“I love penguins, for they walk like they’re going to hug someone.” -..Fathima Shamla
Penguins (a Haiku)
Penguins do waddle
Feet splayed with welcoming arms
All they need is love
Ivor Steven April 2023
Penguins (a Haiku)
Tasmania, Day 2
Early Friday morning in Launceston and we going to Wynyard, the main mission of adventure in Tasmania
More green rolling hills and then a refreshment break at Devonport … Terri and Maureen
Next stop Penguin (my choice) and the beautiful beach at Penguin
We all enjoyed visiting Penguin … Terri, Nola, me, Jeff, and Maureen
Penguin and I’m feeling quite at home
On our way back home we stopped at Deloraine and go over the Meander River
The sun is setting and it’s time to head back to Launceston for a well earned sleep
Ivor Steven (c). April 2023
Tasmania, Day 1
3.40 am, and Frankie wakes me up 20 minutes before my ‘alarm’ was due to ring … good doggie… and between my sister and Frankie, I manage to catch the Airport bus on time … 90 minutes later I am at Melbourne airport…
Another 90 minutes I’m finally on the plane with my 5 cousins, and up through the clouds we fly to Tasmania …
Up through the clouds we soar and above the clouds we fly
We leave the picturesque Richmond village and head up to Launceston, stopping at Ross on the way … Nola in front of the rustic Ross Bakery … we liked the old fashioned Bakeries
Ivor Steven (c) April 2023
Reflections & Revelations, The Short Of It, Volume 2
Forty-seven poets and writers with astute observations about living, emotions, and our world were featured online in The Short of It publication in 2022. The best of their thoughts fill the pages of this compilation. They will leave you with rich impressions, some providing mysteries to ponder but also many which speak deep truths. Each piece by the poets and writers presented in this collection shows us, with depth and succinctness, what was on their minds. Every one of their poems, as the title of this book suggests, brings to the surface their “reflections and revelations.”
A big thank you to Susi Bocks for editing and producing this outstanding Anthology, and I am proud to have been selected as one of many in a talented list of writers.
“The paperback version is available on Amazon.com NOW!! To get your copy, please CLICK THIS LINK! “
Here are my “Short” poetic entries in Anthology:
Facades
Wearing your best vest
Is not necessarily a truthful test
A facade for a restless chest
Again
Summer’s golden plains
And stormy rains
Erase winter stains
After Twilight
Starry, starry nights
Shine on, shine on bright
Please stay, please stay within sight
Earthquake
I feel the earth quake
Fracturing tears off my soul
Tremors from my heart
Hail
Hailstones, hard as nails
Falling frozen razor blades
Storm’s icy sharp balls
Ivor Steven (c) April 2023
Today at Sunrise (a Tanka)
Please Note: All photos in my article today were taken by my cousin Maureen, and she kindly allowed me to reproduce them here on my poetry website.
Today at Sunrise (a Tanka)
Dawn on Anzac Day
My cousins are in Torquay
United they stand
Remembering their fathers
Peace they cry, “Lest We Forget”
Ivor Steven (c) 25th April 2023
The Universe of Love and Light (a Tanka)
The Crescent Moon and Venus 6.10pm, April 23rd
The Universe of Love and Light (a Tanka)
The Moon and Venus
Crystalize the twilight sky
Together they dance
She, in the crescent moon’s arms
Love unites the universe
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) April 2023
Afterglow
Put another log on the fire, while I travel to Tasmania with the two Philadelphia girls and three other Aussie cousins … Thursday 27th April – Monday 1st May
Afterglow
After a frenetic time
I feel like a burnt-out hollow log
My charred core is clinging
Onto nature’s dampened fringes
Of Autumn leaves and fallen branches
Where flora stealthily regenerates
Steadily, my diminished cavern
Is growing wider
And my ambient lantern
Is glowing brighter
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) April 2023
Surprise Surprise!
I posted the below “Faeries and Books” article way back in December 2019.
Faeries and Books
Cousin Maureen, Christine(from Go Dog Go Cafe’s website), cousin Terri
Faeries And Books
Australia is a far away land
Only reached by ship or plane
Today, I saw the Ben Franklin Bridge at my door
Distant fairies were knocking, a message for Ivor
From my Philadelphia cousins, Maureen and Terry
They went to a Pop-Up Shop, a writers library
To meet Christine, our chief of ‘Go Dog Go Cafe’
Who signed a book for me, and a joint photo for my display
Cherished Thanksgiving gifts, to make my heart beat
Now I’m looking forward to my cousin delivering the treats
“On Sunday, at the start of their stay, my cousins (The Good Faeries) Maureen and Terri, presented me with the signed copy of “Smitten” that they had purchased for me way back in November 2019 … I had totally forgotten about the Antology and their gift was truly a very pleasant SURPRISE!”
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) April 2023
Throwback Friday, Time Travelers, original version – December 2017
For my readers, followers, friends and all those who doubt my connection to our unidentified Aliens, my “Mothership” landed for a visit today, to check-up on how I was handling the planet earth’s present dilemmas, and I’m afraid I had to report that the situation here is stagnant and quite grim.
Time Travelers (Revised)
Zap, a herculean lightning bolt precedes an astrological power surge
Traversing the cobalt skies, like gigantic electric eels
Vividly scoring chords, to hang our biblical words on
Like musical notes on lines of lost dreams and regrets
Soundwaves echoing, poles apart, going north, south, east, and west
Conducting iridescent aurora lights over our purple sunset
Vibrating quasars pulsating from deep inside outer space
Focusing on the huge magnetic Receiving Dish, signaling “An Arrival”
Recording a celestial traveler, singing with an angel’s voice
Resonating sweetly, like Handel’s, Messiah Hallelujah Chorus
Translated into the universal language of symphonic sound
Digitally simulcast and televised to the world’s population
A Super-Sonic Cosmic message to be heard loud and clear
“We have returned to your degraded planet earth
to again, bestow upon you, Peace and Goodwill
like we have done before, Eons of Millenniums ago”
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) April 2023
Hosting My Philadelphia Cousins, Part 2
Wednesday :
We visited the historic Paper Mill tourist area in Fyansford, and then the adjacent scenic Barwon River Valley and Buckley Falls
L-R. In the foreground, the viaduct channel that powered the Paper Mill — Maureen in front of a Bluestone storage shed — A pair of Tawny Frogmouth Owls
L-R. The girls and Frankie — A signpost deplaying some local aboriginal township names — Frankie and the girls
The Weir on the Barwon River above Buckley Falls, which fed water into the old Paper Mill viaduct — Frankie and Maureen
Wednesday, Late Afternoon:
I took Terri home for a much need rest and Maureen and I continued on our way to Corio Quay and Rippleside Beach.
At Corio Quay, the ‘Spirit Of Tasmania’ , the Bass Strait ferry from Geelong to Tasmania
Rippleside Beach, which is at the end of Geelong’s unique “Bollard Trail Walk” around Corio Bay.
https://www.geelongaustralia.com.au/bollards/article/item/8d250a1f01e3425.aspx
The promenade section of the trail that bridges a inlet … looking back to the waterfront area in front of the City of Geelong.
Below: a short video of our view across the Bay toward the City.
Wednesday, Laterer: At the Moorabool Valley Chocolate Cafe before we went home to arouse cousin Terri
Me and my ‘cheesecake’ — The model train/railway in front of the kitchen area.
At the end of the Cafe’s carpark there is a lookout over the Moorabool Valley
Thursday:
In the morning the girls had to pack ready for the next “cousin interchange”, cousin Dennise from Torquay at 2.30pm, and then we went down to the charming Pakington St.
The girls did some shopping and we returned to the ‘Box Office Cafe’ for Lunch.
The gorgeous West Park — the girls in my courtyard waiting to be picked up — goodbye to my dear cousins Maureen and Terri, for now, until next Thursday(27th) a group of us (6 cousins) are flying over to Tasmania for a 5-day tour.
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) April 2023
Ivor.Plumber/Poet 