This week’s Wednesday Challenge, on Weekly Prompts is the word BEAUTIFUL. Please go over and visit their fabulous site by clicking >> Here. Below is my beautiful response to the prompt…
A Beautiful Red Flower
Auburn was her hair
A ruby Day-lily
A red flame Begonia
Crimson and warm
Auburn was her hair
A scarlet Geranium
A maroon Bougainvillea
A soft vermilion art form
Ivor Steven (c) March 2021
Hello dear readers and followers. There’s only 30 days until the launch of my new ‘Book’ , and despite my promotional commitments, amazingly, I’ve still managed to produce my “Twenty Second Tullawalla” Poetry Booklet….. 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 $1400.00, … 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 … …..Amazingly, there is now a total of “911 poems”, in my collection/series of 22 Tullawalla Booklets. This booklet is finally completed, and ready for sale now !! As always, they are available for purchase, either as a hard copy 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”: “Who Is Responsible?”… …. And here is the link to my website >> https://ivors20.wordpress.com
Ivor Steven (c) March 1st 2021
Today I’m presenting more of my comments, that I post on other writers articles when I am doing my blogging.. Here below, are words I’ve sent to, ~M~Michelle, Colleen, and Ingrid … I’ve made a few slight word changes and arranged the stanza’s in an order, so as to read like one ‘poem’ , and I think the different “tunes” have blended together ok..
Waltz Me to the Tune Of a Happy Mandolin
Open your eyes a little wider
Let your heart feel a little lighter
See the blue sky appear brighter
And there upon the ocean floats the big blue sky
Reflecting the white caps of nearby mountains
Where the melting snow feeds the oceans’ rivers
Which meander across the lands’ grassy plains
And we look to drop anchor
In the calm of a safe harbour
Away from our daily helter-skelter
Hoping to find that peaceful shelter
But a truly happy mandolin
Is soulfully played from within
Ivor Steven (c) Feb 2021
My new book “Tullawalla”, is due to be released on 30th March, and for preorder, here are the links
Barnes and Noble.. Tullawalla by Ivor Steven, Kerri Costello, Hardcover | Barnes & Noble® (barnesandnoble.com)
Amazon.. Amazon.com: Tullawalla eBook: Steven, Ivor, Costello, Kerri, Harris, patricia: Books
Today, here again I am presenting another ‘5min’ poem that I wrote at Ali Grimsham’s ‘Writing Circle’ Zoom meeting this morning (haha, “at 6.00am”) and I would like to thank Ali for giving me an opportunity to participate in such a fantastic event … Here is the page link to get more information about the next “writing circle” event. https://flashlightbatteries.blog/online-writing-circles/ Tickets by donation. All are welcome.
The Lighthouse
I am afloat
In between
Here and there
Am I lost?
My ship clock
Is a sundial
Using the moon
To reflect on time
I hear the waves
Pounding white hooves
A heavy sound
Of many moods
Is the sea growing wider?
Is the light glowing brighter?
Ivor Steven (c) Feb 2021
My new book “Tullawalla”, is due to be released on 30th March, and for preorder, here are the links
Barnes and Noble.. Tullawalla by Ivor Steven, Kerri Costello, Hardcover | Barnes & Noble® (barnesandnoble.com)
Amazon.. Amazon.com: Tullawalla eBook: Steven, Ivor, Costello, Kerri, Harris, patricia: Books
Today I went through my initial notes that I made while selecting poems for my book, and it appears that I ‘culled’ 25 poems, that didn’t make the final list, and here is another poem that was ‘cut’ from my new Book “Tullawalla”
Waiting
The earth is waiting
Sick of human’s, and their time wasting
Waiting for their promised cheers
Waiting for less destructive years
Will they give her resolutions of better times?
Will they read, Thor’s neon signs
Will they notice, a smoke covered sun?
Will they be able to breath the air, as a united one?
The earth cannot watch, nor wait
While human’s feed their own greedy plate
Why are they celebrating?
Like blind fools, that are always pretending
As if nothing is going wrong
They can hear the whales crying songs
They can see the polar caps are melting
They can taste the venom of government’s lying
Ivor Steven (c) Jan 2020
My new book “Tullawalla”, is due to be released on 30th March, and for preorder, here are the links
Barnes and Noble.. Tullawalla by Ivor Steven, Kerri Costello, Hardcover | Barnes & Noble® (barnesandnoble.com)
Amazon.. Amazon.com: Tullawalla eBook: Steven, Ivor, Costello, Kerri, Harris, patricia: Books
I think I have given you all enough sneak preview poems from my ‘Book’, so over the next few weeks I’ll be presenting some of my poems that nearly made their appearance in “Tullawalla”, and ironically Disappointments didn’t make the cut…
Life is full of disappointments
Of our physical and mental laments
There is the disgruntled type
When we are stood down
Years of loyalty all for naught
Leaving you downcast and distraught
There is the disheartened letdown
When we are stood-up again
Yesterday’s promise, today’s voiceless ghost
Leaving you an empty chair and sadly aghast
There is the frustrated fiasco
When we are stood upon
Months of being a washout and a physical mess
Leaving your body punished and almost useless
Dismayed and in disarray
When we are misunderstood
Decades of disenchantment, but undefeated we stay
Knowing we all experience disappointments on life’s causeway
Ivor Steven (c) August 2019
Barnes and Noble. Tullawalla by Ivor Steven, Kerri Costello, Hardcover | Barnes & Noble® (barnesandnoble.com)
Amazon. Amazon.com: Tullawalla eBook: Steven, Ivor, Costello, Kerri, Harris, patricia: Books
A Chapter List
Way back in time, during the middle of the ‘Pandemic Age’, there was a dormant ‘Poet’s Egg’ hibernating and waiting to hatch. In the middle of this ‘Era’, the populous had to endure long periods of ‘Lockdown’ and ‘Isolation’, and it was then the ‘Poet’s Egg’ started to hatch and begin to see the light day, and mature slowly in the confines of a cosy courtyard. ‘And In the Beginning’ under the poet’s verandah, ‘A Chapter List’ was created. “From Little Things Big Things Grow”. So without further ado, here is a sneak preview of my ‘Chapter List’
Tullawalla – A Meeting Place
Chapter 1.
Nature, Trees, And The Air We Breathe
Chapter 2.
My Empty Hands Are Full Of Memories And Rhymes
Chapter 3.
Dragons, Wizards, Faeries, And A Space Craft
Chapter 4.
Humour, Wit, Sarcasm, And Christmas Stories
Chapter 5.
Observations – The Sound Of Silence
Chapter 6.
Travel – Air, Land, And Sea
Chapter 7.
The Family Tree And Dream-time Stories
Chapter 8.
Haiku’s And The Leftover Champagne
Chapter 9.
Not Horror But Weird
Chapter 10.
Beyond The Blue Horizon
Epilogue
Words Of Mine
Ivor Steven (c) March 2021
Magnetic West
Adrenaline flow has trickled to a stop
My wildest dream has cascade over the top
I have dizzily had my head in the clouds
My mind is now frazzled and proud
Best I slow down and rest
Away from my magnetic writing desk
Sit at my refuge, the Box Office Cafe
A place to relax and enjoy a coffee
Where I can be tempted by their cake selection
The banana and coconut slice tastes close to perfection
And I will have a convivial chat with my friends
My Dragon, the wise owl Oscar, and Phillip the penguin
Ivor Steven (c) Feb 2021
Today, here again I am presenting another ‘5min’ poem that I have written at one of Ali Grimsham’s ‘Writing Circle’ Zoom meetings that I attend on Monday’s, but sadly this was my 5th and final session with the group, and I would like to thank Ali for giving me an opportunity to participate in such a fantastic event … Here is the page link to get more information about the next “writing circle” event. https://flashlightbatteries.blog/online-writing-circles/ Tickets by donation. All are welcome.
Winter Rose
I am soundlessly staring
Out the frosty window
Looking at a sunny patch in the snow
Where a single winter rose grows
And here beside the fire flame
I warm my bare toes
I feel their numbness
That only my hand knows
Ivor Steven (c) Feb 2021
Yesterday I had the privilege to attend a book launch day, for fellow local Geelong poet, Jeremy Palmer. To purchase his book, you can contact Jeremy through the following links >> http://www.jeremypalmerpoetry.com >> http://www.instagram.com/jeremypalmerpoetry >> http://www.facebook.com/jeremypalmerpoetry >>
A Special Poetry Day
A balmy Saturday afternoon
At the Analogue Academy commune
I have not been here to this special venue
Since the start of our world’s year of upheaval
I am attending Jeremy Palmer’s book launch
A poetry book aptly named “Poems of Pilgrimage”
The gathering is probably the maximum allowed
And there is friendly conversation buzzing from the crowd
I sense a clear aura of anticipation
As Jeremy’s readings become our minds hydration
His words are full of harmony and imagination
And he invites us into his heart’s instrumentation
And entertaining the mesmerized audience further
We listen to the glorious voice of a local singer
‘Arjuna’ has written a melody to one of his poems
A fitting finale to the day’s poetry emporium
Ivor Steven (c) Feb 2021
Here’s a favourite poem of mine from Jeremy’s book
Ivor.Plumber/Poet 