Throwback Friday, Standing On the Edge of Time

Featured Image Above: ‘Weird/Wonderful’, a painting by Geelong Artist Wendy Ratawa.

Today’s Throwback Friday poem, written in December 2022, was inspired by a Geelong Writers Inc. Ekphrastic Photo Prompt (see above image)


Standing On the Edge of Time

Am I dreaming
Sprawled across Saturn’s rainbow rings
Wishing
I was there
On the edge of Jupiter’s
Multicoloured volcanoes
Observing the chromatic universe
Through my kaleidoscopic eyes

I am here
Standing on the edge of time
Above Tower Hill’s dormant crater
Overlooking a picturesque valley
Of blue lakes and
Multicoloured forests






.


Until Eyes Hear Sound

Lulu Books >>  Until Eyes Hear Sound (lulu.com)




Perceptions:

Amazon >>  Perceptions : Steven, Ivor, Knight, Derrick: Amazon.com.au: Books
Lulu Books >>  Perceptions (lulu.com)




Tullawalla:

Amazon >> Tullawalla A Meeting Place Where My Empty Hands are Full of Memories and Rhymes : Steven, Ivor: Amazon.com.au: Books


OR: >> You may email me directly for a signed copy at
ivorrs20@gmail.com


Ivor Steven ©  October 2025

Shangri La, Volume 16. Home Away From Home

The title of my new booklet, “Home Away From Home”, mainly consists of poems from my amazing holiday to Canada, ‘Before, During, and After.

FREE PDF COPY >>> Links Below

Hello, dear readers and followers. As you may know, I stopped producing my “Tullawalla Booklets” at #31 because that was the house number of our family’s Tullawalla Homestead.
However, the booklet format is a superb way for me to catalogue the vast number of poems I produce, and as the saying goes, “I Am Turning Another Page”. Here I have begun a new series of poem booklets, called “Shangri La”, the name of my little Villa, and it is my piece of “earthly paradise, a retreat from the pressures of modern civilization”.
I now have “2141” Poems filed in these booklet formats!!
(On my bookshelf, I have “The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, which contains 1775 poems … when I first started writing poems, I never envisaged that I would produce so many poems)

Click on >> Here, for the link to your FREE: PDF Copy of “Shangri La, Volume 16, Home Away From Home”

OR … Shangri La Volume 16, Home Away From Home.pdf





Home Away From Home

.

On an island under the northern stars
Among the giant evergreen cedars
Within my personal astrodome
Feeling at ease in my home away from home

I am on top of the world
Uncurling my ancient bones, yet unfurled
Giving my weary soul another joyful whirl

In a land covered by forests and berries
Living a dream on an island with magical fairies

.

.

Ivor Steven (c) September 2025

Dream On

“A gentle landing after an adventurous voyage—my Itmims returns from Canada.”




Dream On

From above and beyond the clouds,
I eventually floated down to the ground,
Softly landing among the bemused crowd —
They were both startled and spellbound.

That my ancient Itmims* spacecraft
Had negotiated the vast Pacific Ocean,
Like ‘Thor Heyerdahl‘s Kon Tiki’ raft…

Despite the wilderness’s rocky passage,
And my damaged undercarriage.



* Itmims; Ivor’s Time Machine In Micro Space







.


Until Eyes Hear Sound

Lulu Books >>  Until Eyes Hear Sound (lulu.com)



Perceptions:

Amazon >>  Perceptions : Steven, Ivor, Knight, Derrick: Amazon.com.au: Books
Lulu Books >>  Perceptions (lulu.com)



Tullawalla:

Amazon >> Tullawalla A Meeting Place Where My Empty Hands are Full of Memories and Rhymes : Steven, Ivor: Amazon.com.au: Books


OR: >> You may email me directly for a signed copy at
ivorrs20@gmail.com


Ivor Steven © September 2025

Hiding in the Trees

“From Branches to Bandwidth.” As birds flit through tangled trees, so too did readers find their way to my words. A poem for the watchers—known and unknown.


September brought a quiet astonishment—views soaring like birds startled from the canopy. As I watched the numbers climb, I felt the presence of unseen eyes, peering through the trees, curious and kind. This poem is for them—for you.






Hiding in the Trees

Who’s watching me,
from behind the trees?
I feel ten thousand eyes
staring at me, edgewise

What do they know
that I don’t know?
Have they discovered my hideaway?
Are they for real – or just strays?

No matter, either way –
I’ll be here at the end of day.







.


Until Eyes Hear Sound

Lulu Books >>  Until Eyes Hear Sound (lulu.com)




Perceptions:

Amazon >>  Perceptions : Steven, Ivor, Knight, Derrick: Amazon.com.au: Books
Lulu Books >>  Perceptions (lulu.com)



Tullawalla:

Amazon >> Tullawalla A Meeting Place Where My Empty Hands are Full of Memories and Rhymes : Steven, Ivor: Amazon.com.au: Books


OR: >> You may email me directly for a signed copy at
ivorrs20@gmail.com


Ivor Steven ©  September 2025

Gina’s Mexican Cafe, Namaimo

Before going over to Gabriola Island, we (me, Penny & Dave) had lunch with Dave’s sister, Sandra, and husband Jordon, at the charming Gina’s Mexican Cafe in Nanaimo


The inviting Gina’s Mexican Cafe



My scrumptious lunch


Left to Right, me, Jordon, Sandra (Dave’s sister), Dave, and Penny. Then Sandra and Dave

And a great time was had by all.
Ivor, Sandra, Jordon, Penny, and Dave






Ivor Steven (c) September 2025

The Spider and the Hummingbird (a Tanka)




The Spider and the Hummingbird (a Tanka)


The spider declares
“Please do not listen to me”
The wee bird responds
“You must keep spinning your web,
And I shall hum for more light”







.


Until Eyes Hear Sound

Lulu Books >>  Until Eyes Hear Sound (lulu.com)




Perceptions:

Amazon >>  Perceptions : Steven, Ivor, Knight, Derrick: Amazon.com.au: Books
Lulu Books >>  Perceptions (lulu.com)



Tullawalla:

Amazon >> Tullawalla A Meeting Place Where My Empty Hands are Full of Memories and Rhymes : Steven, Ivor: Amazon.com.au: Books


OR: >> You may email me directly for a signed copy at
ivorrs20@gmail.com


Ivor Steven ©  2025

Lunch at the Picturesque Lion Rampant Scottish Pub

On this day, my cousins, Penny & Dave, took me to a local Maple Bay pub for lunch to meet their friends, Joan and Darcy.
After lunch, we went for a scenic tour around the Maple Bay and Genoa Cove area.

The Lion Rampant Scottish Pub. Lunch with Dave, Penny, Joan, and Darcy

The Balcony

The picturesque views from the pub’s balcony

Maple Bay Marina






Ivor Steven (c) September 2025

Throwback Friday, A Chalice of Champagne, by Ivor Steven

Today’s Throwback Friday Poem is another poem from my book “Tullawalla”, which I originally wrote in September 2019


A Chalice of Champagne (Tullawalla, page 103)

Once upon a time
In the days of rhyme
When learning to climb
I saw my neon sign
Slowly die by design

An angel’s teardrop fell
Ringing the church bell
And missing my empty well
From the tower of song, I wanted to yell
But life does not let you dwell

Despite the annual September rain
I trekked over flooded plains
Avoiding delta swamps of pain
Scaling the same old mountain again
Searching for our chalice of champagne





Ivor Steven (c) September 2025