This Endless Storm, (a Tanka)
Beyond the storm clouds
What lays ahead for mankind?
Behind His torn shroud
I see only the dark side
Of bombing children blindly
Ivor Steven (c) July 2022
This Endless Storm (a Tanka)
Metamorphosis, is up at Coffee House Writers Magazine
Hello dear readers and followers, I now write for “Coffee House Writers” magazine on a fortnightly basis, and my poem“Metamorphosis”, is in this week’s edition of Coffee House Writers Magazine. … please click on the link below to read my poem, at Coffee House Writers >>
https://coffeehousewriters.com/metamorphosis/
Thank you to Derrick Knight for sending me his butterfly photo to accompany my caterpillar photo >> https://derrickjknight.com/
Ivor Steven (c) July 2022
Promote Yourself Monday: July 25, 2022
Dear readers and followers, here’s a great opportunity for your writings to be read by other writers, and also to find and meet other writers. You are very welcome to participate, come along and visit our writer friendly site…..by clicking on the link at the bottom of this article >>
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Welcome toPromote Yourself Monday. All Go Dog Go Cafe community members are invited to postonelink to one specific piece of their writing (600 words or less please!) they have published on their blog, Facebook page, or Instagram feed into the comments section below.
If you post a link, be sure to read some of the other great writing people have linked to.
Sad Old Sky (a Senryu)
Like the Ukraine war itself, being disconnected from any peace process .. I deliberately constructed my poem without any conjunctions
Sad Old Sky (a Senryu)
Hard rain strikes again
Awakening old tired eyes
Sad sky falls to ground
Ivor Steven (c) July 2022
Throwback Friday, Within Us, by Ivor Steven
Love lives within us
My files indicate that the oldest entry for this poem was in April 2018, but I have a feeling the original might have been written a few years earlier.
Within Us
The oceans wave us goodbye
Sand and sea, one beach
Like the surf’s white crest
Love is within our lonely breasts
The lands push us apart
Alps and plains, one realm
Like a river’s rocky cascade
Love is a turbulent escapade
The sky opens us up
Dawn and dusk, one sun
Like the moons daytime eclipse
Love is a hidden apocalypse
The universe covers us complete
Stars and planets, one creation
Like the distant Milky Way
Love is within us to stay
Ivor Steven (c) April 2018
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)…
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Who’s Rowing My Boat in the Dark?
I’m reposting this poem of mine from August 2020, for two reasons. 1. The poem gives me a chance to present one of my favourite songs by Leonard Cohen. 2. I like this poem, because the piece is open for the reader to interpret my thoughts images in whatever way their feel is right for them.
Who’s Rowing My Boat in the Dark?
Am I in hibernation?
Or am I lacking inclination?
Am I awake and living?
Or just lying here dreaming?
Why do I dream so much?
Visions feel alive to touch
Half-awake, I scribble these notes
Half asleep, am I falsely afloat?
On my mystical Noah’s Ark
Have I the right to ask?
Who’s rowing my boat in the dark?
Is it Her, my brave Joan of Ark?
My Marathon’s Goal
The winter sun sets
Over my oldest day
I tick off another year
My sister reminds me
“Twenty years to go
to equal Dad’s Ninety-one”
“Is that achievable?”
I ask myself
“No harm in trying”
I tell myself
Carole’s Dad also reached Ninety-One
This is my marathon’s goal
“To walk around the moon
on my way to touching the stars”
Ivor Steven (c) July 20th 2022
Seventy-one Today
I went to a friend’s funeral yesterday afternoon, he was Seventy-one too, and a few weeks ago I went to see him in hospital after he had suffered a bad stroke … He was home alone, and they found him on the floor 3 days after he had the stroke … We went to school together 55 years ago … Last night I was sad and alone with my furry friend Frankie … Today is my 71st birthday, and I am emotionally appreciating life, after suffering 3 strokes of my own in recent times …
Attacked below is a new song by Loner Deer, ‘Leather Hat’ and his lyrics, seem to capture the feelings of my mood and thoughts today.
Loner Deer. ‘Leather Hat’, Lyrics
Today, no one came in my team
But I don’t wanna be the one
Who got no friends, no buddies in the house
But it’s not a big deal ’cause I never be alone
Under my Leather Hat, under my leather hat
This morning I want to play, but Momma said “no”
I have to clean my room but I just wanna be outside
Hang out with my friends, but I don’t have many plans
So, I’m just waiting in my bed and looking on the wall
At my leather hat, at my leather hat
Give me trust and give me wings, I guess some people want it
But I ain’t looking for the fame, I don’t forget where I come from
When Grandpa drives me through the fields
He tells me what I have to think about
That no one tells me what to do
I’m rich, I’m strong, I’m feeling good
Under my leather hat, under my leather hat
Give me trust and give me wings, I guess some people want it
But I ain’t looking for the fame, I don’t forget where I come from
Today, no one came in my team
But I don’t wanna be the one
Who got no friends, no buddies in the house
But it’s not a big deal ’cause I never be alone
Under my Leather Hat, under my leather hat
Ivor Steven (c) July 2022
Tullawalla #29, Today, Beside the Sea
Hello dear readers and followers, I am pleased to announce that I have managed to produce my “Twenty Nineth Tullawalla” Booklet … For new readers that don’t know about these booklets, they are basically the reason why I write poetry. I produce these ‘home-printed’ booklets for the sole purpose of raising funds for my favourite charity organisation, the MS Society, in Australia via the MS Charity Shop here in Geelong. And actually all money’s I receive for any of my poetry .via, submissions, I donate to the MS Society…. I’m proud to announce, that the sale of my “Tullawalla Booklets”, have now gone pass $1500.00, … to all the lovely readers, who have donated, to help achieve such a wonderful amount, a big heartfelt thank you, from “us” and the MS Society … …..Incredibly, there is now a total of “1255 poems”, Yep, well over “A Thousand Poems” in my collection/series of “29” Tullawalla Booklets. After 3 months, this booklet is finally completed, and ready for sale now !! As always, they are available for purchase, either as a hard copy ‘Booklet’, or a PDF format….. All proceeds go to the MS Charity Shop, here in Geelong West….. Please contact me here through my website page and I can chat to you about arrangements from there…. Oh, the booklet is called “Tullawalla, Today, Beside the Sea”… And here is the link to my website >> https://ivors20.wordpress.com
Today, Beside the Sea
After I left the fish tank
I lived on a nearby riverbank
Close to the connected sea
I would look beyond the ocean
Out to the dark blue horizon
As far as the eye could see
That was the ocean
That was our river
And now her river has been set free
An ebb tide that flows through me
Today beside the sea
I wait here
For tomorrow’s horizon
To set me free
Ivor Steven (c) July 2022
Towards the Dark (my Nightmare)
A nightmarish hypothetical poem and some of the words are from comments I made on Bart’s and Sadje’s recent posts .. > https://bartbarkerpoet.com/2022/07/15/fraiku-first-lights/
.. > https://lifeafter50forwomen.com/2022/07/13/one-liner-strength/
Featured Image: Photo from the JWST
Towards the Dark (my Nightmare)
One day soon
After mining the earth dry
There will no more rubies
No more diamonds in the sky
Will our silver spoons
Ever stop digging
Towards the dark side of our moon
Tonight, we do not need
Our world to be darker
We can learn to survive
When life teaches us
The value of being alive
Ivor Steven (c) July 2022
Ivor.Plumber/Poet 