Levering my leg like an old toad
I stumble and bumble
Along my yellow-brick road
But I will not crash or crumble
Floundering, unbalanced, and unsteady
From a thumping migraine in my head
Piercing my eyeballs
With unfeathered darts
That continually find their mark
My neurosurgeon calls them
“Post-stroke fatigue moments”
Four years on!
They haunt me like “Jaws”
With the go button stuck on pause
But fortunately, after two days rest
I am back to my normal alien best
Ivor Steven (c) August 2023
Bird Watching (a Haiku)
Cold, wet, and grounded
Jealous, I see him fly home
As hail stings my eyes
Ivor Steven (c) Aug 2023
Over at Weekly Prompts, the word: Backwards is the Weekend Challenge. Please visit their fabulous site by clicking on >> Here. – Below, I followed Sue’s suggestion and went “Backwards” through my files and found this intriguing piece from September 2017
Featured Image: Artwork, by Kerri Costello, Graphic Design Artist, my amazing niece/second cousin, who lives in Philadelphia, and I think this was the first design that she created for my poetry website.
Burning the Fears
I’m frightened, and too scared to show my face
And knowingly, I’m arriving late
The ghouls are spying from the hill
And lower fools are poisoning her will
Underneath her, a wicker complete
Above, she’s suspended from a stake
The bonfires started, against the rules
And the crowds rejoicing, as the fire drools
Waiting agog, for her garments to ignite
The flames are crackling below her tonight
And the mob’s listening for her ungodly screams
But there’s not a whimper! Within she beams
And secretly, I see her black cat’s drowning tears
Are extinguishing all her burning fears
Ivor Steven (c) August 2023
“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” – Albert Einstein
True
If there is something
I could do
I would do anything
To save you
Mother Nature, you are everything
I look up to
My words are nothing
Compared to you
You are the orchestrator of things
With a balcony view
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) August 2023
Today I am presenting another poem that will be appearing in my new book “Until Eyes Hear Sound”. I wrote ‘The Reincarnation of a Pumpkin’ in October 2020, and the poem will be the opening piece in the Weird Section, of Chapter 9. Humour, Fantasy, Faeries, and Weird.
The Reincarnation of a Pumpkin
My locked bubble is about to go boom
A year I’ve been a stranger in my own tomb
Under a pumpkin lid, hiding my gloom
Where my world was a rotting cave of doom
Now these orange walls are my life-giving womb
Being reborn like a smiling old groom
I’m breaking away from the master’s dead blooms
Escaping on the green witch’s magical broom
Flying over the full moon of autumn
Where I’ll be able to wear my mask and costume
Hidden under my orange Kaftan from Khartoum
And I’ll invade the newsrooms, and the children’s bedrooms
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) August 2023
Over at Weekly Prompts, the Wednesday Challenge is: Cookie Jars … please visit their fabulous site by clicking on >> Here … Below is my Metaphorical response to the Prompt.
Our Clear Blue Cookie Jar
Like a springtime butterfly
I brightly fluttered outside
Immediately the blue neon sky
Illuminated my clear blue cookie jar
Full of nature’s dazzling delights
Looking through the crystal glass
I saw green leafed trees
Swinging in the breeze
I heard their wooden heartbeats
Singing about how the forest faeries
Big clear blue jar of cookies
Were to be shared by all adversaries
Who needed their earthly remedies
To become compassionate goodies
Ivor Steven (c) August 2023
My poem today is created from comments that I posted to other poets sites. in response to their creative poems. The fellow writers in Stanza order are …
1. Sadje >> https://lifeafter50forwomen.com/2023/08/04/when-eyes-confuse-the-mind-a-pantoum/
2. Grace >> https://graceofthesun.com/unchained-2/
3 & 4. Bart >> https://bartbarkerpoet.com/2023/08/14/dive/
Freedom is for the Birds
What to believe
What our eyes see
Or what our mind needs
In freedom, our hearts glide with pride
In chains, our souls cower and hide
Is freedom only for the Birds?
Humans, I am lost for words
Their main appetite is greed
Without planting any seeds
Is Freedom still possible?
Or a mission impossible
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) August 2023
A poem I originally wrote in November 2019 during the devastating bushfires that were engulfing Australia … due to recent tragic events, I am presenting a revised version today …
Above the Flames (Revised)
Mother nature has decided
Humans!
You’ve been given eons of time
Humans!
You’ve held the torch, but failed to see the light
Our Mother
Is rekindling her furnace
She’s back-burning her own forests
Projecting black smoke signals
Obvious messages, to feel, hear and see
Yes Father
Where there is smoke, there is fire
She’s furious, and our planet’s ablaze
Sisters and Brothers
Feel her scorching heat
Blistering your swollen feet
Hear her crackling explosions
Piercing your deafened eardrums
See her soaring flames
Blinding your greedy eyes
Humans!
There’s no point, looking up to the sky
Seeking your saviour in heaven
You are not in charge
Abandon your selfish barrage
Our Mother
Controls your clouds and rain
It’s time to show her Kindness, and end your pain
Ivor Steven (c) August 2023
I’ve done lots of meandering today and now I need to have a doggie nap
My Mind Meanders (a Tanka)
On our morning trail
Where beginnings never end
Imagination
Meanders around each bend
Conscious of nature’s haven
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) August 2023
Over at “Weekly Prompts”, the Weekend Challenge is the word: Bucolic, please visit their fabulous site by clicking on >> Here … Below is my ‘Rural Weather’ response to the Prompt
The Weather’s Like a Boomerang
Saturday afternoon
We are stuck in the lounge room
Talking to the idiot-box
Outside there’s a winter monsoon
And the rain-god’s drops
Are as big as tablespoons
Full of crushed ice-blocks
Our day of play has gone
Tweedily tweet! The cuckoo sang
“Time to yawn
until tomorrow’s dawn
while waiting for tonight’s moon
to throw the next boomerang”
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) August 2023
Ivor.Plumber/Poet 