Tag: Poetry/Australia

The Disappearance of Decency


Introduction

Naked I stand before Him
Stripped of common decency
Debased, I kneel crying
Sad words fall like rain
Tanks are still rolling
Over the Ukraine
My Tanka’s are scrolling
Down their bloody drains



Tanka #1. Sad Sky

False words smudge old clouds
Gray clouds hang under sad sky
The sad sky decries
“Children are our butterflies
And please stop the warring lies”


Tanka #2. Broken Biscuits

Life is imperfect 
Like broken war-time biscuits 
Re-connection waits 
Reconciliation stops 
Life’s sweet shortbread’s unopened 


Tanka #3. Abandoned

May the stormy winds
Calmly abate in Europe
And bring peace quickly
Do not forget the children
We cannot abandon them


Epilogue

Cover me
Give me beauty
Inspire me
Calm me
Save me
From that deadly bee
Above the Black Sea








Ivor Steven (c) March 2022

The Gates of Hell Over Stolen Ground




Do you feel the weight?

Of radio-active clouds

Hanging over stolen ground

Do you hear the birds singing?

Gone!

Is that peaceful sound


Do you hear warning sirens howl?

Resonating like old war songs

When bombs are guided into sacred ground

Fires from hell destroying beds and towns

Gone!

As ashen children wander over burnt ground


Home is a communal air-raid shelter

Where families fearfully huddle together underground

Above!

The torn loyalties of alien soldiers

Tread lightly and warily upon broken ground






Ivor Steven (c) March 2022

On The Banks of Lake Connewarre




I am not here to wait

For the world to finally rotate

Time for me is getting late

I am here to watch the grand parade

Eventually pass by my front gate


One day soon

After the next purple moon

Illuminates our children’s fearful tears

I will see those grandiose leaders

Calmly sit down together

On the peaceful banks

Of Lake Connewarre*


Connewarre; an Aboriginal word meaning ‘black swan’







Ivor Steven (c) February 2022

A World Of Puppets (a Tanka)

Featured Image Above: by Derrick Knight, who kindly allows me to reproduce his photos here on my poetry website …

A World Of Puppets (a Tanka)




Are we the puppets?

Punch and Judy’s without strings

Who’s contolling things?

As Putin’s a dummy too

Ask the children in Russia






Ivor Steven (c) February 2022

“New Mushrooms”, my 2nd Poem in the Red Wolf Journal, A Change of World Spring 2022 Edition

Featured Image Above: with the kind permission of Derrick Knight >> https://derrickjknight.com/

The ediditor of Red Wolf Journal, Irene Toh, is pleased to announce the release of the Spring 2022 Issue.


The poets with work in the A Change of World edition are:

Dmitry Blizniuk
Paul Brooke
Jeff Burt
Joe Cottonwood
CS Crowe
Mary Anna Scenga Kruch
Ron. Lavalette
Joan Mazza
Karla Linn Merrifield
Peter Mladinic
Misky
Larry Oakner
Frederick Pollack
Emalisa Rose
Timothy Resau
Rikki Santer
Emil Sinclair
Ivor Steven
Debi Swim

You may download a copy of the PDF release here.

A Change of World Spring 2022 Issue 20

____________________________________________________________________________________

You’re invited to submit to our new issue, also titled A Change of World, Fall 2022 Edition. Read our submission guidelines here. Happy writing!

Irene Toh
Editor
Spring 2022 Edition
_____________________________________________________________________________________



A sincere thank you to the editor Irene, for considering two my of poems for her superb anthology “A Change Of World”



New Mushrooms


After the storm

Old boundaries were transformed

Fences were moved and torn

Fields smelled of rotting corn

Patient vultures remained airborne

Above the drowning longhorn’s


After the storm

I rested under the peppercorn

And I saw new mushrooms rise with the dawn






Ivor Steven (c) February 2022

Bloody Tears, Bloody History



Can you hear the ghosts of Sunday?

“Sunday, Bloody Sunday”


From your distant country’s

On the edge of peace and tranquility

Within your rural trees of serenity


Beyond invisible borders of rivalry

Between oblivious inequality

From the old schoolyard bully

Overseeing an avoidable atrocity


Again another “Sunday, Bloody Sunday”

How can they forget history so quickly?



Tullawalla #27, Is There More?

Hello dear readers and followers … I’m happy to announce that I have managed to produce my “Twenty Seventh Tullawalla” … For new readers that don’t know about these booklets, they are basically the reason why I write poetry. I produce these ‘home-printed’ booklets for the sole purpose of raising funds for my favourite charity organisation, the MS Society, in Australia via the MS Charity Shop here in Geelong. And actually all money’s I receive for any of my poetry .via, submissions, I donate to the MS Society…. I’m proud to announce, that the sale of my “Tullawalla Booklets”, have now gone pass $1500.00, … to all the lovely readers, who have donated, to help achieve such a wonderful amount, a big heartfelt thank you, from “us” and the MS Society … …..Incredibly, there is now a total of “1156 poems”, Yep over “A Thousand Poems” in my collection/series of “27” Tullawalla Booklets. After 2 months, this booklet is finally completed, and ready for sale now !! As always, they are available for purchase, either as a hard copy ‘Booklet’, or a PDF format….. All proceeds go to the MS Charity Shop, here in Geelong West….. Please contact me here through my website page and I can chat about arrangements from there…. Oh, the booklet is called “Tullawalla, Is There More?”… And here is the link to my website >> https://ivors20.wordpress.com




Is There More?


Beyond my front door

Will there be more?


When the lights go out

I quietly sit and stare

To see what is out there


Is there more?

Than starlit stairs

And when will I?

Begin the climb






Ivor Steven (c) February 2022

The Final Sunset

I have a few thank you’s to accompay the writing of my piece “The Final Sunset”.

Firstly my opening stanza was written as a response to Susi’s inspiring post today, thank you Susi. https://iwriteher.com/2022/02/24/peace-please/ Thank you to David Redpath, for reminding me of Bob Dylan’s poignant protest song, “Masters Of War” , which I have attached below. https://highwaybloggery.com/2022/02/24/masters-of-war/ , and thank you to Derrick Knight for allowing me to use his stunning “Sunset” photo as my featured photo here on my site, https://derrickjknight.com/2022/02/24/the-assistant-photographer-saves-the-day/

The Final Sunset 
 
 
Wrong versus right 
War versus peace 
Greed versus commonsense 
Destruction versus harmony 
Killing versus living 
 
War is not the people’s choice 
 
Is this to be our final sunset 
Will she justifiably refuse  
To open her golden eye 
Upon another shattering dawn  
Of our manufactured doom






Ivor Steven (c) February 2022

Love is Not Declined 

 

My internal battle is never ending  

Neither won nor lost 

My opponent is my ghost 


I forgive with the morning dew 

And my regrets are few 


There is two breaths in every moment  

The first one kisses our heart 

The second breath caresses our soul


 

True love is hard to find  

And impossible to define 

When found, be exceedingly kind 

Love can spellbind your mind 

But blindly, love is not declined 






Ivor Steven (c) February 2022

Any Afternoon


Mid afternoon

Here in my empty room

Between unruffled sheets

With the curtains drawn


I remember our matinee’s

Of laughter and soft sighs

You would tickle my feet

As I caressed your naked thighs


Tomorrow afternoon

There in my lonely room

Between unruffled sheets

The curtain falls at my feet







Ivor Steven (c) February 2022