A Throwback Friday Poem – Page 10

Throwback Friday, Grumpy Bears in Chains

A poem I wrote in Nov 2020, which now appears in my new book “Until Eyes Hear Sound”

Grumpy Bears in Chains

The crashing noise started after midnight

When the growling thunder gave darkness a fright

I was shaken by the storms furious hard rain

Sounding like grumpy bears in chains

Thumping my iron roof with their heavy paws

And lashing at the awnings with their steely claws

Then the giant drops turned into falling ice blocks

And I rushed back inside to shelter behind the dog box

Until Eyes Hear Sound is NOW Available From,

Lulu Books: https://www.lulu.com/shop/ivor-steven/until-eyes-hear-sound/paperback/product-jeev886.html?page=1&pageSize=4

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) March 2024

Throwback Friday, Purple Tomatoe Ferns

I found a poem in my old files yesterday, from September 2018. Here I have revised the wording slightly, but without losing any of the original’s impressive imagery.

Dear friends and followers, as you read my article today, I am on my way to the “Clunes Booktown Festival” and won’t be back until Monday afternoon. But, I have been busy writing and have ‘Scheduled’ a post each day while I am away, but my blogging ‘Comments’ will be minimal … >> https://www.clunesbooktown.com.au/

Purple Tomatoe Ferns (Revised)

I have hallucinations of Vikings sailing in the cold

Plundering forgotten hearts and pilfering gold

I am dreaming of the old farmer’s wife

Milking cows, cleaning, and baking for life

I have feelings for the king, in his isolated castle

Looking forlornly upon his drawbridge, a foodless trestle

I am wandering through an empty paddock

Kicking dew off the grass, searching for a lover’s locket

I have plans for the planet’s desolate future

Growing purple tomatoe ferns until they are mature

I remember her bravery, her ever-lasting smile

Crawling over jagged garden beds, every painful mile

I have finished falling under her broken sky

Claiming peace among tomorrow’s butterflies

Ivor Steven (c) March 2024

Throwback Friday. My World, My Thoughts

My Throwback poem from September 2021 was originally titled “Worlds Beyond Thoughts”, however, when I published the piece in my new book “Until Eyes Here Sound” I altered it to “My World, My Thoughts”

My poem today is made from a list of comments that I have left on fellow ‘Bloggers’ sites, and in order of stanza appearance, these are the writers’ sites for you to visit.

Bart – https://bartbarkerpoet.com/
Sadje – https://lifeafter50forwomen.com/
Punam – https://paeansunpluggedblog.wordpress.com/
Sadje – https://lifeafter50forwomen.com/

Annette – https://aikalandros.com/
Dwight – https://rothpoetry.wordpress.com/
Michelle~M – https://herwritinghaven.com/
Catxman – https://catxman.wordpress.com/
Mark – https://havocandconsequence.wordpress.com/

Cindy – https://uniquelyfitblog.com/
Carol – https://therapybits.com/
Cassa – https://flickerofthoughts.com/
Windwhisperer – https://wildwindwhisperer.wordpress.com/

My World, My Thoughts

Laws are merely guidelines

For the arrows of love to climb

Mirror mirror on the wall

Recalls our joys and falls

Behind every mask, there is a weathered face

Behind every face old lines survive in place

Behind every place memories live with grace

Evil eyes lurk in veiled skies

The wisdom of native ancestors should be listened to

And not be lost to the modern ways of this arrogant world

The way of modern progress

Is to leave nature shamefully undressed

Nature and renewal walk down the garden path hand in hand

I hear church bells ring

I see the mice die

And the clouds always cry

Keep the cup full, turn the power on

And the answer will come

Like a big jigsaw puzzle

Not all the pieces will fit back

And overall the world will look the same

I cannot dwell on what has been

While I feel my blade of grass is alive and green

Above and beyond the crusty dirt

The universe is a symphonic concert

They say that the truth hurts

Beware of cold desserts

Ivor Steven (c) March 2024
..

Throwback Friday, Wonderment Rings True

Yesterday, Michele Lee (>>https://myinspiredlife.org/2024/03/06/paper-airplane-pilot/) asked me about my “Itmims” spacecraft, which prompted me to post this poem from September 2020.

Wonderment Rings True

My imagination’s beaming

Alive and dreaming

Even when I’m sleeping

Tired eyes are peeping

Searching for the milky-way

Flying there, on my open sleigh

And sailing the air-waves

High above broadway

Steering my spacecraft, Itmims**

While reading The Brothers Grimm

And playing a tune on my old violin

The theme from ‘Lord of the Rings’

I’m a visionary Sky Pilot

With a handful of violets

Travelling beyond a silvery moon

To float upon our blue lagoon

**Itmims; ”Ivor’s Time Machine In Micro Space”….

Until Eyes Hear Sound
Not available on Lulu or Amazon yet … but you may purchase it from me, via this web page or my email >> ivorrs20@gmail.com

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) March 2024

Throwback Friday, Moon Blossom

A “Moon” poem that I originally wrote in June 2019.

Moon Blossom

The old moon knows

After a bitterly cold winter

There’s never a false spring

And Eve’s apple tree always blossoms

Then the full moon shyly shines

Casting moon-shadows upon sacred ground

And asks about the planet’s fading designs

“Where have all the ancient spirits gone”

However, the new moon remains alluring

And his moonbeams spoon our imagination

Yellow ripples shimmering across blue lagoons

Casting moon-shadows over lovers’ bedrooms

And love eventually conquers us all

When moon blossom ringlets gently fall

Ivor Steven (c) March 2024

Throwback Friday, Did You Hear the Moon Call?

I have written and posted a number of “moon” poems lately, and there will be a full moon tomorrow night. So, my Throwback Friday Poem is another Moon Poem, “Did You Hear the Moon Call?, from September 2021

Did You Hear the Moon Call?

Time is an eternal sundial

The sun rises, and the sun sets

Tides roll in, tides go out

The rivers ebb and flow

And the gray clouds of life

Continue to fly on by

Curtains open, and curtains fall

The audience wants more

Feel the crowd roar

Last night, did you hear the moon call?

Until Eyes Hear Sound
Not available on Lulu or Amazon yet … but you may purchase it from me, via this web page or my email >> ivorrs20@gmail.com

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) February 2024

Throwback Friday, Beyond Imagination

I wrote “Beyond Imagination” 5 years ago, while I was in rehab, recovering from my 3rd stroke, and somehow preparing my body for a long and arduous trip to Philadelphia. The attached poem below, “Dreams of the Heart” is a piece I wrote in Philadelphia, in May 2019.

Beyond Imagination (Revised)

This year (2019), after Easter

I’m flying north

Across the Pacific Ocean

Towards a place called America

From the west to the east coast

Landing at the Big Apple

To enjoy a five-day tourist bite

Then a train from Grand Central Station

For a debut meeting with my cousins in Philadelphia

My Dad’s far-away relatives

I shall rejoice in the reunion of our family’s spirits

Oh yes, my lifetime “Dream of the Heart” **

A dubious occurrence just two months ago

But now a reality beyond the realms of my imagination

** “Dreams of the Heart”

I cannot walk the continents
Like the intrepid Marco Polo
But my feet have felt the sands of time
Pass between my toes

I have not sailed the high seas
Like the courageous Christopher Columbus
But my body has bathed
In an ocean full of kind hearts

I’m yet to fly in space
Like the brave Neil Armstrong
But I have reached for the stars
And touched my soul’s dreams

Ivor Steven (c) February 2024

Throwback Friday, Birds On Wires

Going back in my files I discovered that I have “2” poems titled “Birds On Wires”. The First one is from July 2020 and the Second piece is from March 2023, so I decided to post both Poems … maybe you can let me know which one is your favourite.

Birds On Wires, (July 2020, which appears in “Until Eyes Hear Sound” page 12)

Here on the edge of lower earth
Beyond the urban concrete girth
Withering trees are trying to grow
Reaching for that mystical power flow
Hungering for energy from contaminated ground
Not the airwaves of false sonic sound
Man-made arrows cluttering the sky
Unnatural webs soaring high
Bird snatching wires
Hanging on cold steal spires
Carriers of these modern times
The pulse of humanities crimes

Birds On Wires (March 2023)

Weary gray clouds
Lay anchored in the sky
Moist air hangs breathless
Not a wisp to disperse the flies
An anxious sweaty dampness
Clings to everything

Birds on wires sit motionless
Waiting for a thermal updraft
To lift spirits beyond this world of smallness
Where greed and wars seem senseless
And remain the leader’s primary craft

“Until Eyes Hear Sound”, Due out March 21st

Ivor Steven (c) February 2024

Throwback Friday, Imperfectness (a Tanka)

I recently wrote a poem titled “Ivor’s Utopia” and I thought today’s Throwback Friday poem “Imperfectness” would be a perfect accompaniment. “Imperfectness” is from December 2022.

Imperfectness (a Tanka)

My imperfectness

Is perfectly camouflaged

Underneath the trees

Where moon shadows protect me

From the world’s imperfections

Throwback Friday, A Distant Ship (Revised)

Hello dear readers and followers, here’s a re-posting of a poem I wrote in September 2017, and as is my way I have revised the piece for today’s Throwback Friday article.

A Distant Ship (Revised)

Am I afraid, or am I being slowly discouraged.

Dismayed by the emptiness in my wavering heart.

Am I consumed, or am I being bodily starved.

Eaten by the cells of my inner sentiments.

Am I senseless, or have I been possessed.

Devoured by the recess of my lonely soul.

Am I swimming backstroke behind a distant love-boat.

Drowning in the wake of the passing recovery vessel.

Ivor Steven (c) November 2023