Tag: Poetry/Australia

Shangri La, Volume 19, Leftover Heirlooms

FREE PDF COPY >>> Links Below

Hello, dear readers and followers. As you may know, I stopped producing my “Tullawalla Booklets” at #31 because that was the house number of our family’s Tullawalla Homestead.
However, the booklet format is a superb way for me to catalogue the vast number of poems I produce, and as the saying goes, “I Am Turning Another Page”. Here I have begun a new series of poem booklets, called “Shangri La”, the name of my little Villa, and it is my piece of “earthly paradise, a retreat from the pressures of modern civilization”.
I now have “2295” Poems filed in these booklet formats!!
(On my bookshelf, I have “The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, which contains 1775 poems … when I first started writing poems, I never envisaged that I would produce so many poems)

“Like all my booklets, this one is here to be read at your leisure — no rush, no expectation, just an open page waiting when you are.”

Click > HERE.  for the link to your FREE: PDF Copy of “Shangri La, Volume 19, Leftover Heirlooms.”

OR … Shangri La, Volume 19, Leftover Heirlooms.pdf





Leftover Heirlooms



I’m roaming around
the inner zone of Shadowland,
the heart of twilight’s middle ground.

Inquiringly peering down
upon the sun’s retiring nightgown.

Above her hessian costume,
the fading crescent moon
is also descending into the world’s bedroom.

Again, I am an abandoned groom
from life’s fragmented honeymoon,
here clutching nostalgia’s leftover heirlooms.






Here, at the water’s edge, we let the last of the day slip quietly from our hands.




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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 ©  April 2026

Throwback Friday, And I Wonder Why

In keeping with this week’s ‘Anti-war’ theme, today’s Throwback Friday poem (originally written in June 2024) is drawn from my upcoming book, Time Hears No Sound. It appears as a poem in Chapter 8, War: A Waste of Time





And I Wonder Why

On a windless winter morn
I am walking beside the waveless bay
Watching the white wispy clouds
Wandering above the whispering trees

And I am wondering why
Our worried and weeping world
Wantonly wastes time
On unworthy and wearisome wars





“Esmerelda”, a wonderfully dramatic song by Ben Howard



.


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 ©  April 2026

Solar Isosceles and More Debris

Sometimes poems arrive in clusters, even when we don’t plan them. After posting A Fistful of Sand (CHW), another anti‑war piece surfaced, and Beyond the Debris continued that same uneasy thread …
It seems I’ve unintentionally written a small trilogy — each poem looking at conflict from a different angle, each one carrying its own weight. Tonight’s piece steps further into the aftermath, where the smoke settles, and the world tries to breathe again.





Solar Isosceles and More Debris


From behind the bushes and trees,
crows crash through the branches and leaves.

And flee toward our solar Isosceles,
like blind bats that can now see
beyond the world’s charred canopy –

a toxic cloud of wartime debris
and the smouldering embers
of expendable draftees.







Ivor Steven ©  April 2026

No Kings

Feature Image Above: Created by my Canva App.
When the tent starts sagging, the whole performance shows its seams


After reading Mirroring the World’s blistering take on Trump’s latest political tantrum, I felt a poem forming almost instantly — a small, sarcastic echo of the chaos described, and a reminder that no self‑crowned king is above a little poetic scrutiny.
taurusingemini >> Trump is Now, Out of Plays in the War with Iran He Started | Mirroring the World


No Kings!


There is a clown,
with an apricot crown
under his dressing gown,
who’s swinging upside down
on the outskirts of town

The false king is insane,
with a selfish brain.
He’s inhumane,
and greed is his game.

Without shame
his aim is to blame
anyone whose name
is not on his “gravy-train.”





And to close, here’s a song that carries the same simmering energy — a little theatrical, a little exasperated, and perfectly tuned to the mood of this piece.




Ivor Steven ©  April 2026

This week’s Coffee House Writers Magazine features my new poem, “A Fistful of Sand.”

Featured Image Above: In the last light of day, even a weakened sun can show how much of our shared humanity has slipped away.



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, “A Fistful of Sand,” appears in the new issue. You can read it by following the link below.
>> A Fistful of Sand – Coffee House Writers






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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

Beyond the Golden Eye

Featured Image Above: Created by Copilot and me.
“A circling flock of Corellas rises beyond the golden eye — twilight’s quiet lantern.”

Over at Weekly Prompts, it’s time for the One Day Prompt. To visit their fabulous site, please click >> Here
I’ve used a bit of ‘poetic license,’ and only got as far as “One” without the “Day.”




Beyond the Golden Eye

Tonight’s fluorescent twilight sky
is strikingly dominated by
one enchanting golden eye.

The illustrious iris silhouettes
The horizon’s sleepy statuettes,

and a circling flock of Corellas
looks like an inverted umbrella,
full of luminous candelas.









Ivor Steven ©  March 2026

Throwback Friday, Between Lines, Who Holds the Power

Today’s Throwback Friday poem (originally written in May 2023) is drawn from my upcoming book, Time Hears No Sound. It appears as the opening poem in Chapter 8, War: A Waste of Time


“And I have carried on this war. Though no one wins an endless fight. I have claimed that God has guided me. And killed to prove I’m right.” Lyrics from Damien Rice’s song, “What if I’m wrong.”




Between Lines, Who Holds the Power

Do you see – a man walking on water?
Did you see – his feet were bleeding?
Do you read – the missing scriptures?
Did you read – your own family tree?
Do you hear, speechless angels, singing?
Did you hear – the songbirds crying?

Do you feel – the erased wars calling?
Did you feel – the hard rains falling?
Do you know – the ones who are lying?
Did you know, the refugees are dying?





“What If I’m Wrong”, Lyrics, by Damien Rice

I could wrestle with tomorrow
Until tomorrow’s in the past
Because I have torn apart what’s beautiful
To prove that nothing lasts I have stayed locked behind these doors
To show there’s no way out
I got lost within the space between
The question and the doubt
I have built a wall between

What I believed and what is true
I have sacrificed the love I had
For power over you

I have convicted those who disagree
And walked over the weak
I have placed a gun within the mouth
Of those who dared to speak

And on an ordinary day
In an ordinary way
I have crushed the minds of children
With extraordinary shame

And I have carried on this war
Though no one wins an endless fight
I have claimed that God has guided me
And killed to prove I’m right

What if I’m wrong
What if I’m wrong
What if I’m wrong
What if I’m wrong

Is this soul worth saving at all?
Cause if I lose my wings then surely I must fall
And the gods prayed to the gods they made

We could wrestle with tomorrow
until tomorrow’s in the past
We could tear apart what’s beautiful
To prove that nothing lasts

We could stay locked behind the doors
To show there’s no way out
We could get lost within the space between
The question and the doubt

But what if we’re wrong?




.


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



The World’s Spiritual Watchtower





The World’s Spiritual Watchtower


I’m fused to this planet,
and my synthetic walking shoes
are wearing thin on the granite.

I’m confused and sadly bemused
by humanity’s wayward news.

I gaze up at our radiant sun
and wonder about the solar power
that goes unused by the tonne.

I see birds cruising on the wind
angling their wings
toward the sun’s golden rind,
as if spellbound
by the mystical rising.

A glowing, cosmic sunflower
quietly expanding outwards
and shining upwards
to become the world’s
spiritual watchtower





A watchtower of sound to meet the poem’s rising light





Ivor Steven ©  March 2026

The Sky’s Pearls

A lone bird soars above the morning mist — echoing the clarity of my hilltop poem and the emotional lift of “Letters From The Sky.


Pearls from the sky, my courtyard flowers …

A sky scattered with quiet treasures, waiting for the morning to find them




The Sky’s Pearls



Life is uncomplicated
On my elevated hilltop;
Here, the air I breathe is untainted.

My courtyard’s world
Grows high above the town,
Yet I never look down
Nor frown on the town’s ground.

Instead, I gaze up at the sky’s pearls,
Where starry swirls and twirls,
Majestically unfurl.








Ivor Steven ©  March 2026

From Beyond Nowhere

A lucky snapshot: a bird crossing an invisible line between sun and sky, caught in the quiet shimmer of possibility.


From Beyond Nowhere


Below the invisible line,
Between the sun and time,
It is impossible to know
That what we perceive
Are the stars’ definitive stare,
Or, whether the outer glow
Is the universe’s cosmic snow
From beyond nowhere.







Ivor Steven ©  March 2026