There’s No Exit! (a Tanka)

It’s another hot day here in Geelong, and after our early morning walk, we have been inside avoiding the heat haze. I’ve been writing, and Frankie has been snoozing. The heat haze seems to have sent my computer into a discombobulated maze!



There’s No Exit (a Tanka)

In a daze, I gaze
At my screen full of X-Rays
My mind is ablaze
Analyzing the next phrase
There’s no exit to this maze!







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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 (c) March 2025

I Was Kissed on the Eyes





I Was Kissed on the Eyes



There I stood
A captivated spectator
At the epicentre
Of Nature’s twilight zone

To the north
Low in the late afternoon sky
The pacific platinum moon
Kindly kissed my eyes

And to the west
Sliding into the nylon horizon
The glitzy golden sunset
Also, kindly kissed my eyes







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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 (c) March 2025

Things That Go Zap in the Night (a Haiku)




Things That Go Zap in the Night (a Haiku)

Tonight’s Alien lights
Zigged and zagged across my screen
Digital delights






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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 (c) March 2025

Internation Women’s Day, My Women

Remembering “My Women”, my dear wife, Carole, and my amazing mother, Esther …
Thank you, Bella, for encouraging me to post this poem today …
>> https://thoughtsnlifeblog.com/2025/03/07/an-ode-to-women-in-honour-of-internation-womens-day/



My Women

After I had left the hem
Without women
I could not have survived my time
I would not have braved the climb
Ladies, you are my rhyme
My mother’s of thyme

Helping me roll away the stone
Maintaining these old bones
Repairing the bridges, I have burnt
Reciting the messages, I have learnt
Cheering from the sidelines
Supporting my broken designs
Women of My Rhymes
Mothers for a lifetime






Ivor Steven (c) March 2025

Six Shades of Red

“Home grown tomatoes, home grown tomatoes
What would life be like without homegrown tomatoes
Only two things that money can’t buy
That’s true love and home grown tomatoes.” ~ John Denver





Six Shades of Red

My small sweet bite tomatoes
Progressively ripen through six stages

  • Green – the little fruit is completely green
  • Breakers – a slightly tarnished yellow
  • Turning – between orangy yellow and pink
  • Pink – like a teenager … still some growing up to do
  • Light Red – almost dressed and ready to go out
  • Red – bright cherry red and delightfully delicious








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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 (c) March 2025

Throwback Friday, Our Random Kingdom

Today’s Throwback poem does not appear on my website, but I saw it by chance in my Tullawalla Booklet, No. 24, I Softly Walk, from July 2021. So now “Our Random Kingdom” is officially on my website.






Our Random Kingdom



Sometimes we put pieces away 
Because our emotions altered the next day 
But the thoughts are there to stay 
And arise again to be an honest display  

The whispering wind is an elusive creature
Mother nature’s operatic music teacher
Our random sculptor’s hands of life 
Shaping our fate with her palate knife 

That damn old clock never stops
Not even for a pause
To chat with Santa Claus
Even Father Time’s sundial shadow
Enternally works every tomorrow
But let me say, there will come a day
When love will be here to stay 







.


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 (c) March 2025

My Mind is Flying, is in this week’s Coffee House Writers Magazine edition.

Hello, dear readers and followers. I write for Coffee House Writers magazine (USA) fortnightly, and my poem “My Mind is Flying” is in this week’s edition. …
To read my poem, please click on the link below to visit the article, at Coffee House Writers Magazine.
>> https://coffeehousewriters.com/my-mind-is-flying/








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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 (c) March 2025

Another Hot Summer’s Day (a Madrigal)


The madrigal (developed by Geoffrey Chaucer), and thank you to David of Skeptics Kaddish, for introducing me to this interesting poetry format
>> https://skepticskaddish.com/2025/02/21/the-threshold-or-the-soul/

Here are the rules:

Usually written in iambic pentameter.
Comprised of three stanzas: a tercet, quatrain, and sestet.
All three of the lines in the opening tercet are refrains.
The poem follows this rhyme pattern:

Line 1: A
Line 2: B1
Line 3: B2

Line 4: a
Line 5: b
Line 6: A
Line 7: B1

Line 8: a
Line 9: b
Line 10: b
Line 11: A
Line 12: B1
Line 13: B2





Another Hot Summer’s Day (a Madrigal)

Another hot summer’s day of clear blue skies
The sun says “I’m allowed to turn up the heat”
And the moon is just looking for a cool seat

For his normal silvery midday disguise
And feeling sorry for the world’s sunburnt feet
Another hot summer’s day of clear blue skies
The sun says “I’m allowed to turn up the heat”

Today is just another day for the flies
Where they thrive on digesting everything sweet
And infesting the uncovered sunbaked meat
Another hot summer’s day of clear blue skies
The sun says “I’m allowed to turn up the heat”
And the moon is just looking for a cool seat






.


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 (c) March 2025

Sails and Wings






Sails and Wings

The local yachts
are out sailing on the calm bay
The coastal birds
are flying above the cool seaspray

I sense it is nature’s way
of reminding me about my dream
To clip on my wings and fly far away
Toward the northern hemisphere
and visit my cousins on Vancouver Island






.


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 (c) March 2025