, and we keep weeping

I often wonder how deep

humanities knowledge is

yet unseen …

how deep are our oceans

yet unseen …

how deep is the universe

yet unseen …

how deep is humanities love

for one another

yet unseen …






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/

Lulu Books: https://www.lulu.com/shop/ivor-steven-and-derrick-knight/perceptions/hardcover/product-2pwqe4.html?q=Perceptions+by+Ivor+Steven&page=1&pageSize=4

OR: email me directly for a signed copy – ivorrs20@gmail.com  

Oh, No!

Oh, No! … Here in Australia, yesterday’s referendum, to give our First Nation’s people a ‘Voice’ in parliament was rejected … I think it’s a sad outcome for Australia, and I am feeling the hurt that my Aboriginal friends are experiencing today.


Oh, No!


Why cannot I be right?

Why is my right so wrong?

Why are the wrongs so strong?

How has racism become right?


Why does our blight?

Remain deaf dumb and blind!

Without any foresight!






Ivor Steven (c) October 2023

Flying Bricks of War (again)

I am posting this poem “again” … there is War “again” … more innocent lives will be “Lost”
Over at Weekly Prompts, the Weekend Challenge is the word, Lost … please visit their fabulous site by clicking on >> Here

Featured Image Above: Gaza Strip border, Kibbutz Netiv Ha’Asara, Israel © Kai Wiendenhofer



Flying Bricks of War


There is a divisive brick wall

That stands harsh and tall

To stop people from breaking their fall


Then the leaders in ivory towers

Ceased talking about peace and flowers

And hurled bricks into that sandy strip

One brick after another brick

Flew from one side to the other

Smashing innocent children and mothers


Flying bricks crumbling into dust

Creating dirty clouds of mistrust


The walls of Babylon fell again

As brick upon brick crushed human brains


Brick upon brick filled the bloody drains

Brick upon brick killed and maimed







Ivor Steven (c) October 2023

Throwback Friday, Crooked Ways (Revision #2)

I originally wrote this poem in January 2019, here today I have revised the piece for a second time.




Crooked Ways (Revision #2)


I’m not to be told, how to live my life

It’s been over a decade since having lost my wife

I’m not a great philosopher

Nor a modern fashion writer

I’m not a sprightly young surfer

Never clever enough to be bursar

Too old to be a toiling plumber

And these days I prefer to pen poetry

Some say you are never too old

Whatever, I shall always be bold

With my plans to reach for the stars

And continue to travel my crooked ways






Ivor Steven (c) October 2023

A Wounded Identity Badge

Over at Weekly Prompts, the Wednesday Challenge is the word: Identity … To visit their fabulous site, please click on >> Here … My poem below is an appropriate and poignant response to the Prompt


A Wounded Identity Badge 


I am lying here on brown dirt 

My human blood is trickling

From a new open-cut wound

Into this ancient and sacred ground 


I have been shot!

Straight through my “Yes” vote badge 

By a white man’s racist outburst 

His rant was full of arrogance and hatred 


My badge is damaged but not destroyed 

My heart is bruised but not broken 

I will steadfastly, forever vote “Yes” 

Until eyes hear the sound of human decency   






Ivor Steven (c) October 2023

Cyberspace and Melted Digitals (revised #2)

I’ve been having computer problems for over a month and appropriately I have dug up this old poem and revised it … However, some good news today, my brother said that the computer is fixable and he has started the refurbishment process

Cyberspace and Melted Digitals


This crazy, distorted cyberspace

Can be a dishonest place

Like talking to aliens from outer space

False profiles with no trace


I dislike the blank screen’s cool embrace

Documents unreadable at the coalface

As if they’re hiding from the human race

Or that grand theft of the writer’s database


I’d like to tie together their ” Boot” laces

See them tumble and fall from grace

Straight down the duck-muck-covered staircase

And melt all their digital’s in the fireplace







Ivor Steven (c) October 2023

Frankie’s Weekend

Saturday: My brother’s birthday party day

Frankie loves catching up with Aunty Tum

The birthday party feast

Frankie is impressed with the birthday cake.


Frankie makes himself comfortable after the party

Sunday: Ballarat’s Botanical Gardens & Lake Wendouree


It was time to visit the spectacular Botanical Gardens

With Frankie of course

The Picturesque Lake Wendouree

Frankie chats to the swan. Lawrie, Frankie, & me, sitting beside the Lake

Monday: Going back home to Geelong

Frankie’s happy in his car seat. The old Lal Lal Railway Station. The Lal Lal Falls Hotel

Frankie’s in his car seat. The historic Elaine Hotel. Elaine’s new Roadhouse Grocery Store.

The wind turbines near Elaine … but ironically, I’m running out of puff. It’s now 11.15pm Monday here in Geelong, and to produce this post has been a task on my little TV Computer … My desktop computer is back in Ballarat being repaired by my brother and the process could take a while …



My brother turned 71`and I turned 72 back in July, so this old Neil Young song seems appropriate for “Frankie’s Weekend”




Ivor Steven (c) October 2023

Trees Weep

Big beautiful trees near my brother’s
house
Me and Frankie at the tree top lookout near my brother’s home

Today’s poem was inspired by Dwight’s thought provoking post this morning >> https://rothpoetry.wordpress.com/2023/10/07/embedded-pain

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Trees Weep

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Barbwire scrapes and creeps

Their wounds run deep

Trees stand there and weep

Humans turn a blind eye and sleep

Upon their own rusty scrapheap

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Ivor Steven (c) October 2023

Shangri La, Volume 4, A Timeless Zone

FREE PDF COPY >>> Links Below

Hello, dear readers and followers, as you might know I stopped producing my “Tullawalla Booklets” at # 31, because that was the house number of our family’s Tullawalla Homestead.
But the booklet formats are a superb way for me to catalogue the vast number of poems that I produce and as the saying goes “I Am Turning Another Page”. Here I have begun a new series of poem booklets, and they are called “Shangri La” which is the name of my little Villa, and is my piece of “earthly paradise, a retreat from the pressures of modern civilization”.
Incredibly, I now have a total of “1547” Poems filed in these booklet formats!!
Click on >> HERE  for the link to your FREE: PDF Copy of “Shangri La, Volume 4. A Timeless Zone“




A Timeless Zone


I stood alone in my second-hand clothes

holding her worn out soul

gently, I slid her urn

into that hollow

inside the brick wall


a moment of heartache

hidden in a chasm of pain

stone-faced again

I stood alone in my timeless zone

not wanting to go home






Ivor Steven (c) October 2023