Count To Three

me and my shadow

are searching for tomorrow

despite decades of sorrow

there is no time left to borrow


I hope there is someone to take care of me

set my spirit free

among nature’s ancient trustees

maybe they will let my soul flow into the sea


but please stop, and count to three

before all your axes fell all our trees







Ivor Steven (c) January 2022

Who Rang the Bell 


 
 
I am a tiring old writer 

like a punch-drunk fighter 

who buckled and fell 

before the round eleven bell 


lying flat on the bloody canvas 

wishing I were ambidextrous 

like the incredible Emily Dickison 

(Oh, she must have been!) 

and have I more stories in my subconscious?

ring the bell for round twelve 

I am in the corner, blindly courageous 

sitting here within my dizziness 

waiting for the new world to stop being carnivorous 







Ivor Steven (c) January 2022

Water-wrinkled Hands And Sand Between My Toes, is up at Coffee House Writers Magazine

Hello dear readers and followers, as you may know, I now write for “Coffee House Writers” magazine on a fortnightly basis, and my poem “Water-wrinkled Hands And Sand Between My Toes”, is in this weeks edition of Coffee House Writers Magazine. … please click on the link below to read my poem, at Coffee House Writers >> https://coffeehousewriters.com/water-wrinkled-hands/







Ivor Steven (c) January 2022

Hotter Than Helios

Here in Geelong we are going through an extended warm/hot spell, of some 20 days in a row of the temperature being over 30’C … and this a poem I wrote 3 years on January 25th, so appropriately the poem gets replay today …

Hotter Than Helios

Today is hotter than hot

This town’s a living melting pot

You could fry an egg without a cook-top

I won’t be taking Yorkie for a trot

My body’s losing the plot

Waiting for my aorta’s mystery clots

 

My writing’s burnt out, on Helios hill

Leaving an arid inkwell, holding a dry quill

Despite the heat, an exercise session I’ll do, It’s my will

To continue with this daily drill

No excuses, to lose sight of spring’s daffodil

Working out, like I’m an old grinding flour-mill

 

Even if I’m over-baked, like Sunday’s hot roast

For her, I’ll take life’s chances to the utmost

 

Featured Image: From Bing Images, numrush.nl

 

 

Ivor Steven (c)  2019

 

Before The Bell Rings

Above Images: My doggie Frankie, on his early morning walkie.


Before The Bell Rings



I am changing my daily routine

Now summer is in full swing

Hot like a fiery lantern


Before the breakfast bell rings

I will leave early and go walking

With doggie in tow, happily prancing


We will bathe in golden sunrises

Under the cobalt blue skies

Adorned with white cirrus stripes





Ivor Steven (c) January 2022

Dust and Rain

Feature Image Above: A watercolour painting by Carole Steven.




Dust and Rain



Life eventually returns to dust

Think me morbid if you must

Funerals do that to me

Eulogies sting me like a bee

That gentle bite numbed my mind

To that sea of blurry faces, sincere and kind




My selfless tears did drown

In memories of pain

Of her being lowered down

On that day when I could not stop the rain






Ivor Steven (c) January 2022

Waiting In Line

Please Note: The Idyll winery estate, located in the picturesque Moorabool Valley area, is only 15 km from my front door, and are well renowned for their award winner Cabernet Sauvignon blends … 2021 – New York International Wine Competition – Idyll Victoria Cabernet Sauvignon – Gold






Waiting In Line




lazing in a valley of vines

under the summer sunshine

with a bottle of Idyll wine 

drank in no time 

dandy and sublime 

heeds no rhyme

beyond an imaginary climb

along the river of time

that awaits a final line

after life’s closing pantomime






Ivor Steven (c) January 2022