A Star Called Home 





A Star Called Home  


I am high flying  

On the back of Phillip 

My mystical fairy Penguin 


I am the co-pilot 

As we zoom over the halfway marker  

That line in the sand 

Now, there is no turning back 


We are a dynamic duo 

Wholeheartedly committed 

To fulfill our dreams 


Ungainly we may be 

As we skim above the deepest sea 

Toward the blue horizon 

Chasing the cosmic sky 

Looking for a star called home  




Ivor’s Utopia

“If you actually succeed in creating a utopia, you’ve created a world without conflict, in which everything is perfect. And if there’s no conflict, there are no stories worth telling – or reading!” … Veronica Roth


Ivor’s Utopia

A world made of sunflower seeds
And musical water reeds


A world without greed
No wars and plenty of feed


Where people don’t have to bleed
For being judged an alienated breed







Ivor Steven (c) January 2024

Throwback Friday, Morning Starshine

Today’s Throwback Friday poem is a hidden gem from March 2018, and as is my way, I have made some changes, all for the better I hope …




Morning Starshine (Revised)


asleep, out of view

dawn blazes through

blinds me from above

piercing my dreams of love

uncovering memory heartbeats

exposed to the future’s one-way streets

letters sprinkle over my pillow

etching words upon yesterday’s halo

reflective pages and blotches

wooden posts and hollow notches

under cracked foundation blocks

narrow jargon and hidden plots

inside poems of mine

glazed with her starshine










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:

Amazon: https://amzn.asia/d/4yFHWrT

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 2024

One Go!

Over at Weekly Prompts the Wednesday Challenge is the word: Weather . You may visit their wonderful site by clicking on >> Here

My poem, although not about the ‘weather’, the ‘Sun and snow’ do get a mentioned …




One Go!


All easier said than done

That is what I said to mum

But now I know

Between our days

Under the sun

And that final day

Buried in snow

We only get one go









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:

Amazon: https://amzn.asia/d/4yFHWrT

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 2024

An Ending Before the End, or Beyond the Oasis

Featured Image Above: A small section of “Street Art”, and what I saw in the centre of the original larger photo of artwork, below

“And in the end” I wondered what was the artist’s underlying message, and in my imagination, this poem, is my abstract interpretation


An Ending Before the End, or Beyond the Oasis


An unsinkable planet
Ran aground in a desert

Did you see the end coming?
Maybe I have reached the end

Here
At the end of my quill
My blue ink well is dry
And dead cobwebs
Fill my window sill







Ivor Steven (c) January 2024

After Midday

Featured Image Above: Frankie gives me that sad brown eyed doggie stare as I walk out the front door to go to the Book Fair at 7.30 this morning.

Setting our table displays up at 8.30 am … I’m ready for the 9.00 am start




After Midday


I’m not walking barefoot anymore

My old paws are too tender and sore

After attending the local bookstore

And there is no need to keep score

While time allows me to use the front door








Ivor Steven (c) January 2024

I Found the Key in Shanghai  

Over at Weekly Prompts the Weekend Challenge is the word: Key. You can visit their fabulous site by clicking on >> Here






I Found the Key in Shanghai 


 
 
Will this be the key?  

To my writer’s beehive 

I am excited 

Expectations are high 

I am nervous 

An unknown poetry guy 


I am fully prepared 

The tummy is full of humble pie 

I am almost ready 

Do I wear a black tie?  

Or jeans, and a Leonard Cohen T-shirt  

That I found in Shanghai




 









Ivor Steven (c) January 2024

“A Poet’s Grotto”, is up at Spillwords Magazine

I am ecstatic that my poem “A Poet’s Grotto”, has been accepted and published in Spillwords Magazine today, and I am very grateful to the editor, Dagmara for selecting my piece … Please go over and visit my poem at Spillwords and if you wish, leave a “💖” for my article, by clicking on this link >> A Poet’s grotto, poetry by Ivor Steven at Spillwords.com

Please Note: featured image above, supplied by Spillwords Press


A Poet’s Grotto

My writer’s studio, is the littered part of my bedroom
A paper tiger’s haven, has become a messy grotto
I am ruefully feeling muddled and befuddled
Pieces of paper and cardboard kites
Scatter the atmosphere like withered autumn leaves
Falling upon my untidy and cluttered archives

Scribbled words are yet to be decoded
Foolscap pages overwritten and eroded
Undefined and unlisted
Out of focus and twisted
Upside down and inside out
Uncategorised and full of self-doubt
My desk, once a dreamy picture postcard
Looks like a moonscape’s junkyard

My poetic writing quill has been the mythological ruler
Showing no regard for my bedroom’s demeanour
I am sleeping covered in my hurdy gurdy verses
It is time to cull the pretentious cosmic curses
Free myself of all unpublished jabberwocky
And let my imagination create a new poetic hard copy










Ivor Steven (c) January 2024

She Winked (a Haiku)






She Winked (a Haiku)




I am mesmerised

Her golden eye winked at me

She’s camera shy








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:

Amazon: https://amzn.asia/d/4yFHWrT

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 2024

Watching Over Us (a Tanka)





Watching Over Us (a Tanka)




I watched you depart

I knew it was your last flight

Life’s one way ticket

And now it’s my turn to wait

For time to arrest my soul









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:

Amazon: https://amzn.asia/d/4yFHWrT

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 2024