Tag: Poetry/Australia

Throwback Friday, A Fire That Burns in the Cold


Today’s Throwback Friday poem (originally written in July 2025) is drawn from my upcoming book, Time Hears No Sound. It appears in Chapter 5, Dreaming: A Poet’s Favourite Pastime


A Fire That Burns in the Cold


From behind the trees,
And out of the grasses,
We cannot stop the fire
-That burning desire-
From soaring higher,
Higher than the entire
Starry, starry choir.

So, best we inquire
To the Almighty Supplier:
“Will there be a ceasefire
at the top of your golden spire?”






Ivor Steven (c) December 2025

The Snail and the Butterfly





The Snail and the Butterfly


Midmorning; the day is breathing,
and Steve the snail is cruising.

I espy where he has been,
and I innately know who he wants to see.

Betty, the pretty butterfly,
is fluttering down from the trees.

A rendezvous with Steve is nigh.





Like Sigur Rós, breathing life into a quiet town, Steve and Betty meet in the stillness of morning.




Ivor Steven (c) December 2025

Summer Forgotten

A wintry first of December—where summer forgets itself beneath cloud and quiet flight.


Summer Forgotten

December ‘one’ has forgotten to remember
that it is the first day of summer.

Nature’s clandestine cloud-lover
has eloped with the sun’s warm river.

There shall be no supernova today;
even the hardy magpie has run away.







Ivor Steven (c) December 1st 2025

“Climbing the Stairs”, is in this week’s Coffee House Writers Magazine edition.



Hello, dear readers and followers. I write for Coffee House Writers magazine (USA) fortnightly, and my poem “Climbing the Stairs” is in this week’s edition.
To read the poem, please click the link below to visit my Coffee House Writers Magazine article.
>>https://coffeehousewriters.com/climbing-the-stairs/






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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 ©  December 2025

Eagle (a Telestitch)

“The soul has illusions as the bird has wings.” — Victor Hugo

“One Day,” when I photographed a wedge-tailed eagle gliding across a clear Victorian sky. Its silhouette stirred something ancient — a whisper of myth, a search for meaning.
This ‘Telestitch’ poem was written in response to Coffee House Writers’ monthly poetry assignment, and for the Weekly Prompts “One Day” Monthly Challenge. To visit their fabulous site, click >> Here






Eagle (a Telestitch)


The wistful wedge-tailed eagle,
Soars toward the mystical Southern Aurora,
Searching for the anomaly’s hidden beginning,
Hoping to find the missing Holy Grail.
All the horizon’s dreams dissolve into the sky’s finale.








Ivor Steven (c) November 2025

Anomaly Street, Geelong Writers Anthology/Chapbook 2025


On Wednesday evening, I attended the launch of ‘Anomaly Street’, the 2025 Geelong Writers Anthology/Chapbook. Two of my poems appear in the collection, and I was honoured to recite A Malay Kris and A Cracked Brick Wall.
The gathering was warm and welcoming, each reading revealing the diversity of voices within Geelong Writers. For me, the highlight was hearing my words resonate aloud among so many fine works. Holding my copy of Anomaly Street, I felt part of a living street of voices, distinct yet harmonising in community.

The poem is composed of comments/anecdotes I posted on some of my fellow WordPress writers’ articles from that time. In stanza order, they are.

1 – Nancy, Order Of The Snake – The Elephant’s Trunk
2 – Beth, expression. | I didn’t have my glasses on….
3 – Bart, Monday Poetry Prompt: Under the Cushions | Living Poetry
4 – Violet, Untouched by Regret | Thru Violet’s Lentz
5 – Ivor, A response to Nancy’s comment, https://ivorplumberpoet.press/2025/08/14/surprise-surprise-a-tanka/
6 – David, Breaking hours, or: Yet it flows – The Skeptic’s Kaddish 

My second poem in the Anthology





Ivor Steven (c) November 2025

Throwback Friday, Misplaced in Space


Today’s Throwback Friday poem (originally written in July 2023) is drawn from my upcoming book, Time Hears No Sound. It opens Chapter 4, The Universe: Infinity Times Infinity


Misplaced in Space


there is inner space
and there is outer space
I like to travel in both places
life is not race
my database
is my bookcase 

I am yet to embrace
the coalface
face to face
and this human race
has misplaced
the meaning of grace
and lost the paper chase
to the corporate greed of cyberspace

tonight, I’m flying down to inner-space
aboard my “Itmims” spacecraft
to find a redeemable place
inside humanities headspace

 

Itmims: Ivor’s Time Machine In Micro Space




.


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 ©  November 2025

An Aerial Pantomime


Clouds became a stage today—birds in flight performing their aerial pantomime


An Aerial Pantomime

The big black crows,
come and go as they please,
lancing through the low clouds,
like stingrays in a sandy sea.

Pretty wattlebirds are swift,
flashy, and never shy,
flaunting their showy plumes
among the naked grey clouds.

And the day’s aerial pantomime
Would not be complete
without a black-and-white minstrel show
from the troop’s majestic magpie.




“The skies sang today; this video is their chorus.”




Ivor Steven (c) November 2025

The Meadow and the Red Rose




The Meadow and the Red Rose


There’s a golden hush where field mustard sways,
spring’s quiet rebellion against the grey.

White butterflies flutter over the yellow meadow,
spreading pollen and love like a dissipating rainbow.

Morning glory unfurls a mauve lawn —
brief as breath, bold as dawn.

In time, the shepherd’s clock closes gently,
whenever the weather bells chime hourly.

Meanwhile, my front garden’s red rose sentinel
Stoically stands guard over my daily spectacle.








Ivor Steven (c) November 2025

“E” Day Tomorrow, and, Polishing Takes Time

“E” Day Tomorrow

Yes, it’s all about my new book, Time Hears No Sound. And my wonderful editor, Judy (from Jaymah Press), will be here at my home tomorrow for a meeting to review the proofreading I did of her draft copy of my manuscript. Another part of the correction process in preparing a polished manuscript before we decide to hand it over to the printers.


The image on the right is my Epilogue poem, which I added to the manuscript yesterday




Polishing Takes Time

Tomorrow the pages will breathe again,
their margins whispering corrections,
their commas waiting for release.

Around the table,
time will sit with us,
silent but attentive,
as Judy’s careful eyes
polish the echoes
into a voice that endures.

And when the pages rest,
their voices hushed in ink,
we will listen together
to the silence between words—
where time hears no sound,
yet carries every echo forward.







Ivor Steven (c) November 2025