

My Winter Haircut (a Haiku by Frankie)
“Haircut time Frankie”
“Hey boss, it’s zero outside
Winter is still here”
Ivor Steven & Frankie (c) August 2023


My Winter Haircut (a Haiku by Frankie)
“Haircut time Frankie”
“Hey boss, it’s zero outside
Winter is still here”
Ivor Steven & Frankie (c) August 2023
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 posts.
Tit Bit #15 (a Repost from October 2018)
I used to say, mum was the one
Dad was always there, daddy number one
Carole came along, she was my only one
They’re gone, I was left with no-one
Myself has become an intimate one
To you all, I cannot do without everyone
I love sharing my life
I love talking about my wife
Even though I’ve seen so much strife
She wouldn’t have it any other way
She graciously fought on, every day
My story will never explain her everlasting smile
My future is about trying, for her every mile
I know those old photo album feelings
Old memories and dusty dreams
Your heart does miss a beat
They’ll be tears at your feet
You’ll need a comfy seat
Bathe in the images, so sweet
Life’s rotation process is endless
Watermill wheels keep on turning
I’m writing on recycled paper
Word’s of purpose are not useless
Morning birds sing, but do not see
By day, I’ll look like a tree
Like a lonely Tawny Frog-mouth Owl
By night, hear my wisdom howl
Beware, there’s more
You’ll be shown the door
By the bolt of Thor
I’ve been inspired by my tour of yesterdays street art in Geelong, and the magnificent mural of Chrissy Amphlett, so here she is, singing with the Divinyls
Ivor Steven (c) October 2018

A poem I originally wrote in July 2019, and today I am posting this revised version.
A Nomad (Revised)
I’m writing a letter to yesterday’s nomad
The drifter of my dreams, alone and sad
My nomadβs world is flowing wider
Broken trees floating on a flooding river
These empty words, today seem drier
The receding waters, now a wet season’s Indian giver
This final message, I falsely send
We shake hands, smile, our eyes pretend
My heart sinks, my nomad boards the next boat
Noah’s ark departs, I walk home, alone, in my raincoat
Ivor Steven (c)Β September 2022
A haiku I wrote while I was visiting my cousins and their families in Philadelphia back in May 2019 … For me, “a dream of the heart that came true”
Field of Dreams (a Haiku)
Life is sweet and smooth
Eating strawberries and cream
Full of tasty dreams
Ivor Steven (c) 15th May 2019
A poem I wrote in October 7th 2018
G’day to my readers here on WordPress, I’m not feeling well, and I’ve not been my usual self in being able to comment on all of your wonderful posts. I’m off to China on Wednesday morning, doing a compact 10 day sight-seeing tour, including the Great Wall of China. Hopefully I’ll be feeling betterer by then. Here’s my poem for today. I’d like to thank Kate of “Calmkate’, for the use of her words, “rank dank muddy waters”, which were basically the inspiration behind my gloomy poem, “There’s a Crack In My China Soup Bowl”, and also thanks to “Stella”, for giving me the idea for the Title of this poem.
There’s A Crack In My China Soup Bowl
My head’s full of black clouds
Drenched by the sky’s contaminated rain
My chest’s full of green slime
Drowned by the valley’s poisoned rivers
My eyes are full of yellow tears
Etched by the lake’s rank dank muddy waters
My heart’s full of grey blood
Permeated by the ocean’s mercury floor
There’s a stench in the air we breathe
How can we possibly leave
Walk up through those old rusty gates
Are we losing the battle, are we too late
Ivor Steven (c) 2018
A poem from a previous bad back month, in December 2019, seems to be appropriate
as I head into the second month of frustrating inactivity … Sorry, readers and followers for my continuing blogging absense …
Dreamless
Tap, tap, feel the back pain again
The drizzling pulse of dreamless rain
Falling on a hard pillow, wet and stained
The misty clouds of sleepless brain
Rivers of visions, once crystal clear
Now flooded fields of dreamless fears
Cascading mirrors, once reflective and sheer
Now broken pools of dreamless tears
Ivor Steven (c)Β Dec 2019
Another repost while I am laying down with my sore back … written when I had my third stroke, and I was laying in hospital 31st January 2019 …
Apologies to my readers and followers for not blogging and responding to your articles with my usual zest, my debilitating back pain doesnβt allow me to sit at my computer β¦ hopefully the situation will improve soon.
Wall of Thorns (a Haiku)
My bed of roses
Is scaling a wall of thorns
Perpetually
Ivor Steven (c) 2019
A poem about a painful procedure I had a few years ago β¦ sadly my back pain today is feeling very similar π€π
Pain and Tears
I was curled up like a baby
Exposing my arched back
Firstly an aching anesthetic needle
Then a probing harpoon
They were digging deep beneath
I was gritting my teeth
They had missed the spot
Hitting bone, not forgiving or soft
I screamed in pain
My tears poured like rain
Finally the probe was extracted
And with another injection of anesthetic
A second probing spear
The next failure I did fear
I’m biting that imaginary bullet
My tears poured like rain
They pulled out the rod again
One more go, they deemed
Is the procedure a bad dream
More anesthetic went in
Followed by that probing rod
Relief, they find the core’s spot
The spinal fluid is drained
Happily, my tears stopped again
Ivor Steven (c) Feb 2019
Here in Geelong we are going through an extended warm/hot spell, of some 20 days in a row of the temperature being over 30’C … and this a poem I wrote 3 years on January 25th, so appropriately the poem gets replay today …
Hotter Than Helios
Today is hotter than hot
This town’s a living melting pot
You could fry an egg without a cook-top
I won’t be taking Yorkie for a trot
My body’s losing the plot
Waiting for my aorta’s mystery clots
My writing’s burnt out, on Helios hill
Leaving an arid inkwell, holding a dry quill
Despite the heat, an exercise session I’ll do, It’s my will
To continue with this daily drill
No excuses, to lose sight of spring’s daffodil
Working out, like I’m an old grinding flour-mill
Even if I’m over-baked, like Sunday’s hot roast
For her, I’ll take life’s chances to the utmost
Featured Image: From Bing Images, numrush.nl
Ivor Steven (c) 2019
I’ve been having Internet and computer problems for 3 days and have dug up this old poem and revised its
Cyberspace and Melted Digitals
This crazy, distorted cyberspace
Can be a dishonest place
Like talking to aliens from outer-space
False profiles and no trace
I dislike hackers with no face
And avoid their shameful attacks, what a disgrace
As if they’re hiding from the human race
Or thieves of other writers database
I’d like to knot together their shoelaces
See them fall from grace
Straight down their slippery staircase
And melt their digital’s in the fireplace
Ivor Steven (c) September 2019