Mystique Surrounds Me
Twilight ignites its shadowed secrets.
Do I fly into the mystique,
where clouds burn like prophecy,
and my wings are ashes of desire?
Will these old, singed feathers
still lift me from this wartorn land—
or must I wait here forever
grounded by this inferno’s demands
“Where light fractures, the will to rise endures.“
Ivor Steven © March 2026
Featured Image Above: is of my silver teaspoon with the initials “MS” (Multiple Sclerosis) embossed on the handle button.
Hello, dear readers and followers. I contribute to Coffee House Writers magazine (USA) every second week, and I’m delighted to share that my latest poem, “Between, Inside, and Beyond,” appears in the new issue. You can read it by following the link below.
>> Between, Inside, and Beyond – Coffee House Writers
And a big thank you to Nancy >> Knocking: A Thursday Inspiration – The Elephant’s Trunk, whose intriguing article inspired the opening stanza of my poem.
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Until Eyes Hear Sound
Amazon >> Amazon.com : 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 … and I can send you a PayPal account,
for the Book, plus Postage.
Ivor Steven © March 2026
Born at 3 am on a scribble pad, when crumbs of musing refused to let me sleep.
An Unfathomable Mess
To near and far,
from inside a cookie jar,
I send my midnight scribbles.
I must confess,
I’ve delved so deep
into crumbled musings
and drowsy dribbles,
I’ll need to decompress
before I resurface
for a peep
at my unfathomable mess.
A gentle goodnight to follow my unfathomable mess.
Ivor Steven © March 2026
Once numbering in the tens of millions, the “bulbous” bison were nearly wiped out — victims of human greed and policy.
Over at Weekly Prompts, the weekend challenge is the word bulbous. And you visit their fabulous site by clicking >> Here.
Insatiable Sapiens
A flock of birds
fly together.
Herds of animals
graze together.
Humans of different creeds
blast each other apart –
for their stockpiled seed,
and insatiable greed.
A quiet reckoning beneath the branches we share.
Ivor Steven © March 2026
When the clouds part, the sky opens its eyes — bright, unblinking, and honest. In their gaze, our own shadows feel harder to ignore.
Cats Eyes (a Haiku)
Nature’s dark disguise
Has yellow slit-pupiled eyes
Scanning our black lies
Ivor Steven © March 2026
Today’s Throwback Friday poem (originally written in June 2023) is drawn from my upcoming book, Time Hears No Sound. It appears as the second poem in Chapter 11, Poetry in Slow Motion: Who’s Keeping Time.
“Down to the Valley” was written on a day when I strayed from the usual path, letting the landscape guide the poem. It’s a small journey into the unexpected, where nature and recollection meet.
Down To the Valley
Roaming.
Off the beaten track
Over sagged wire fences
Through plowed fields
Down to the valley below
Where sunflowers grow
Detouring.
Across the babbling brook
Toward the castle of broken glass
Cocooned together in woven grass
Until time awakens the past
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Until Eyes Hear Sound
Amazon >> Amazon.com : 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 … and I can send you a PayPal account,
for the Book, plus Postage.
Ivor Steven © March 2026
Beneath this heavy sundown, the cracks in our modern bravado show themselves — in the sky, in the poem, and in the song that shadows them both.
The Heavy Sound of Sundown
I feel the heavy copper sundown
shake the dry, crusty ground
of this dirty old town.
I hear an orange clown,
slyly searching around
for a silent sound
that is not profound.
I see the world’s wedding gown
being torn and drowned,
as the desert honeymoon
remains uncrowned and hellbound.
Ivor Steven © March 2026
Featured Image Above: A veiled moon, a steady pulse — answering Susi’s quiet reflection.’
Thank you to Susi; her article, “Calm”, inspired my Senryu >> Calm – I Write Her
Calico Curtains
(a Senryu)
When the lights are dim
Behind life’s silent curtain
The show carries on
‘Behind the silent curtain, the world still trembles — Cohen answers where my haiku whispers.’
Ivor Steven © March 2026
Feature Image Above: Where the fading light lingers, twilight gathers its colours and whispers the day to rest.
Twilight’s Echoing Hues
I’m lazily ambling alone,
within nature’s hazy twilight zone,
when the golden summer sun
slowly sinks below the burnt horizon.
Above, in the evening’s linen sky,
I see ribbons of azure and flaxen;
shimmer and linger longer,
way beyond;
daylight’s theatrical goodbye.
Ivor Steven © March 2026
Some mornings begin in silence, before memory fully wakes, and the hush before daylight becomes a bridge between darkness and light
And, For Sadje’s #Whatdoyousee #331 – 9 March 2026 – My ‘Poem’ closely represented Sadje’s first Image.
To visit Sadje’s fabulous site, please click >> Here
Where It All Began
It was only six-twenty.
I could not remember
how my bowl became empty.
What is this strange condition?
Then I shifted the position
of my inner opposition
by refining the leftover light
from within the dark of night –
when silence suspends time –
into the musical sounds of rhyme.
Am I too late to catch the worm,
or beyond time’s sonic boom?
Is there still more to learn?
Ivor Steven © March 2026
Ivor.Plumber/Poet 