False words smudge old clouds
Grayness hangs under tired sky
The sad sky decries
“Children are our butterflies
And please stop the warring lies”
Ivor Steven (c) October 2022

Hello dear readers and followers, I now write for “Coffee House Writers” magazine on a fortnightly basis, and my poem “After Memoria”, is in this week’s edition of Coffee House Writers Magazine. … please click on the link below and visit my poem, at Coffee House Writers.
>> https://coffeehousewriters.com/after-memoria/
After Memoria
Sliding into euphoria
After falling out of Memoria
Where to start
When there is no beginning
The judges guns remain loaded
But there is no-one on the causeway
Why is the coldest mountain?
In the middle of the desert
How to climb the lowest alps?
Below the deepest ocean
How to soar and fly?
Without wings in a vacant sky
Can the old river be paddled?
After the bath runs dry
Where to find happiness
After falling in the marathon
How to slide into euphoria
After falling out of Memoria
Ivor Steven (c) October 2022

On Saturday morning I visited the the local “Pop Up Creatives Market”. The artwork at the “Wild Woodland Warrior” stall, run by Stephanie had many excellent paintings, and I bought a intriguing print “Library of Possibilities” … we had a nice chat, she likes poetry and we had a mutual poet friend in Jeremy Palmer … and she has an exhibition running at the momont at the Analogue Academy, the venue of my book launch next Saturday November 22nd … My poem below, “The Closing Chapter” was inspired her painting in Featured Image Above

The Closing Chapter
After the first page was turned
The saga progressed slowly
Unopened books were lost
Unused words were found
New novels had to be read
The search for more
Went on, and on
Adventure volumes were added
Library expansion soared upwards
Higher than fiction could fly
Fluttering beyond
The ladder’s last rung
Where the quest for more
Was out of reach
And the tale of uncharted possibility
Remained the unfinished story
Of the closing chapter
Ivor Steven (c) October 2022

This week, the Weekend Challenge from Weekly Prompts is the word: Compare. Please go over and visit their fabulous site by clicking on >> HERE …
In my poem below I have tried to ‘Compare’ the big pond created by our recent heavy rain, with the big, big pond that the “Apollo 13” space capsule had to find in 1970, when their mission to the moon was aborted due to an on board explosion half to the moon …

Golden Pond
Last night I watched an old movie
A dramatic true story
About the Apollo 13 mission
To the moon
During the film
I could hear the pounding
Of heavy rain on my iron roof
In the morning
Despite the water-logged ground
I went for my walk
And found a muddy golden pond
Had flooded the forest floor
In ankle deep water
I stood and wondered
About the Apollo 13 astronauts
Who had failed in their quest
To walk on the moon
Despite the traumatic problems
Of the aborted journey
They miraculously managed to return safely
And land the space capsule
Upon the earth’s golden pond
Ivor Steven (c) October 2022

A Poem I wrote in May 2020, which now appears in my book “Tullawalla”. The poem is in “Chapter 9, Not Horror, But Weird”, on page 140.

Poetry in Motion
I was searching for words
Maybe the script’s lost in celluloid
I’ve a pile of empty poems
Frustratingly strewn
Here, there and everywhere
But I hear them whispering
“We’re not finished yet
Do not leave us for dead
Under this thick biblical heap
Please tend to your lost sheep”
The mound of poetry pages
Began chanting louder
And I was silently listening
To their distant preaching
But I’m not that proud
And I quickly lit the gunpowder
Ivor Steven (c) May 2020
G’day, and welcome to my blog site. My name is Ivor Steven, I live in Geelong, Australia. I’m an ex-industrial chemist, and a retired plumber, and a former Carer of my wife(Carole), for 30 years, who…
View original post 70 more words
A big thank you to Colleen for inspiring these words
>> https://bikecolleenbrown.wordpress.com/2022/10/12/into-the-warmth/
Intoxicating (a Haiku)
To breathe the cool breeze
Pass under my verandah
Intoxicates me

Ivor Steven (c) October 2022
Cassa Bassa. “It’s sad but reflecting a side of truth.
Ivor’s reply. “Despite humanity’s scientific advancements, their humanitarian skills are nonexistent”

Ask a Blade of Grass
Yesterday I looked up
At a grandfather clock
And saw the hands of time
Today I look above
At the gloomy clouds
And see beams of light
Appear through cracks in the sky
Tomorrow I will look down
At our war-torn ground
And ask a blade of grass
Why? Peace cannot be found
In our time
Ivor Steven (c) October 2022
Featured Image Above: Photo by Derick Knight, and I have used the photo once before in another poem (>> https://ivors20.wordpress.com/2021/12/01/time-watches-over-us/) . Again, thank you to Derrick for allowing me to use his photos on my site.
>> https://derrickjknight.com/

I Did Not Hear The Midday Chime
I slyly look up
In silent amusement
At the old chiseled face
Of my grandfather clock
And I see his shaky hands of time
Are too meek and tired
To strike the midday chime
I slowly close my eyes
Overused muscles are cramping
Weakened bones feel brittle
This complicated mind is exhausted
And my dream needs to sleep
Before I am able to write another rhyme
Ivor Steven (c) October 2022