Featured Image Above: He calls out early, as if he knows the world is about to tilt again.
Crows in Moscow (a Tanka)
How do the crows know –
when to flee life’s undertow?
Has the status quo
been shot by stupid’s crossbow,
without talking to Moscow?
After all that swooping and shouting, a soft goodbye feels about right.
Ivor Steven © February 2026
Featured Image Above: Created by Copilot and me, A man stands at the edge of time, where the foreshore fades, and the door to the encore glows.
Today’s Throwback Friday poem (originally written in January 2024) is drawn from my upcoming book, Time Hears No Sound. It appears as the opening poem in the Micri Poem section of Chapter 10, Time’s Short Poems: Haiku, Tanka, etc.
The Last Encore
I am standing on
the diminishing foreshore
Staring at that
missing ground floor
“Like there was a door”
Between here
and the last encore
And so we stand, between here and the last encore — listening for time’s quiet applause.
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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 © February 2026
Until Eyes Hear Sound has already spoken through its poems, but this short video offers another way in — a quiet blend of colour, movement, and mood that reflects the heart of the book.
Across ten chapters, the collection explores nature, memory, imagination, and the questions that shape our lives. The cover’s rising birds and shifting sky mirror the book’s reflective and curious spirit.
This piece serves as a gentle introduction for new readers and a companion for those familiar with my work. It offers a calm entry point and a sense of the book’s emotional palette — more an open door than a traditional trailer.
The images echo the themes of reflection, flight, and stillness. The pacing is unhurried, allowing the mood to settle. This video will also support the broader promotional work coordinated by Gisela.
Watch the Video
A Poem from the Collection
Anomaly
I see a stone wall of sad faces
the refugees from different places
Shuffling on old, shredded boot laces
wearing tattered clothes and frozen braces
These lost cultures of opposite races
begging for water and food traces
living out of torn tents and empty suitcases
And here, people play games in cyberspaces
Until Eyes Hear Sound
Amazon >> Amazon.com : Until Eyes Hear Sound
Lulu Books >> Until Eyes Hear Sound (lulu.com)
Ivor Steven © February 2026
A heavy sky lingering above a thirsty summer, offering a brief, warm whisper of rain.
Summer Rainclouds
The sombre summer clouds
are languishing low overhead.
I can almost touch the greyness –
unfortunately, it’s not raining.
The aura of stillness is unsettling,
and the silence is deafening
But wait – from behind the gloom
I hear Thor’s thunderous roar,
and simultaneously, I see fat drops
warmly splattering on the ground
Ivor Steven © February 2026
My thanks to David, of “The Skeptic’s Kaddish,” for inviting me into this rengay. It was a pleasure to weave our lines together and watch the threads find their own shape.
>> https://skepticskaddish.com/2026/02/23/a-stitch-in-time-or-a-rengay/
A stitch in time, or: A rengay
1 (db)
weeks before Purim—
sticky glue smears small fingers,
needles pull bright threads
2 (is)
intricate puppet costumes
tangled in the maker’s strings
3 (db)
small gnat in a web
silver threads keep their design—
the body trembles
4 (is)
the wood manikins
loose joints suddenly collapse
first aid kit required
5 (db)
eight waiting legs lose purchase
their radial craft undone
6 (is)
unfashionable
staples, glue guns, costume pins
become quick-fix threads
A little Purim mischief to echo the threads and tangled costumes of our rengay.
Ivor Steven © February 2026
Feature Image Above: Created by Copilot and me.
“Ravens fly through the iron‑gate sky, carrying warnings only the attentive will hear.”
The Ravens Warning (a Tanka)
Stealthily they fly,
below the iron‑gate sky—
loud and steely‑eyed.
Ravens warn all passersby:
beware of that sly bad guy.
Under an iron‑gate sky, her voice rises like a warning carried on dark wings
Ivor Steven © February 2026
Featured Image Above: Created by Copilot and me
Shaped during my quiet breaks at Market Day, inspired by yesterday’s twilight and today’s steady rhythm behind the stall.
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.
After drafting this poem during my quiet breaks at Market Day, Lisa Hannigan’s ‘Oh Undone’ felt like the perfect soundtrack to its twilight reflections.
Ivor Steven © February 2026
While the café murmured below, the Corellas held their own rowdy morning meeting in the trees above me.
We’re a Noisy Bunch (a Tanka)
I’m one of many
In a flock of two twenty
I’m a Corella
And when we’re all together
We’re a loud bunch of critters
“A chorus of Corellas above the morning hum.”
Ivor Steven © February 2026
At twilight this evening, a lone peewee settled on the fence line, unexpected company above a paddock split open by summer. The moment felt like a small report from the dry season — so I let the bird speak for itself.
Peewee on the Fence Wire
Here on a weathered fence wire,
in my honorary black-and-white attire,
I am a peewee of a scarecrow
monitoring this broad and dry meadow.
The long, hot summer has created havoc
and left the parched paddock
covered in a maze of deep, dark cracks,
inscribed by the droughts, dusty, black chalk;
and the dirty chasms are as wide as my back.
Their song carries softly across the dry ground — a fitting echo for this moment.
Ivor Steven © February 2026
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, “Beyond My Outpost,” appears in the new issue. You can read it by following the link below.
>> https://coffeehousewriters.com/beyond-my-outpost/
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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 © February 2026
Ivor.Plumber/Poet 