How do we extinguish our burning hearts
How do we stop the hot ashes from blowing in the wind
Please, make it rain
Please, show us mercy, instead of hell
Ivor Steven (c) Jan 2020
How do we extinguish our burning hearts
How do we stop the hot ashes from blowing in the wind
Please, make it rain
Please, show us mercy, instead of hell
Ivor Steven (c) Jan 2020
A big thank you to Kate of “CalmKate” for inspiring me, and rekindling a poem I was working on last week, please visit her forthright article, “fires ignite justice” by clicking >>Here
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
Can’t they hear the whales crying songs?
Can’t they see the polar caps are melting?
Can’t they taste the venom of government’s lying?
In the following video/song, if you could metaphorically place earth and human’s between the lyrics, you might understand why I chose this song by Damien Rice..
Ivor Steven (c) Jan 2020
The First Challenge of 2020 is Something New
From today the Word Prompts and Photo Challenges will cease to be separate. They have merged the twice-weekly challenges and given each of them the new combined title of Word/Photo Challenge. Please go visit their exciting new Format, by clicking on .>>HERE
Something New
I’m at that age, I don’t need material things
Too old for men’s fashion earrings
No more swanky clothes or fancy shoes
And I don’t like trendy blue and red tattoos
I’m now alone, and live a simple life
You could balance my belongs on a kitchen knife
These days I store myself in a computer cloud
Photos, music and my poems, of which I’m proud
Today’s six days after Christmas
But I’m still expecting undelivered business
An annual package from Philadelphia
That’s probably been misplaced by festive hysteria
Then I spot a parcel in the letterbox
Which I excitedly unwrap,, a glorious card and socks
Not just plain socks, but a sporty printed pair
Teary, I read the card, and my heart yearns to be there
Ivor Steven (c) Jan 2020
Tullawalla, Climb Each Stair
Hello dear readers and followers, again I’ve been arduously preparing and typing, to produce my Fourteenth Tullawalla Poetry Booklet….. For new readers that don’t know about these booklets, they are basically the reason why I write poetry. I produce the booklets for the sole purpose of raising funds for my favourite charity organization, 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 submissions, I also donate to the MS Society…..Amazingly, there is a total of “573 poems”, in my collection of 14 Tullawalla Booklets. Anyhow the booklet is finally completed, and ready for the New Year, 2020 !! 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 web site page and I can chat about arrangements from there…. Oh, the booklet is called “Tullawalla: Climbing Each Stair”, and coincidently, one of my poems in the booklet “Time Needs No Command” was published by Geelong Writers Inc. on their blog site today!! Click on this link >> https://www.geelongwriters.org.au/paid-member-writing-features/time-needs-no-command/ …. And here is the link to my website >> ivors20.wordpress.com


Ivor Steven (c) Jan 1st 2020
A Poet’s Postcard
Dragonfly wings are open wide
Guarding greenery under her sky
Shading this wilderness courtyard
The old poet’s postcard
Full of eternal daydreams
Nurtured upon a flowerbed’s requiem
Now an empty ballroom’s finale dance
Melpomene’s* everlasting romance
*Melpomene, is the daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne, initially the Muse of Chorus, she then became the Muse of Tragedy, for which she is best known now.
Ivor Steven (c) Dec 2019
Purple and Mauve
As my evening courtyard garden glows
Old flowers cast purple and mauve shadows
Upon the muse of my dreams
Against a background, once leafy green
Hanging there, a mauve fairy lavender
Above an ageing purple avatar
Looking like that flowering woody sage tree
Petals of purple and mauve, waiting to be free
Ivor Steven (c) Dec 2019
Almost There
So I Say Hello to you
I turned away from you
After almost six weeks
Of this harrowing streak
It’s been no stroll in the park
Resting here in the semi dark
The painful knives have been withdrawn
The headaches have almost retired
I’m almost well enough
To enjoy Christmas with family
And by the start of two thousand and twenty
I’ll be almost here, I’ll be almost me again
So I say hello to you
And wish you a happy and healthy festive season
Ivor Steven (c) Dec 2019
A Cheery Santa
The season of merry cheer is here
There’s always many Christmas parties
They seem to begin weeks before
Yesterday Santa was at the Valhalla Bar
Ho ho, he was big happy Santa
With a sackful of gifts for everyone
I’m one of the oldest children there
I know he’s not really real
As I had a beer with him 10 minutes before
Yes, big friendly Reg, became Santa
For me, a stubbie holder and a T-shirt
Even a can of Valhalla beer
And Santa Reg joined me for more frothy cheer
Ivor Steven (c) Dec 2019
A Midday Mirage
I was leaning on my thoughts today
They buckled under the coffee tray
Even in the hands of the sun’s gloss
The dark envelops my minds moss
My heavy head collapsed at midday
Whereupon, closed eyes saw her bravery
Again I am witnessing the uncommon
Visualising beyond my daydreams canyon
There, a piece of my heart I had lost
Being cradled in the arms of her southern cross
A sparkling star from earth’s diamond mines
She a flawed jewel, eternally shines
Ivor Steven (c) Dec 2019
I dreamt of your radiant face last night
So serene, a diamond, a dove, so pure white
Not sad, just vivid memories, oh, so bright
And I’ve plenty of tears, don’t worry, I’m alright
Visions of your bravery, courage above and beyond
So gracious, an everlasting smile, our iconic bond
Completely in awe, amazing, a personal anthem
And I declare, you were natures stellar blossom
I felt your pain, your sorrow, revealed to only a few
So uncomplaining, never a burden, never a shrew
Thinking the whole world should be like you
Wishing this hungry planet could be cheerful too
Wondering is life, sometimes ordained cruel?
But I’ll continue on, for you, my sparkling Jewel
Featured Image, DHGate.com rinhoo jewelry.
Ivor Steven (c) Dec 2019