This Endless Storm, (a Tanka)
Beyond the storm clouds
What lays ahead for mankind?
Behind His torn shroud
I see only the dark side
Of bombing children blindly
Ivor Steven (c) July 2022
This Endless Storm (a Tanka)
Tag: Anti-war
Sad Old Sky (a Senryu)
Like the Ukraine war itself, being disconnected from any peace process .. I deliberately constructed my poem without any conjunctions
Sad Old Sky (a Senryu)
Hard rain strikes again
Awakening old tired eyes
Sad sky falls to ground
Ivor Steven (c) July 2022
The Last Living Rose
Give me shelter
From this daily war-zone
Throw me a blanket
Anything!
To protect my wilting petals
I am cold and lonely
I am tired and hungry
I am scared
Do not let me wither away
Help me
My brothers
The sunflowers
Are war torn too
Do not leave us
Please save us
Give me shelter
From this hard rain
Throw me your shadows
Anything!
To remove the thorns in my side
I am the last living rose
Do not forget me
Throw me an anchor
Anything!
To reground my ancient roots
Before I am blown away
Ivor Steven (c) June 2022
There Will Be An Answer
The Featured Image above was taken by Derrick Knight, and when I viewed his heartwarming photo of the foal peacefully sleeping on the grass, my mind was immediately inspired to write words, and after numerous attempts to create something worthy of Derrick’s beautiful photo, I eventually produced this poem “There Will Be An Answer” … and my poem is to be read by pretending that you are the “foal’s” thoughts … You may visit Derrick’s article by clicking on this Link >>
https://derrickjknight.com/2022/06/20/shadows-and-reflections/
There Will Be An Answer
All the world is green
Within my midday dream
Please, do not disturb me
Let me sleep, let me be
Let it be, let it be
I do not comprehend
Your unnatural trends
Of killing your neighbours
After kicking in their sacred doors
Do not listen to me
Hear the breeze among the trees
There, under nature’s ancient marquee
She wisely decrees
Live in harmony like the bees
Co-existence is free
Let it be, let it be
Ivor Steven (c) June 2022
Blindfold
Am I silly or bold
To be out walking in the cold
Am I silly or bold
To not listen to what I am told
Am I silly or bold
To keep writing about Putin’s foolish goal
Am I silly or bold
To believe humanity will remove its blindfold
Ivor Steven (c) June 2022
Walking in Winter Rain
Welcome to wintry Geelong
One day, shimmering sunshine
The next, cold as the South Pole
But there he sits
At the front door
Waiting for his morning walk
Ok Frankie “Let’s brave it”
The wind is frigid
The misty rain is hard
And my eyes are crying
Icy droplets in the snow
But I am not complaining
As I think about the children
Sheltering in their damp cellars
Hiding from Putin’s hard rain
A deluge of bombs and bullets
Callously sent to kill and maim
** Please enjoy the Waterboys song below, “Mad as the Mist and Snow”, the words are directly taken from the W B Yeats poem of the same and musically adapted by Mike Scott
The Waterboys Lyrics ( by,W B Yeats)
“Mad As The Mist And Snow”
Bolt and bar the shutter for the foul winds blow
Our minds are at their best this night and I seem to know
That everything outside us is mad as the mist and snow
That everything outside us is mad as the mist and snow.
Horace there by Homer stands, Plato stands below
And here is Tully’s open page, how many years ago
Were you and I, lads, mad as the mist and snow?
Were you and I, lads, mad as the mist and snow?
You ask what makes me sigh, what makes me shudder so
I shudder and I sigh to think that even Cicero
And many minded Homer were mad as the mist and snow
That Cicero and Homer were mad as the mist and snow
That Cicero and Homer were mad as the mist and snow
…
Ivor Steven © June 2022
False Kings and Foolish Czars
The silence of time
Will eventually bury mankind
How many false Kings
And foolish Czars
Have destroyed our peaceful yards
How many crumbling bricks
Live in your castle walls?
How foul are the deadly waters
That fill your castle moats?
How many old bridges
Have you foolishly burnt down?
How many shallow graves
Do we have to dig?
Before cemeteries overflow
How many bloody floods
Do we have to endure?
Before the final curtain falls
Ivor Steven (c) June 2022
Is The Light Our Goal?, is up at Coffee House Writers Magazine
Hello dear readers and followers, as you may know, I now write for “Coffee House Writers” magazine on a fortnightly basis, and my poem“Is The Light Our Goal”, is in this weeks edition of Coffee House Writers Magazine. … please click on the link below to read my poem, at Coffee House Writers >> https://coffeehousewriters.com/is-the-light-our-goal/
Ivor Steven (c) May 2022
Under A Vanishing Sky
The dawn is a gray silent sea
And as a cold fog invades me
I see a green paddock
Without a horizon
Vanishing into oblivion
I see a ghostly power-source
Hang without opposition
Vanishing into oblivion
I see a ghastly concrete Czar
Without compassion
Disappearing into oblivion
Ivor Steven © May 2022
A Banner Of Sunflowers
Continuing on from yesterday’s Ekphrastic poetry workshop, here is my poetic response to Shirley Drayton’s creative piece of textile artwork “Golden Sunflowers”
A Banner Of Sunflowers
look!
up there
above the War’s
darkest clouds
there is a blue banner
embroided with sunflowers
swaying
through a hole
in the eastern sky
bearing a message
of ‘Hello’
or is it ‘Goodbye’?
a sweeping reminder
from our Ancestors
“we feel your suffering and pain
from the merciless hard rain
blood filled rivers and cratered plains
smoke filled skylines and cracked windowpanes”
“however, we also know
beyond the broken horizon
the sunflower seeds of hope
will germinate again
and future seeds for peace
will regenerate a new campaign“
Ivor Steven (c) May 2022
Ivor.Plumber/Poet 