Thank you to Carla for her fabulous Promotional Post about “our” Anthology, Poetry Treasures 5: Small Pleasures
Please click on the link below to read her entire article …
Ivor Steven (c) April 2025
Thank you to Carla for her fabulous Promotional Post about “our” Anthology, Poetry Treasures 5: Small Pleasures
Please click on the link below to read her entire article …
Ivor Steven (c) April 2025





A Lonely Crescent Moon
Today is one of those days
Sitting here, at the city by the bay**
Watching daylight’s grand display
The salt water is pearly and lyrical
The sea air is clean and soothing
The whispering breeze is gentle and cool
The sky is a velvety blue
The hovering clouds are fluffy and white
The sunshine is pure and warm
And my lonely crescent moon
Is expecting me home soon
** City by the Bay, Geelong, Australia, sits on the shores of beautiful Corio Bay, just 73 kilometres southwest of Melbourne.
Ivor Steven © April 2025





No More Sugar and Spice
Under the dry sky’s grey umbrella
I saw a small flock of noisy Corellas
Forlornly fossick for leftover shoots
In between the naked tree roots
And the paddock’s desiccated ground
Sadly, there was no dried-up spice to be found
The drought’s hungry field mice
Had devoured everything nice

.

Until Eyes Hear Sound
Lulu Books >> Until Eyes Hear Sound (lulu.com)

Perceptions:
Amazon >> Perceptions : Steven, Ivor, Knight, Derrick: Amazon.com.au: Books
Lulu Books >> Perceptions (lulu.com)

Tullawalla:
Amazon >> Tullawalla A Meeting Place Where My Empty Hands are Full of Memories and Rhymes : Steven, Ivor: Amazon.com.au: Books
OR: >> You may email me directly for a signed copy at
ivorrs20@gmail.com
Ivor Steven © April 2025

Picture Caption: WordCrafter Poetry Treasures 5: Small Pleasures Tour Banner
Welcome to the WordCrafter Poetry Treasures 5: Small Pleasures Book Blog Tour. We have a great tour planned, and I hope you all will stick with us and visit each stop, because comments at each stop enter you for another chance to win one of three digital copies of Poetry Treasures 5 in our giveaway. We’ve got guest posts from contributors Michelle Ayon Navajas and Dawn Pisturino, readings from Barbara Harris Leonhard, Ivor Steven, and DL Mullen, and a special interview with Dawn Pisturino. Plus you may find a couple of early reviews from our wonderful tour hosts. So please join us and follow along on the schedule below to learn more about this outstanding poetry anthology and enjoy a few Small Pleasures.
Available on Amazon Australia.
Also available on Amazon US here: https://www.amazon.com/Poetry-Treasures-5…/dp/B0F3VJC23W.
April 21-28 – Poetry Treasures 5: Small Pleasures, by Kaye Lynne Booth, et.al.
Mon. 4/21 – Opening Day- Writing to be Read – (Intro. post & Book Trailer)
Tues 4/22 – Colleen Writes & Publishes – (Dawn Pisturino. Guest Post)
Wed. 4/23 – Patty’s Worlds – (Michelle Navajas Guest Post)
Thurs. 4/24 – Carla Loves to Read– (Ivor Steven Reading))
Fri. 4/25 – Poetry By Mich – (Barbara Harris Leonhard Reading)
Sat. 4/26 – Book Places – (DL Mullan Reading)
Sun. 4/27 – Writing to be Read – (Wrap up) – Undawnted (Interview with Dawn Pisturino)

Open the cover
and you will discover
Poetry Treasures
from the guests on
Robbie Cheadle’s 2024
“Treasuring Poetry”
blog series
on Writing to be Read.
Join poets DL Mullan, Barbara Harris Leonhard, Jude Itakali, Ivor Steven, Robbie Cheadle, Michelle Ayon Navajas, Gwen M. Plano, Elizabeth Gauffreau, David Bogomolny, Dawn Pasturino, Maggie Watson, and Colleen Chesebro share their own small pleasures in poetic verse.
Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/PT5-SmallPleasures
This tour we’re giving away digital copies of Poetry Treasures 5: Small Pleasures to three lucky winners. Follow the tour and comment at each stop, so we’ll know you were there. You’ll be entered for another chance in the giveaway at each stop. Winners are chosen through a random drawing by WordCrafter Press. We’ll be watching for your name.
A special thanks goes out to Teagan Genevieve for our lovely book trailer. Thank you so much Teagan.
You will meet some of the contributors along the way on this tour, but in this opening day post, I’d like ton tell you a little about the editors who put this project together and made it happen. I also thought it might be interesting to share a brief glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes when putting together a poetry anthology, which I hope you’ll find of interest.

For Kaye Lynne Booth, writing is a passion. Kaye Lynne is an author with published short fiction and poetry, both online and in print, including her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction; and her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets; Books 1 & 2 of her Women in the West adventure series, Delilah and Sarah, and her Time-Travel Adventure novel, The Rock Star & The Outlaw,as well as her poetry collection, Small Wonders and The D.I.Y. Author writing resource. Kaye holds a dual M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing with emphasis in genre fiction and screenwriting, and an M.A. in publishing. Kaye Lynne is the founder of WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services and WordCrafter Press. She also maintains an authors’ blog and website, Writing to be Read, where she publishes content of interest in the literary world.
My job is to edit the final manuscript, format and publish it. I find poetry to be a personal endeavor, so I do very little editing of the actual poems for fear of changing the poet’s meaning, since poetry often does not follow the rules of grammar and punctuation which apply to the English language. In addition, we have poets from all over the globe included in the anthology, which makes for variation in style and differences in spellings, so I pretty much leave the poetry as is unless it is something I know is a typo or mistaken word.
But the person who truly makes this anthology possible is my co-editor, Robbie Cheadle, who finds and schedules poets to be interviewed on the “Treasuring Poetry” blog series on Writing to be Read. It is Robbie who selects and interviews each poet, and she usually reviews their latest release, as well. Then, at the end of the year, Robbie sends out invitations to the anthology and collects and compiles all the materials into a manuscript before turning it over to me. Without Robbie to do all of the preliminary work, there would not be any Poetry Treasures Anthologies. I couldn’t do it without her.
South African author and illustrator, Robbie Cheadle, has written and illustrated sixteen children’s books, illustrated a further three children’s books, and written and illustrated three poetry books. Her work has also appeared in poetry and short story anthologies.
Robbie also has two novels and a collection of short stories published under the name of Roberta Eaton Cheadle and has horror, paranormal, and fantasy short stories featured in several anthologies under this name.
You can find Robbie Cheadle’s artwork, fondant and cake artwork, and all her books on her website here: https://www.robbiecheadle.co.za/

That’s it for today’s stop. I hope I gave you enough of a taste of this delectable poetry anthology to make you want to sample more. There are several more tasty morsels from then contributing authors along the way. Join us tomorrow, on Colleen Writes & Publishes, where author/poet Dawn Pisturino will share a guest post and poetry from Poetry Treasures 5: Small Pleasures.
_______________________
Ivor Steven (c) April 2025





Hope (a Haiku)
I see peace and love
Here, on the wings of the dove
Where hope never dies

.

Until Eyes Hear Sound
Lulu Books >> Until Eyes Hear Sound (lulu.com)

Perceptions:
Amazon >> Perceptions : Steven, Ivor, Knight, Derrick: Amazon.com.au: Books
Lulu Books >> Perceptions (lulu.com)

Tullawalla:
Amazon >> Tullawalla A Meeting Place Where My Empty Hands are Full of Memories and Rhymes : Steven, Ivor: Amazon.com.au: Books
OR: >> You may email me directly for a signed copy at
ivorrs20@gmail.com
Ivor Steven © April 2025




Here is an ‘Easter Poem’ from my archives. This one is from Easter, 2021
How To Eat An Easter Egg
[i] Carefully choose your Bunnies and Eggs
But the “Violet Crumble” box is a MUST
Deliciously smooth and tasty
[ii] Wisely place your purchase in the fridge
Australia always has a hot Easter weekend
And judiciously push the Easter delights towards the back
[iii] Patiently wait until Sunday morning
Stoically obey those traditional procedures
Mine were eaten by Saturday evening. How did you go?
[iv] Delicately unwrap the colourful foil covering
I have diligently preserved the shiny shells since my first egg hunt
Then gently nibble open the pointy end of the exposed Egg
[v] Fiendishly devour the irresistible chocolate
Until you are more than fully satiated
Then voraciously attack the bunny and bite off its ears
WHOOPS !! Surprise, surprise … that rascally easter bunny has
left me some “Eggs” to find on Sunday…
WARNING: This article is posted for Australian audiences, however
‘International’ followers may read the instructions above at their
own RISK !!
Ivor Steven © April 2025



Over at Weekly Prompts, the Weekend Challenge is the word Obsession. To visit their fabulous site, please click on >> Here.
Some people say that I am obsessed with taking photos of the daytime moon … which is probably true, but in my poem today, I am using the ‘moon’ as a metaphor for ‘Easter Sunday’ …
Sunday Shroud
now you see me
now you don’t
I’m as pure as the driven snow
and I covertly nudge my way
through the cumulus clouds
looking for that opening in the sky
where I can display my Sunday Shroud
and dispel that dreaded prophecy
“He does not return”

.

Until Eyes Hear Sound
Lulu Books >> Until Eyes Hear Sound (lulu.com)

Perceptions:
Amazon >> Perceptions : Steven, Ivor, Knight, Derrick: Amazon.com.au: Books
Lulu Books >> Perceptions (lulu.com)

Tullawalla:
Amazon >> Tullawalla A Meeting Place Where My Empty Hands are Full of Memories and Rhymes : Steven, Ivor: Amazon.com.au: Books
OR: >> You may email me directly for a signed copy at
ivorrs20@gmail.com
Ivor Steven © April 2025




Joyful Obsessions (a Rhyming Haiku)
Birds, clouds, and the moon
Fill my Easter Sunday spoon
More than that, tycoon
Ivor Steven (c) Easter Sunday 2025
Tranquility: An Anthology of Haiku, Releasing After Easter
I’m delighted to be part of the ensemble of poets featured in Tranquility: An Anthology of Haiku, published by Literary Revelations Publishing House. This beautifully curated collection brings together the voices of over 240 haiku poets from around the world.
The anthology features stunning cover art by renowned Japanese painter Hikari and fine-art photography by acclaimed artist Naoki Kimura. Tranquility will be released soon after Easter—stay tuned!
Blurb:
Following the overwhelming success of «Petals of Haiku,» which captured hearts and souls and became an Amazon bestseller, Literary Revelations Publishing House brings you “Tranquility: An Anthology of Haiku.” This new anthology will enchant the readers with its delicate imagery and transitory moments, which inscribe themselves in eternity. Featuring nearly 240 talented authors, each bringing their talent and unique perspectives, Tranquility invites you to immerse yourself in a world where night flowers bloom and whispers linger in the spring air.
Poets are prophets linked to nature. In Tranquility, Haiku is their language. – Gabriela Marie Milton, author, editor, publisher
Here is one of my Haiku from the Tranquility Anthology:
Angel
My tranquillity
Has wings and glides in heaven
Free like an angel
Ivor Steven © April 2025
Today, the 17th of April, is Carole’s birthday (deceased May 3rd, 2012)
The Journey Home (a Haiku)
Sometimes our journey
Crumbles like dry honeycomb
Without a queen bee
Ivor Steven (c) April 17th, 2025