As the sky softened into twilight, the colours opened my poetic picture book, and Ben Howard’s “Old Pine” drifted through the moment with the same quiet warmth.
The Weekend Challenge on Weekly Prompts is the word “Hell.” To visit their fabulous site, please click on >> Here … my Tanka today is a long way up beyond “Hell.”
Nature’s Iris (a Tanka)
A crimson twilight
And a seductive sunset
Is nature’s iris
Unfolding my picture book
Where my quiet poems rest
Ivor Steven © May 2026
“Some days the clear sky feels heavier than the clouds we can’t see. Today, the blue above me felt deeper than it looked.”
Drowning in Blue (a Tanka)
Exhaustipated
And discombobulated
Or maybe just tired
Of feeling like I’m drowning
In this endless wash of blue.
A song that drifts in the same blue.
Ivor Steven © May 2026
A sky‑hung spider paused above me, its long legs offering the day’s small surprise.
A Sky High Spider (a Tanka)
High above the ground
The spider hangs from a leaf
By a single thread,
Skillfully, without a net —
Nature’s six-legged trapezist.
A touch of quiet strength to mirror the spider’s patient art.
Ivor Steven © April 2026
Feature Image Above: was created by Copilot and me.
Stepping outside, I find the night moon is still following me.
Staring Back At Me (a Tanka)
It’s after midnight
I’m out, beyond the front door
The night is cloudy
But I can still see the moon
There, watching my every move
And the moon kept following me as if the night wasn’t done with me yet
Ivor Steven © April 2026
A quiet moment at dusk, evening settling softly around me, unaware the sky hosted its own surprise to share.
Lucky Man: an Evening Surprise (a Tanka)
There I stood waiting
for the wattlebird to fly
out of his gum tree.
Quickly, I snapped a photo —
surprise … do you see it too?”
Sometimes you’re just lucky enough to be standing in the right place at the right time.
Ivor Steven © April 2026
On this Good Friday morning, a lone bird drifts beneath the sun — a small, steady shape moving through a world that still carries its wounds. Watching it, I felt the familiar pull of memory, the long years of care, love, and quiet endurance that shaped my life. This Tanka rose from that moment, from that tear in the sky, and the music below holds the same fragile ache — a home built from devotion, loss, and the tenderness that remains.
Not Good, But I’m Ok (a Tanka)
I fly beneath you
On this Good Friday morning,
And I spy a tear
In the corner of your eye —
Is our World a sinful stye?
Ivor Steven © April 2026
A simple glance upward — two birds, one sky — became the seed of this poem’s wish for peace.
Beyond the Debris (a Tanka)
Come and fly with me
To where we all want to be
In a peaceful world
Of calm seas and olive trees
Beyond our warring debris
Ivor Steven © April 2026
Bathed in soft morning light, this bright sunflower greeted me today — lifting my spirits and reminding me how instinctively nature leans toward renewal.
My Sunflower (aTanka)
Good morning sunshine
Your yellow blush warms my heart
And restores my faith
In humanity’s instinct
To revive our tired planet
Ivor Steven © March 2026
The pigeon’s sudden lift feels like a warning — a fragile life rising above a landscape shaped by pipes, oil, and the killing fields we still feed.
The Desert’s Killing Fields (a Tanka)
The old pigeon flees
From what we cannot perceive
Beneath the earth’s trees
Miles of pipes, full of black gold
The killing fields we still feed
Ivor Steven © March 2026
This Tanka was inspired by a moment of stillness and lift — a bird rising into the blue, catching the wind as if it knew exactly where it needed to go. It’s a small meditation on movement, uncertainty, and the quiet hope that carries us toward calmer places.
To Catch the Wind (a Tanka)
Let me catch the wind,
blowing toward the unknown,
where silver seeds grow
into peaceful olive trees.
beyond the world’s toxic snow.
Ivor Steven © March 2026
Ivor.Plumber/Poet 