Tag: Poetry/Australia

Throwback Friday, The Poet’s Grotto

Today’s Throwback poem is a rewrite of an old piece called “Paper Tigers” (Feb 2019)





The Poet’s Grotto


My writer’s studio, is the littered part of my bedroom

A paper tiger’s haven, has become a messy grotto

I am ruefully feeling muddled and befuddled

Pieces of paper and cardboard kites

Scatter the atmosphere like withered autumn leaves

Falling upon my untidy and cluttered archives


Scribbled words are yet to be decoded

Foolscap pages overwritten and eroded

Undefined and unlisted

Out of focus and twisted

Upside down and inside out

Uncategorized and full of self-doubt

My desk’s dreamy picture postcard

Looks like a moonscape’s junkyard


My poetic writing quill has been the mythological ruler

Showing no regard for my bedroom’s demeanour

I am sleeping covered in my hurdy gurdy verses

I cannot penetrate the stack of obscure foreign addresses

It is time to cast out the pretentious cosmic curses

Free myself of all unpublished jabberwocky

And let my imagination create a new poetic hard copy







Ivor Steven (c) October 2023

Pushcart Nomination, for my short poem, “The Sum is One”

I Write Her
Thank you to the editor of “Reflections & Revelations”, Susi Bocks, for nominating me …


Announcing The 2022 Pushcart Nominees!

PUBLISHED ON 

It was wonderful to immerse myself again and fully digest the thoughts of all the pieces selected for the second volume of poetry of The Short of It in order to determine which works were to be nominated for this honour.

I am very happy to announce the following poets’ pieces were submitted to the Pushcart Prize Committee. Those selected were nominated for their contributions to the Reflections & Revelations—a collection of the best featured in the online publication.

Phantasma by Candice Louisa Daquin 

remembering by Jane Ayres 

The Sum is One by Ivor Steven  

Old News Is Not Old News by Joni Caggiano  

Winter’s Beauty by Lorraine Lewis 

Anxiety by Radhika Puttige 




My Poem: The Sum is One

The Sum is One (a Oddquain)

One

Sky above

Five oceans bind us

The one air we breathe comes from

Trees








Ivor Steven (c) October 2023

Moon Dew

Please Note: All attached Photos presented in this article were taken by Derrick Knight, and he has kindly allowed me reproduce them here on my poetry site. You may visit his wonderful article, and site by clicking on this link >> https://derrickjknight.com/2023/10/02/moons-for-denzil/



Moon Dew 

 
 
The moon slithered  

into my bedroom 

through a crack beside  

her nostalgic heirloom  

and lowered himself 

onto my breastplate  

stared into my eyes  

and told me straight 


“There is no need for tears  

I am here to ease your fears 

before I leave  

I will give you  

a loving spoonful  

of magical moon dew  

my universal cure  

for the morning blues” 


“Thank you, Mr. Moon”  

as I joyfully sipped  

from his silver spoon




 




Tullawalla is Available From

Jaymah Press:https://www.jaymahpress.com.au/

Ivor Steven: email, ivorrs20@gmail.com

Amazon: search via, ‘Tullawalla by Ivor Steven’


AND
Perceptions is Now Available via:

Amazon: https://amzn.asia/d/4yFHWrT

Jaymah Press: https://www.jaymahpress.com.au/

Lulu Books: https://www.lulu.com/shop/ivor-steven-and-derrick-knight/perceptions/hardcover/product-2pwqe4.html?q=Perceptions+by+Ivor+Steven&page=1&pageSize=4

OR: email me directly for a signed copy – ivorrs20@gmail.com  

Ivor Steven (c) October 2023

The Moon’s Midnight Demise 





The Moon’s Midnight Demise 


The eclipsing clouds unfolded lengthwise 

Masking the chastised moon’s demise 

Falling, ostracized and downsized 

Out of the mesmerized midnight sky 

The fading moonlight capsized 

And sunk into my tired eyes 


Was I to be finally baptized 

Or lying there, tranquillized 

Waiting to be mechanized and dehumanized  








Tullawalla is Available From

Jaymah Press:https://www.jaymahpress.com.au/

Ivor Steven: email, ivorrs20@gmail.com

Amazon: search via, ‘Tullawalla by Ivor Steven’


AND
Perceptions is Now Available via:

Amazon: https://amzn.asia/d/4yFHWrT

Jaymah Press: https://www.jaymahpress.com.au/

Lulu Books: https://www.lulu.com/shop/ivor-steven-and-derrick-knight/perceptions/hardcover/product-2pwqe4.html?q=Perceptions+by+Ivor+Steven&page=1&pageSize=4

OR: email me directly for a signed copy – ivorrs20@gmail.com  


Ivor Steven (c) October 2023

Throwback Friday, Untethered

Untethered

Today’s poem “Untethered”, is also an uncaptured piece that did not make the final list for the new book “Until Eyes Hear Sound”… hmmm … and I always like to get away in my “Itmims” spacecraft …

Untethered

With my back against the setting sun

I will fly toward a placid place, not yet overrun

Where the ground is not made of buried heads and limbs

I will untether my sturdy spacecraft Itmims*

And traverse the universe to discover a new world

Another planet of wonderment, yet unfurled

Where rivers and oceans are crystal clear

And unmasked, I can breathe the atmosphere

Where flowering plains are home to sacred trees

And native fauna roam wild and free


*Itmims, Ivor’s time machine in micro space







Coming Soon




Ivor Steven (c) October 2023

Oh, No!

Oh, No! … Here in Australia, yesterday’s referendum, to give our First Nation’s people a ‘Voice’ in parliament was rejected … I think it’s a sad outcome for Australia, and I am feeling the hurt that my Aboriginal friends are experiencing today.


Oh, No!


Why cannot I be right?

Why is my right so wrong?

Why are the wrongs so strong?

How has racism become right?


Why does our blight?

Remain deaf dumb and blind!

Without any foresight!






Ivor Steven (c) October 2023

Flying Bricks of War (again)

I am posting this poem “again” … there is War “again” … more innocent lives will be “Lost”
Over at Weekly Prompts, the Weekend Challenge is the word, Lost … please visit their fabulous site by clicking on >> Here

Featured Image Above: Gaza Strip border, Kibbutz Netiv Ha’Asara, Israel © Kai Wiendenhofer



Flying Bricks of War


There is a divisive brick wall

That stands harsh and tall

To stop people from breaking their fall


Then the leaders in ivory towers

Ceased talking about peace and flowers

And hurled bricks into that sandy strip

One brick after another brick

Flew from one side to the other

Smashing innocent children and mothers


Flying bricks crumbling into dust

Creating dirty clouds of mistrust


The walls of Babylon fell again

As brick upon brick crushed human brains


Brick upon brick filled the bloody drains

Brick upon brick killed and maimed







Ivor Steven (c) October 2023

Throwback Friday, Crooked Ways (Revision #2)

I originally wrote this poem in January 2019, here today I have revised the piece for a second time.




Crooked Ways (Revision #2)


I’m not to be told, how to live my life

It’s been over a decade since having lost my wife

I’m not a great philosopher

Nor a modern fashion writer

I’m not a sprightly young surfer

Never clever enough to be bursar

Too old to be a toiling plumber

And these days I prefer to pen poetry

Some say you are never too old

Whatever, I shall always be bold

With my plans to reach for the stars

And continue to travel my crooked ways






Ivor Steven (c) October 2023

A Wounded Identity Badge

Over at Weekly Prompts, the Wednesday Challenge is the word: Identity … To visit their fabulous site, please click on >> Here … My poem below is an appropriate and poignant response to the Prompt


A Wounded Identity Badge 


I am lying here on brown dirt 

My human blood is trickling

From a new open-cut wound

Into this ancient and sacred ground 


I have been shot!

Straight through my “Yes” vote badge 

By a white man’s racist outburst 

His rant was full of arrogance and hatred 


My badge is damaged but not destroyed 

My heart is bruised but not broken 

I will steadfastly, forever vote “Yes” 

Until eyes hear the sound of human decency   






Ivor Steven (c) October 2023