Yesterday’s ancient graves
Sent me a parting wave
Passing the higher fools
Leaving me to drool
My body was shivering
Bones were rattling
My leftovers are for the taking
Mum’s sponge-cake is baking
I need a change of attitude
A party at high altitude
Up here on level seven
Close to heaven
I could invite my unknown bacteria
Sing along to Leonard, sharing hysteria
Ivor Steven (c) 2018
P
Stop your smiles
I’ve slipped back three miles
No more well wishes
There’s only yesterday’s dirty dishes
Bake me my favourite cake
We’ll have to leave it til late
Nothing’s going straight
How long will I wait
Before I cry again
From my demon’s pain
He’s throwing me an unfair game
There’s no-one to blame
Ivor Steven (c) 2018
All My News. By: Leonard Cohen
Do not decode
these cries of line
They are the road
and not the sign
Nor deconstruct
my drugless high
I’m sober but
I like to fly
Then quickened with
my open talk
You need not pick
the ancient lock
From Leonard Cohen’s, Poems And Songs, produced by “Everyman’s Library Pocket Poets”. 1993
Dear friends thank you, for all of your kind well wishes, they are sincerely appreciated, and warm my heart. I’m up in the wards now, and I’m recovering well. Oh, the nurses thought I was crazy, having a good laugh at me taking photos of my Emergency Department room.
Snugly comfortable and relieved
I’m taking photos from bed
Of where I might be
The white ceiling, my clear blue sky
Walls are pastures, giving me life
The floor is my way to oceans beyond
Ivor Steven (c) 2018
Damn, and double Ouchie, !! Dear readers, this is the best I can do today, re-post an old poem, from the last time I had an occipital neuralgia flare up. My world is blurry, my eyes are sore, and my brain is going to explode… soon. Sorry this is all too hard for me….
Head’s falling like an unpinned grenade
Soon ready to explode
Burying shrapnel pieces in corners of shade
Scattered like broken retina globes
Razor blades shredding memory lockets
Slivered icicles inside blurry sockets
Needles of pain
Sheets of sleet before the rain
Bloodied eyeball tracks like meteor trails
And the pain numbing capsules do fail
Oh please, blindly needing to set sail
Upon swirling Oceans, like Homer’s tales
Ivor Steven (c) 2018
Image: digitalartrocks 1.blogspot.com
Hi dear readers , it’s only 8.30pm
here and I’m in bed now. I’m not well, my occipital neuralgia has flared up badly . All I can do is rest, so I’ll be lying low for a few days (or more). Hope you all have a good weekend 
There’s a sharp pain
Inside my brain
Harpooning my eye
More than Ouch, I cry
So hard to write
Blurry is my sight
All I do is peep
And I must rest and sleep
I’ve not lost the knack
And I shall be back……….
Hopefully soon
Before they play my tune
Ivor Steven.
Old wooden steps
Going down, worn and steep
Revealing a cellar, candle-lit
Walls of blue-stone blocks
With a stained cedar ceiling
Creating a friendly aura of closeness
Intimate and cosy
A perfect place for Mr Cohen’s spirit to be
Sweet Amie Brulee
Sings and plays his songs
And in between, graciously reads his poetry
Jovially chats to the audience
Relaxed and carefree
Her demure smile is spontaneous
Divulging stories about his works
With enthusiasm and passion
Infusing her own subtle wit and humour
A show of genuine warmth and charm
From his tower of song, Leonard would be pleased
The two video’s below, are with my Phone, a Samsung Galaxy S 5. Hopefully the cyberspace mail-man delivers them intact. The first video below, is of Amie recited Leonard Cohen’s poem, “Ballard of the Absent Mare”
The second video below, is of Amie, singing, “Leaving The Table”, sorry but you may have to turn the volume up.
Ivor Steven (c) 2018
A few days ago(29th Nov 2017), I had started writing a poem about Penny Farthing Bicycles, prompted by an article in the Geelong Advertiser newspaper, the arrival in Geelong of eight members of the Melbourne Bicycle Club in March 1880, as per featured picture above, courtesy of the Geelong Heritage Centre Collection. Then I was chatting with my friend Jane of Janebasilblog, she had just sent me the song and lyrics of the Mary Hopkin hit, “Those Were The Days”, from 1968, and I mentioned The Kinks were one of my fav’s from that era, and of course their song “Lola”. After our chat, I starting thinking [which is dangerous for me] about writing a crazy, combined, mixed up poem… The piece below is the result of those thoughts, and to my older readers, you’ll notice all the phrases written in Italic, are song titles taken from The Kinks album “The Kinks Collection”. So apologies to Ray Davies for using his song titles in such a manner. And thank you to Jane for providing me with the inspiration to actually write these jumbled up words. ** And now today(8th Nov 2018), this poem has been edited, and re-posted, as a response to CalmKate’s Friday Foto Fun – Wheels Or Circles.
“Where Have All The Good Times Gone”
I remember the olden times
Of pennies and farthings
Pounds and pence
When money made no sense
Mary Hopkins sang
“Those Were The Days”
And the Kinks song “Lola”
Was the best number one ever
Many a lazy Sunny Afternoon
Spent down near Waterloo Sunset
Where we would all dance
All Of The Day And All Of The Night
My Friends would all dress-up
Like Dedicated Followers Of Fashion
Unlike that lonely Plastic Man
Who faked the Death Of A Clown
Way back then, You Really Got Me
You fired me up, here in Victoria
Thousands of Days forgotten in the burn-out
Charred in a cloud of Big Black Smoke
But now, I’m Tired Of Waiting For You
Wondering, Where Have All The Good Times Gone
Ivor Steven
8th November 2018. 10.30pm
Weekly Word Prompt : This week’s word prompt is : Perspective.
This is an old poem of mine, The poem “Inside Out”, is more just a rhyme and a play on a few featured words. Over the road from were I once lived, there was a furniture shop, and the advertising hoarding was, “Inside Out, Exotic Furniture”, well I was sitting there waiting for the bus, and in my minds imagination, I changed the the words to “Inside-out, Upside-down, Erotic Furniture”, and hence my little anecdote was laid…. with a totally different perspective..
Inside Out
The view of my love seems upside down.
When I’m at the bottom of her flowing gown.
And my erotic picture appears inside out.
What’s this scenic love all about.
The ways of my love seem upside down.
When she’s on top, covering me ’til I drown.
And I’m underneath, neither in, nor out.
What’s this crazy love all about.
The river of my love seems upside down.
When I’m sitting inside her smiling frown.
And her foreign body hits me in and out.
What’s this exotic love all about.
The world of my love seems upside down.
When I’m laying below her pounding mound.
And her endless thrusts, feel inside out.
What’s this frenzied love all about.
Ivor Steven (c 2018
Today is the 2nd Anniversary of Leonard Cohen’s passing, and to celebrated the occasion I’m attending a tribute show in Ballarat tonight.
My post here today is basically a repeat of an article I wrote last year, about Leonard Cohen. Of course there has been many stories written about the great man, and I don’t think I’m qualified to elaborate on his life story. This time last year, Canada held a grand Tribute Concert for Leonard Cohen, in Montreal, I’ll attach a link >> > Here . Another one of favourite’s, Leonard Cohen, Dance Me To The End Of Love, European Tour, Live recorded at Velodromo De Anoeta, Spain, 20th May 1988, a link >>> Here. If you have the time to watch these videos, I’m certain you’ll enjoy, I personally thoroughly recommend both of them.
The featured photo above is of my first two Vinyl LP’s by Leonard. On the right, “Songs Of Leonard Cohen” 1967, and on the left, the famous photo of Marianne on the cover of his second Album, “Songs From A Room” 1969. Marianne died 3 months before Leonard Cohen, and here is a piece of what he wrote to her just before she passed. “our bodies are falling apart and I think I will follow you very soon. Know that I am so close behind you that if you stretch out your hand, I think you can reach mine.” * And below the return letter, that was published on The Leonard Cohen Facebook site, after he had passed, November 7th 2019.
*Wikipedia, Leonard Cohen.
And now I’m feeling quite emotional, and all my friends on WordPress will be saying, “Ivor will be crying now”, and yes, they’re right too. Best I move on to a few of my favourite songs(all his songs are my favourites), from his first LP, “One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong”
And I think it’s appropriate that I choose a song from his last Album, which was released only a month before Leonard passed at the age of 83, “You Want It Darker”, and the stand-out track for me is, “If I Didn’t Have Your Love”, the lyrics are superbly sublime.
There’s so much more I would like to write, but I’ll leave that up to the Biographers. I shall mention a favourite poem of mine, also written by Leonard late in his life, a reasonably long poem, but well worth the read, “Happens To The Heart”, a link >>>Here. In closing below is an article, also posted on The Leonard Cohen Facebook site, by his son Adam.
Ivor Steven (c) 2018
Ivor.Plumber/Poet 