Above The Lamps (a Haiku)
Up there in the clouds
Above artificial lamps
Sunlight blooms softly
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/
OR: email me directly for a signed copy – ivorrs20@gmail.com
Ivor Steven (c) April 2023
A poem that was prompted by my doggie ‘Frankie’, who seemingly, trotted off too far away during our walkie this morning. He was enjoying being off his lead, then he turned around to see where I was and suddenly realised he was “Too far away” and he came running back to me … that sense of ‘Home and Love’ was a gorgeous moment to savour … Hopefully, my photos captured those moments.
The Tree Roots Of Our Homes
How far, is too far?
Too far away from home
Too far away from love
Love does not grow on trees
Love grows inside trees
Love flows down
Down inside the tree roots
The tree roots of our homes
The tree roots that enwrap our earth
The tree roots that capture our souls
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/
OR: email me directly for a signed copy – ivorrs20@gmail.com
Ivor Steven (c) April 2023
My Haircut (a Haiku by ‘Frankie’)
“I was too woolly”
That is what my master said
“Have you seen my coat?”
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/
OR: email me directly for a signed copy – ivorrs20@gmail.com
Ivor Steven (c) April 2023
Please Note: all attached photos are mine and were taken this morning while walking on our nearby community track
Caterpillar and Cricket
Butterfly and Dragonfly
The Ted Wilson Trail and my walking companion ‘Frankie’
The Field’s Tiny Critters
Crickets were wildly bounding
Out of the dry ground cracks
Caterpillars casually crept
Along the winding track
Butterflies did freely flutter
From flower to flower
Dragonflies swiftly swept
Through the tree towers
Whizzing watchfully, hour after hour
Nature’s imperial overseer
For the field’s tiny critters
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/
OR: email me directly for a signed copy – ivorrs20@gmail.com
Ivor Steven (c) March 2023
The inspiration behind my philosophical poem, came from two fellow blogger’s articles today … please visit their fabulous sites by clicking the links below >
Annette >> https://aikalandros.com/2023/04/02/seeking-2/
Frank >> https://beachwalkreflections.wordpress.com/2023/04/01/183-deep/
Deep and Deeper?
while afloat we keep seeking
and building boats that keep leaking
time sails by and we keep weeping
I often wonder how deep
humanity’s knowledge is
yet unseen …
how deep are our oceans
yet unseen …
how deep is the universe
yet unseen …
how deep is humanity’s love
for one another
yet unseen …
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/
OR: email me directly for a signed copy – ivorrs20@gmail.com
Ivor Steven (c) March 2023
This weekend on Weekly Prompts the monthly Colour Challenge for April is: Tricolour . Please go and visit their fabulous site by clicking on > Here
My “tricolour poem” below is about, rainnbows, orbits, and cosmic snow
A special thank you to Mark Ryan for inspiring my imagination, visit his incredible site via this link >> https://havocandconsequence.wordpress.com/2023/03/31/decaying-orbit
Reflection
Like a rainbow
Orbits come and go
Each brilliant arch
Travels a mirrored path
Is our life, a rainbow’s
Reflection upon cosmic snow
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/
OR: email me directly for a signed copy – ivorrs20@gmail.com
Ivor Steven (c) March 2023
This months poetry assignment at Coffee House Writers is to read the traditional Japanese writer, Matsuo Basho’s 10 top Haiku, and then try to write a Traditional style Haiku. I think my Haiku here might get me a ‘pass’ for the assignment …
Her Last Rainbow (a Haiku)
Etched upon greyness
Behind fluffy nimbus clouds
Her last rainbow glowed
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/
OR: email me directly for a signed copy – ivorrs20@gmail.com
Ivor Steven (c) March 2023
As usual, during our morning walkie, I take numerous photos, and sometimes the iPhone pic’s instantly inspires a visual idea and later helps prompt me to write about those thoughts … This afternoon I created two Haiku, and then I thought they would be suited to be coupled as one piece.
So, here are my photos and the associated ‘Double Haiku’
Peppercorn Road (a Double Haiku)
Above and below
The ancient peppercorn tree
New branches do grow
Bird on a Light-pole
Above the bitumen road
Where trees do not grow
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/
OR: email me directly for a signed copy – ivorrs20@gmail.com
Ivor Steven (c) March 2023
Hello dear readers and followers … Party Time is here, with the announcement Date for the Launch of my second Book “Perceptions” … A Collaboration of Derrick Knight’s Photos and my associated Ekphrastic Poems …
And here ‘again’ is Ingrid Wilson’s fabulous Book Review of “Perceptions” Please visit her wonderful site >> https://experimentsinfiction.com/
Perceptions is a cross-continental collaboration from poet Ivor Steven (Australia) and photographer Derrick J. Knight (United Kingdom). Here are dragons, faeries, foals and swans captured in verse and image, which complement one another perfectly. The images are predominantly of nature, and perhaps reflect humanity’s struggle to find a place within the natural world, in the ruins of so-called ‘progress’, as evinced by Ivor’s poem, ‘Mankind’s Dirty Hands:’
within nature’s naked forest
waiting for mankind’s dirty hands
to stop the desert sands
from ravaging the last strands
of what remains hanging over our land
The poems are a mixture of haiku, senryu and longer poems featuring Ivor’s trademark end-rhymes:
All the world is green
within my midday dream
please, do not disturb me
let me sleep, let me be – (from the poem, ‘There Will Be An Answer’)
Other contributors who deserve credit are Derrick’s wife, Jackie Knight, who has provided some excellent photography (I particularly like her images of birds) and of course, Ivor’s niece, Kerri Costello, who designed the cover, and linked the book to yet another continent (she lives in Philadelphia, USA).
The book (available from Lulu) is a fortuitous combination of verse and image. Despite his own advice to the contrary in the section ‘Do not quote me,’ I will end with what strikes me as a most pertinent quote from Ivor:
“A poet following a poet, gives you poetry in motion.”
It is a testament to the friendships formed on WordPress that these two artists have been able to collaborate successfully and bring this globe-spanning project to fruition!
Happy Reading,
Ingrid Wilson
Editor & Publisher, Experiment in Fiction (England)
“As a poet, sometimes we confuse ourselves, Trying to create ashes, instead of fire ” — Leonard Cohen
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/
OR: email me directly for a signed copy – ivorrs20@gmail.com
Ivor Steven (c) March 2023
Cooking For Frankie (a Tanka)
The casserole lid
Breaks, slashing a left digit
Not the typing hand!
An emergency visit
I ask, “How many stitches?”
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/
OR: email me directly for a signed copy – ivorrs20@gmail.com
Ivor Steven (c) March 2023
Ivor.Plumber/Poet 