Featured Image Above: The world remembers how to be kind.
Above the Wall (a Tanka)
This wall, built of stone
Wears down spirit, flesh, and bone
Life’s hurdles loom tall
Yet above the clouded sky
Blooms a quiet, healing arc.
Ivor Steven (c) December 2025
Caught mid-glide—today’s prima donna
Prima Donnas (a Tanka)
Unrivalled they glide
Wattlebirds attract my eye
Morning silhouettes
Below nature’s silver screen
Prima donnas of the sky
Ivor Steven (c) December 2025
“Aftermath—time to rest our bones, with coffee, words, and Flight 505…”
Aftermath (aTanka)
Today is our time,
after the show is over –
to rest our old bones,
relax and regenerate
ourselves for the next event.
Ivor Steven (c) December 2025
A Hardy Magpie (a Tanka)
There’s no birds today
The cold has kept them away
But I don’t despair
Sheltering in the gum tree
I see a hardy magpie
Ivor Steven (c) November 2025
“Then, contented with my state,
Where true pleasure may be seen,
Let me envy not the great,
On a cheerful village green.” … from “The Village Green”, a poem by Jane Taylor.
The Village Green (a Tanka)
There’s something calming
About watching birds flying
At the village green
Among the picnickers and
Through our springtime’s shady trees
Ivor Steven (c) November2025
Sunlit wanderers above the trees—wattlebirds in motion, igniting the sky with feathered sparks and poetic wonder.
Wings of the Sun (a Tanka)
They often ask why
I love to watch wattlebirds
Fly under the sun:
“their colourful plumes ignite
my eye’s imagination.”
Ivor Steven (c) November 2025
The Mudlark and the Seagull (a Tanka)
The black and white lark
Said to the whitish seagull
“Gloomy skies today
and clouds are hiding our plumes
from the photographer’s eyes”
Ivor Steven (c) October 2025
“Even in the middle of nowhere, wings remember their purpose.” —A reflection on leadership, illusion, and the quiet strength of flight.
A King Without Wings (a Tanka)
In the pilot’s chair
I see warning lights out there
In the deep, dark air
Suspended in nowhere’s grip
Who knew — the King had wings, too?
Market Day with Frankie (a Tanka)
May I pat your dog?
“Yes, watch out! he might lick you,
then he’ll want a treat.”
He gives them that doggie look
Woof, woof, Frankie gets his way
Ivor Steven (c) October 2025
Six frames of flight—wattlebirds mid-dance, wings wide in a hush of blue. A private performance above the treetops, where nature choreographs its midday ballet.
Wattlebird Soiree (a Tanka)
What more could I say,
than be totally amazed
by the wattlebirds’
private aerial display–
nature’s midday ballet.
Ivor Steven (c) October 2025
Ivor.Plumber/Poet 