Lifestyle – Page 2 – Ivor.Plumber/Poet

An Old Book Shuts, a New Door Opens

Dear readers, have a pleasant Easter, and here is my Easter poem, from 2020, that I’ve slightly revised this morning…

An Old Book Shuts, a New Door Opens

Today I question myself

What do I see?

Upon my world’s lower shelf

There! An open wider drawer

Containing a treasure chest

A universe of potential

An orb with a mystical two piece door

The bottom half’s pale blue

Like yesterday’s fading blue moon

A book of old testaments

The above half’s bright yellow

A gateway of gilded gold

The book of tomorrow’s future

A new prophecy of days under the sun

Ivor Steven (c) April 2020

Concrete Void

Originally posted on my site, 27th November 2017.
Yeah .. my concete void has finally been filled ..

Concrete Void

I’m becoming impatient,

Here waiting,

Waiting for a concrete lid.

Too many stop signs,

And lifetime bans.

I’m a good man,

So I’ve been told.

But there’s a chasm,

And the concrete’s,

Yet to fill the void.

……..To my readers that knew about my new verandah, “now nine months old”, and sadly it has been without the patio/floor area being concreted for all that time.. Yippee, today the mission has been accomplished. Thanks to my newly appointed concreter “Damian Maloney”, Yep, he’s on my recommended list. And Lizzy The Lizard Of Wizardry, was curiously looking on…..

Ivor Steven (c) April 2022

“Where Have All The Good Times Gone”

A few days ago(29th Nov 2017), I had started writing a poem about Penny Farthing Bicycles, prompted by an article in the Geelong Advertiser newspaper, the arrival in Geelong of eight members of the Melbourne Bicycle Club in March 1880, as per featured picture above, courtesy of the Geelong Heritage Centre Collection. Then I was chatting with my friend Jane of Janebasilblog, she had just sent me the song and lyrics of the Mary Hopkin hit, “Those Were The Days”, from 1968, and I mentioned The Kinks were one of my fav’s from that era, and of course their song “Lola”. After our chat, I starting thinking [which is dangerous for me] about writing a crazy, combined, mixed up poem… The piece below is the result of those thoughts, and to my older readers, you’ll notice all the phrases written in Italic, are song titles taken from The Kinks album “The Kinks Collection”. So apologies to Ray Davies for using his song titles in such a manner.

“Where Have All The Good Times Gone”

I remember the olden times

Of pennies and farthings

Pounds and pence

When money made no sense

Mary Hopkins sang

“Those Were The Days”

And the Kinks song “Lola”

Was the best number one ever

Many a lazy Sunny Afternoon

Spent down near Waterloo Sunset

Where we would all dance

All Of The Day And All Of The Night

My Friends would all dress-up

Like Dedicated Followers Of Fashion

Unlike that lonely Plastic Man

Who faked the Death Of A Clown

Way back then, You Really Got Me

You fired me up, here in Victoria

Thousands of Days forgotten in the burn-out

Charred in a cloud of Big Black Smoke

But now, I’m Tired Of Waiting For You

Wondering, Where Have All The Good Times Gone

https://youtu.be/y3KEhWTnWvE

Ivor Steven (c)

Originally Posted, 29th November 2017. 4.00pm

Eleven Shades of Ocean Sunrises

My Pacific cruise was coming to an end in April 2018 and this was the last poem that I wrote during my cruise, as I recalled photographing the “Eleven Sunrises” of the cruise.

Eleven Shades of Ocean Sunrises

the ocean’s sunrise

my daily prize

evoked my gaze

like a glitzy floor-dance

Mother natures

star performer

her razzle and dazzle

upon morning sea drizzle

reflections of colour

her horizon of vigour

purity defined

a royal skyline

endless over time

eleven days she was mine

Originally posted by Ivor Steven (c) April 2018

Reading On Deck And Ashore

Another poem from my Pacific Ocean cruise in April 2018. Actually this piece is not on my web/blog site, so I am thrilled to be posting this old poem here today

Reading On Deck And Ashore

I am in a poolside recliner

reading Brendan Ryan’s book

observing fellow passengers

strolling the pool deck

some bustle along

others meander by

gazing around and carefree

they all smile and say Hi

Penelope and her mother Dianne

stop for a chat

we agree, a nice place to sit

meet friends and relax

we are in port at Lifou Island

tenders take us ashore

I have Robert Okaji’s book in hand

to read while laying on pure white sand

the air is warm and humid

a pleasant sea-breeze

caresses my brow

another sunny day on the beach

Ivor Steven (c) April 2022

A Seventy-Year-Old Mind, 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 “A Seventy-Year-Old Mind”, 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/a-seventy-year-old-mind/

Ivor Steven (c) April 2022

Fruit Loopy

Early July 2017, my blog/website was only 3 weeks old when I wrote this abstract poem, ‘Fruit Loopy’ … hmmm … and I am not sure what my thoughts were at the time … but I had only been in my new little abode for 5 months, and I was finishing off building the verandah, and starting to create a courtyard garden … I suppose I was “dreaming” about how much Carole would have loved my new home, so hence the “funny title”

Fruit Loopy

The juices of expectation

are upon me again.

Dreaming of yesteryear

and clambering for today.

Through my pores

a taste of sweetness.

My apple of love

the fruit for tomorrow.

Ivor Steven (c) July 2017

Tiredness Leaves Me Wordless

Today’s poem is from August 2018, and the words reflect how I’m feeling this week

Tiredness Leaves Me Wordless

I’m wordless at the moment

My thoughts are in postponement

I hear Leonard’s songs

All night long

Lyrics full of love

Day lilies and doves

Today I hold her empty glove

My one truelove

Ivor Steven (c) August 2018

Big Black Oil Cap

Hello dear readers, here is another repost of an older poem, this one is from December 2017

Big Black Oil Cap

Not the town’s greatest car lover

An automobile, an object like any other

Petrol guzzlers

Noisy muzzlers

Inanimate metal and plastic, costing plenty of dough

Pity, they do need some care though

Spoilt and fed like a hungry teenager

Cooling water in the radiator

Screw the shiny brass cap back on

Fresh air in the tyres

Screw the little rubber caps back on

Dear-as-poison petrol in the tank

Screw the safety fuel cap back on

Lubricating oil in the engine-head

This is where absent-mindedness overtook instead

Forgot to screw the Big Black Oil Cap back on

Drove to the Big City the next day

Not realizing I’d gone badly awry

Travelled home in a steamy-hot car

Back onto the driveway tar

Oil dripping over the front bumper-bar

Opened the bonnet. Aaaahhh!

The engine is like a whale’s spout

Spurting boiling, slimy oil all about

And there’s that Big Black Oil Cap

Alone on the garage bench

Like a magician’s gleaming black hat

Ivor Steven (c) March 2022

Cheeky Magpie

Hello readers, over the last few weeks, my blog site has been very hectic, and I have also been kept busy with my commitments at “Go Do Go Cafe”, and “Coffee House Writers” sites. … After sleeping all afternoon, I think I need a break from writing “A Poem A Day” … so today I’m reposting this quaint poem from October 2017.

Cheeky Magpie

A glorious sunny Sunday

Plenty of time for a walk today

Lily prances and plays

“Let’s go now” she says

And of course she talks !!

That’s what we do on our walks

Off to the local countryside cafe

For me, a Brandy & Almond cake and coffee

And you Lily, can quietly sniff around

Wander the shopowner’s grounds

So serene here, sitting on the bower patio

Trees, flowers and birds on show

Then a cheeky Magpie stops by

Lily barks, but cleverly the bird stays high

Atop the coffee-table, crumbs to try

A delicious feast, and off he fly’s

Lily gives him a parting yelp, and we leave

Our pleasant afternoon’s reprieve

Ivor Steven (c) March 2022