Now, Tomorrow, and How

Happy New Year!! 2023 …




Now, Tomorrow, and How


The afternoon before New Year’s Eve

Before Two Thousand and Twenty Three

I am hanging out at the Box Office Cafe

Soaking up the swarmy summer sun

Lounging in a seductive sea breeze


The final day of the year

Has become almost perfect

And I am listening to the blarney tunes

Of the Irish band “Flogging Molly”


I am smiling, swaying, and dreaming

About now, tomorrow, and how

“My empty hands are full

Of memories and rhymes” *



* A quote from my book ‘Tullawalla’







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:

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) January 2023

Will There Be a Boat To Steer? (a Tanka)

My New Year Poem, and wishing my readers a safe and healthy 2023.

Featured Imagr Above: A photo of Graeme Altmann’s amazing painting, “Hopeful Return”, from a Geelong Writers Inc. Ekphrastic Writng Workshop at the Boom Gallery, Sept 2018.



Will There Be a Boat To Steer


The new year draws near

Heavy clouds are yet to clear

From our atmosphere

Will there be a boat to steer?

Toward life’s unmapped frontier








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:

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) January 2023

Throwback Friday, Odds and Ends – The Ancient Tree, by Ivor Steven

I posted this article on the Go Dog Go Cafe site earlier today, and please visit there fabulous site by clicking on here >> https://wordpress.com/view/godoggocafe.com

There’s plenty of curiosity in these “odds and ends” pieces of poetry that I have compiled in my files, and this one I put together in January 2019. They were “verse comments” that I had made to some of my WordPress readers, about their posts at the time. I’ve not written one these for a while, and I’ve enough of my comments stored in my NoteBook file to fill “War And Peace!!” Thank you to all of my dear readers who comment on my writings, I am forever grateful, and you all continue to inspire me to write these short poetry pieces about your marvelous articles and poems.



Odds and Ends, The Ancient Tree

Time

Oh, time and time again

we wish for time to slow down

preserve our time in the sun and rain

and under stars, where lover’s caresses are crowned

Tree

The ancient tree of life shades our peace

Please continue to be our living centrepiece

Why

“Don’t Ask Me Why”

Because I don’t know why,

There’s a red and blue sky

How,

Do bats fly

Pigs eat in a sty

And politicians lie

Dark

We all have a dark side

Like the moon’s other side

There to be explored

Or left behind on the blackboard

Vultures

Alive or half dead, we’re the prey of vultures

Poised like loaded guns in a holster

Waiting to strike the poor and innocent

And even the unwilling ignorant







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:

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) December 2022

Imperfectness (a Tanka)


My imperfections

Are perfectly camouflaged

Underneath the trees

Where moon shadows protect me

From the world’s imperfectness




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:

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). December 2022

I’m Home

A poem I wrote in February 2019


I’m Home

I’m not quite on song
Home’s where I belong
Humming ballad songs
I’m going out, right or wrong

I’ve made up my mind
Even though life’s unkind
We only live once
And this is my dance

Dreams are living on
Life shouldn’t be postponed
Realities push and thrive
My future is still alive

She’ll gently take my hand
And show me the distant lands





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:

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)  December 2022

Ballroom Dancer

All Featured Images: we’re taken at the MacArthur Park Wetlands Reserve, Miners Rest.

Ballroom Dancer


We had a dream

Life was a dance floor

She was the Ballroom dancer

And took the lead

In step, I followed

Along her path to the park

We played on the old swing

She flew higher and higher

I watched her smile and laugh



We had unfinished plans

When abruptly harsh rain

Flooded her dance floor

She slipped out of my arms

I could not catch her

Flowing gown

Nor stop the rocky raindrops

From falling down

Our waltz was over

Save the last dance for me




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:

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). December 2022

Nature, Give, and Receive (My Christmas Message)

A poem I wrote this time last year, and my hopeful Christmas message is repeated …

Featured Images: Taken at the Ballarat Botanical Gardens



Nurture, Give, and Receive




It’s a material world 

That leaves us in a whirl

What we really need 

Is a planet without greed 

That needs our minds to proceed

By growing and nurturing her seeds

Then our journey becomes that of the giver

Rather than being nature’s grieving receiver








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:

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) December 2022

Throwback Friday, An Emerald Tapestry, by Ivor Steven

My article from “Go Dog Go Cafe” that I posted this morning >> godoggocafe.com/2022/12/22/throwback-friday-an-emerald-tapestry-by-ivor-steven/

  “Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.” ― Leonard Cohen
Featured Image Above: taken near Lal Lal, not far from Ballarat.

An Emerald Tapestry

I resumed living last decade

Narrowly surviving gravities finality

Now, I lean against my tower’s balustrade

That overlooks an emerald valley

Echoing from my castle’s balcony

I hear Leonard Cohen’s words about life’s pagentry

Outlining the spiritual tapestry

Of commonality, morality, and vitality






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:

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) December 2022

Today, Time Does Not Matter (a Haiku)

All featured Images: were taken on my Sanyo iPhone today …




Today, Time Does Not Matter (a Haiku) 

 
 
A walk back in time 

Along cobblestone pathways 

And rustic cafes 









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:

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) December 2022

Out Of Breath (a Tanka)

All Featured Images: Were taken today at the magnificent “Ballarat Botanical Gardens”



Out Of Breath (a Tanka)


Giant redwood tree

Bears air for the atmosphere

Is life out of breath?

Nature continues to fight

Despite the disdainful crowd







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:

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) December 2022