The Flame Flickers

“I wish I could say everything in one word. I hate all the things that can happen between the beginning of a sentence and the end.“

Leonard Cohen



The Flame Flickers


 
 
Sunday afternoon  

And I am in bed  

Resting and daydreaming  

Again, tiredness is my companion  


Outside, I hear the wind  

Rushing through the sky  

Inside, I hear ambient music  

Soothing the throb behind my eyes  


I have been handed a bike  

To pedal up the hill 

When seated on the saddle  

My feet are yet 

To touch the ground


  

I have been assigned   

A pure-bred horse to ride  

When seated on the saddle 

My feet are yet

To reach the stirrups  


I have been given  

A different path to follow  

When the dust finally settles  

The restored footprints 

Will belong to me 







Ivor Steven (c) November 2023

Silver Boots and Black Ties

Featured Image: Wikimedia File:Blow-flies.jpg

Over at Weekly Prompts, the Weekend Challenge word is: Traveller … please visit their wonderful site by clicking on >> Here
Today my poem is about those annoying companion travellers.

Silver Boots and Black Ties 


 
 
I am being followed 

Ever since I left the front door 

I can see them 

From the corner of my eye  

I am hearing them  

Teasingly buzzing nearby  

I feel their presence 

Like a neighbourhood rabbi 

Steely spies from Shanghai  

Clustering behind my back 

Like tough guys from Versailles  

Wearing silver boots and black ties 


Annoyed and frustrated  

I suddenly swung around 

Randomly flailing my arms

And yelling with angry abandon  

“Buzz off” I let fly  

To those pesky blowflies 






Ivor Steven (c) November 2023

Throwback Friday, Life Is A Bittersweet Marathon (Revised)

This week’s Throwback Friday was written in December 2020, and as is my way, I have made some changes …




Life is a Bittersweet Marathon (Revised)


life is an arduous marathon

a conundrum until the finishing line

we live in the moment

yesterday has gone

and we are not in charge of tomorrow

today is a new gift to be opened

time knowingly evolves into ripples and wrinkles

openly wavering with our shuffles and muffles




life is a bittersweet marathon

moving forward without bitterness

savouring the sweetness of completing the race

I am leaving today behind

gratefully I am wiser and a day older

and fortunately, my heart beats healthily



Featured Image: A photo of a painting hanging in the waiting room at the heart specialist rooms







Ivor Steven (c) November 2023

Phenomenal Anomaly

Featured Image Above: by Enrique from Pixabay

Over at Moonwashed Musings, Eugi’s Weekly Prompt is: Phenomenons … and for Weekly Prompts the Wednesday Challenge is: Coincidence …
To visit Sue & Gerry’s fabulous site, please click on >> Here
My poem “Phenomenal Anomaly” coincides with both of the “Prompts”


Phenomenal Anomaly


Every new day’s

A spectacle

This morning

The spring sunshine

Extols

My every phenomenal stride


Every living moment’s

A miracle

This afternoon

I am going to follow the sun

To my friend’s funeral

And extol

His every phenomenal stride







Ivor Steven (c) November 2023

This Fence (2001)

“This Fence” is a poem I posted on my Site when I first began blogging in June/July 2017, however I originally wrote the piece back in 2001, when I was recovering from my first stroke in Sept’ 2000 … My words from 22 years ago seem be applicable today, as I start my recovery program from this week’s diabetes diagnosis…


This Fence


I am quickly nearing this fence.

An obstacle of a lifetime I see.

And from my side of this fence,

The hurdle is too high for me.

And on the other side of this fence,

There seems nowhere to land or flee.


I have arrived at this fence,

Above the pickets, just grey sky.

And on my side of this fence,

The grass is brown and dry.

On the other side of this fence,

The grass is green, but still I cry.

How am I to clear this fence,

There seems nowhere to go or get by.


This fence, all built of stones,

Breaks my spirit, and all my bones.




Ivor Steven (c) November 2023

Willpower? (a Tanka)

Dear readers, especially those who frequent my site, you may have notice during the last several months, I have often mention in my poems, that I am very tired … today, after numerous blood tests and what nots, I have been officially diagnosed with “Diabetes”

Late evening, the sun sets, early morning, the sun rises again …



Willpower? (a Tanka)




“Why am I so tired?

What’s the diagnosis Doc?

You’ve diabetes!

That is not good Doc, now what?

Don’t fret, you’ve the will to cope”








Ivor Steven (c) November 2023

Frankie’s Golf Course

Yesterday afternoon, we took a drive out to the Bannockburn Golf Club, (where I used to play before my last two strokes put an end to my playing days.) The course is situated inside a State Forest surrounded by native bushland, where kangaroos graze and graciously share the fairways with those ‘crazy golfers’. At the moment the Club is undertaking the huge task of installing 18 new greens. Frankie and I inspected a few of the new greens. Frankie quickly adopted the place as his own and thoroughly enjoyed the vast expanse of grass and the many trees that he was able to explore …



Frankie’s Golf Course (a Haiku)




Doggie paradise

Miles of grass and lots of trees

All a yard apart!







Ivor Steven (c) November 2023

Help or Hindrance

“As a poet, sometimes we confuse ourselves, Trying to create ashes, instead of fire ” – Leonard Cohen

Over at Weekly Prompts the November Colour Challenge is: Flame … Please click on >> Here to visit their fabulous site.
My poem below, is about whether or not anyone reads or takes any notice of the “flame” within a poet’s words.

“I set out one night
When the tide was low
There were signs in the sky
But I did not know
I’d be caught in the grip
Of the undertow” – Leonard Cohen, from his poem ‘Undertow’, taken out his book “The Flame”



Help or Hindrance


There the penguin squats

So slick and smug

Point blank

He questions me

“What are you doing?

Where are you going?

What are you trying to achieve?”

Why are you crying?


“I’m timeworn and unsure”

I blandly reply to Freddie

The fidgety fairy penguin

And despairingly, I gaze

Back at Freddie

Through my teary eyes


As I continue to wonder

Are my imaginary words

A help or hindrance








“Until Eyes Hear Sound” will be available in December

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/

Lulu Books: https://www.lulu.com/shop/ivor-steven-and-derrick-knight/perceptions/hardcover/product-2pwqe4.html?q=Perceptions+by+Ivor+Steven&page=1&pageSize=4

OR: email me directly for a signed copy – ivorrs20@gmail.com 


 

Ivor Steven (c) November 2023

No More Tears

On Monday morning (Sunday afternoon PDT), I attended a Writing Circle Poetry Group via Zoom with our host/convener, the gracious Ali Grimshaw >> https://flashlightbatteries.blog/online-writing-circles/ and after listening to her recite a selected piece of poetry we are then encouraged to write our own poetic response in “5 mins” … mine was a rough draft and I actually recite my poem the opposite way round to my finished one below …


No More Tears

 

Old Tears 

How many rivers of tears must we cry 

Before all the deepest wells run dry 



More Tears 

Nostalgic tears never stop 

They just have longer dry spells 

Between the heavy showers 


New Tears 
 
Uncoiled 

Barbwire hooks open old wounds 

Unveiled 

Remembrance tears gush to the surface 








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/

Lulu Books: https://www.lulu.com/shop/ivor-steven-and-derrick-knight/perceptions/hardcover/product-2pwqe4.html?q=Perceptions+by+Ivor+Steven&page=1&pageSize=4

OR: email me directly for a signed copy – ivorrs20@gmail.com 
 

Ivor Steven (c) November 2023