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
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
Today’s Throwback Friday poem (originally written in May 2023) is drawn from my upcoming book, Time Hears No Sound. It appears as the opening poem in Chapter 8, War: A Waste of Time
“And I have carried on this war. Though no one wins an endless fight. I have claimed that God has guided me. And killed to prove I’m right.” Lyrics from Damien Rice’s song, “What if I’m wrong.”
Between Lines, Who Holds the Power
Do you see – a man walking on water?
Did you see – his feet were bleeding?
Do you read – the missing scriptures?
Did you read – your own family tree?
Do you hear, speechless angels, singing?
Did you hear – the songbirds crying?
Do you feel – the erased wars calling?
Did you feel – the hard rains falling?
Do you know – the ones who are lying?
Did you know, the refugees are dying?
“What If I’m Wrong”, Lyrics, by Damien Rice
I could wrestle with tomorrow
Until tomorrow’s in the past
Because I have torn apart what’s beautiful
To prove that nothing lasts I have stayed locked behind these doors
To show there’s no way out
I got lost within the space between
The question and the doubt
I have built a wall between
What I believed and what is true
I have sacrificed the love I had
For power over you
I have convicted those who disagree
And walked over the weak
I have placed a gun within the mouth
Of those who dared to speak
And on an ordinary day
In an ordinary way
I have crushed the minds of children
With extraordinary shame
And I have carried on this war
Though no one wins an endless fight
I have claimed that God has guided me
And killed to prove I’m right
What if I’m wrong
What if I’m wrong
What if I’m wrong
What if I’m wrong
Is this soul worth saving at all?
Cause if I lose my wings then surely I must fall
And the gods prayed to the gods they made
We could wrestle with tomorrow
until tomorrow’s in the past
We could tear apart what’s beautiful
To prove that nothing lasts
We could stay locked behind the doors
To show there’s no way out
We could get lost within the space between
The question and the doubt
But what if we’re wrong?
.
Until Eyes Hear Sound
Amazon >> Amazon.com : 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 … and I can send you a PayPal account,
for the Book, plus Postage.
Ivor Steven © March 2026
Mystique Surrounds Me
Twilight ignites its shadowed secrets.
Do I fly into the mystique,
where clouds burn like prophecy,
and my wings are ashes of desire?
Will these old, singed feathers
still lift me from this wartorn land—
or must I wait here forever
grounded by this inferno’s demands
“Where light fractures, the will to rise endures.“
Ivor Steven © March 2026
Once numbering in the tens of millions, the “bulbous” bison were nearly wiped out — victims of human greed and policy.
Over at Weekly Prompts, the weekend challenge is the word bulbous. And you visit their fabulous site by clicking >> Here.
Insatiable Sapiens
A flock of birds
fly together.
Herds of animals
graze together.
Humans of different creeds
blast each other apart –
for their stockpiled seed,
and insatiable greed.
A quiet reckoning beneath the branches we share.
Ivor Steven © March 2026
Beneath this heavy sundown, the cracks in our modern bravado show themselves — in the sky, in the poem, and in the song that shadows them both.
The Heavy Sound of Sundown
I feel the heavy copper sundown
shake the dry, crusty ground
of this dirty old town.
I hear an orange clown,
slyly searching around
for a silent sound
that is not profound.
I see the world’s wedding gown
being torn and drowned,
as the desert honeymoon
remains uncrowned and hellbound.
Ivor Steven © March 2026
Featured Image Above: A veiled moon, a steady pulse — answering Susi’s quiet reflection.’
Thank you to Susi; her article, “Calm”, inspired my Senryu >> Calm – I Write Her
Calico Curtains
(a Senryu)
When the lights are dim
Behind life’s silent curtain
The show carries on
‘Behind the silent curtain, the world still trembles — Cohen answers where my haiku whispers.’
Ivor Steven © March 2026
Featured Image Above: A bleak sky, fleeing wings, and a world on edge—echoed in the voice of “Iron Sky.”
A thank you to Derrick for inspiring the theme of this poem, even though I didn’t use his photo this time. His article nudged me to write.
>> Confusion About The Month – derrickjknight
Gulls Over Dover
The sky turns a hessian dull
as our silly world spins towards
another war zone cull.
The frightened gulls
of Dover flee north to Hull,
too wary of looking backwards,
haunted by humanity’s disparities
Ivor Steven © March 2026
A whispered protest beneath a heavy sky—this poem emerged over coffee and quiet defiance.
No More Alibis
I shyly worry, and quietly sigh
about today’s ugly, dark sky.
In the blink of an eye,
the sun might say, “Hi”
and the world awry,
could be rectified.
No more alibis,
or black eyes.
It’s time to notify
the blow-dried wise guy:
The world is not his money supply
We will not be tongue-tied,
nor listen to his falsified
“War cry.”
Ivor Steven © January 2026
Loaded Guns (a Tu-aiku*)
Sitting on the line,
observing daylight’s decline –
isn’t a hanging crime.
But innocent ones
are still being outgunned by
The world’s loaded guns.
*Tu-aiku – Ivor’s name for a Dual Haiku
Ivor Steven © January 2026
Ivor.Plumber/Poet 