Tag: Life/lifestyle

A ‘Penguin Waffle’

Over at Weelkly Prompts the Wednesday challenge is the word: ALARMS. Please go and visit their fabulous site by clickng on>> Here .. and below is my response to their prompt …




A Penguin Waffle


This year, all around the world

The alarm bells have been ringing loudly

Today, I have escaped to the country

Away from humanities blaring sirens


I am at the Moorabool Valley Chocolate Cafe

Relaxing with a mug of coffee

And a scrumptious piece of cheesecake


Then suddenly, without warning

My sweet tooth starts chiming

There on the counter I spied a ‘Penguin Waffle’

And as my mom used to say

“If you have a sweet tooth, sometimes

you just must have chocolate”






Ivor Steven (c) June 2022

Tomorrow’s Cake (a Senryu)

I formed this Senryu from a comment I made in response to a poem ‘Willow’ wrote on her site on the 9th June .. thank you Willow for prompting these words … https://willowdot21.wordpress.com/2022/06/08/ronovan-writes-sijo-wednesday-poetry-challenge-13-use-future-as-your-inspiration-this-week/


Tomorrow’s Cake (a Senryu)




the future tastes like 

yesterday, but is topped with 

venom from today






Ivor Steven ©  June 2022

The Ancient Fern Survives

Featured Image Above: by Derrick Knight > https://derrickjknight.com/2022/06/10/rich-pickings/

The Images below: are from my courtyard ..





The Ancient Fern Survives




Selfish, unopened minds remain numbed

False eye-lashes are heavy and closed

Botoxed lips are silent and sealed

And elephant ears have been pegged out of sight




But there under our careless feet

The earth’s ferns have agelessly survived

Three hundred and sixty million years

Without changing the appearance of their golden leaves

That timelessly regenerate themselves

By naturally releasing their fertilising spores






Ivor Steven (c) June 2022

Flying Too High

G’day dear readers and followers (2780) … Today, five years ago I started writing on my blog-website, and a sincere thank to you all, for supporting, viewing, visiting, and commenting on my poems … I hope you have enjoyed reading my humble writings …



Flying Too High



What does it all mean?

Millions of numbers on my screen

Two hundred thousand views

Seventy thousand visitors

And fifty thousand comments


Can there be anymore replies?

Left in my cyber-sky

My clouds are over occupied

My eyes are tired and dry

Have I been flying too high?

By energizing my poems to multiply






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

That Endless Sound

This little piece is a poetic comment that I wrote in response to V.J. ‘s intriguing poem, ‘On the Edge of Too Late’ >> https://vjknutson.org/2022/06/02/on-the-edge-of-too-late/
Thank you V.J. for touching my nerve ends!!


That Endless Sound




I wonder about the edge

Over time, the dance has eluded me

Between giddily spinning in circles

And my inevitable stumbles

Life has left me spiraling

Without, an ending sound






Ivor Steven (c) June 2022