Over at Weekly Prompts the Weekend Challenge is the word: Key. You can visit their fabulous site by clicking on >> Here
I Found the Key in Shanghai
Will this be the key?
To my writer’s beehive
I am excited
Expectations are high
I am nervous
An unknown poetry guy
I am fully prepared
The tummy is full of humble pie
I am almost ready
Do I wear a black tie?
Or jeans, and a Leonard Cohen T-shirt
That I found in Shanghai
Ivor Steven (c) January 2024
I am ecstatic that my poem “A Poet’s Grotto”, has been accepted and published in Spillwords Magazine today, and I am very grateful to the editor, Dagmara for selecting my piece … Please go over and visit my poem at Spillwords and if you wish, leave a “💖” for my article, by clicking on this link >> A Poet’s grotto, poetry by Ivor Steven at Spillwords.com
Please Note: featured image above, supplied by Spillwords Press
A 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
Uncategorised and full of self-doubt
My desk, once a 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
It is time to cull the pretentious cosmic curses
Free myself of all unpublished jabberwocky
And let my imagination create a new poetic hard copy
Ivor Steven (c) January 2024
Hello dear readers and followers, the Coffee House Writers Magazine had a 2 week break for the holiday season, but we are back, and I am again writing for “Coffee House Writers” magazine on a fortnightly basis, and my poem “The Unreachable Horizon”, is in this week’s edition of Coffee House Writers Magazine. …
To Read my poem, please click on the link below to visit the article, at Coffee House Writers Magazine.
>> The Unreachable Horizon – Coffee House Writers
Music Video: Poets of the Fall, “Beyond The Horizon
Ivor Steven (c) January 2024
Great News. Yesterday I received an acceptance for my submission to Cadence: Life’s Poetic Rhythms, an upcoming anthology (for Spring 2024), from Prolific Pulse Press.
They’re open to “more submissions” until the 31st of January, so I encourage all my poet friends to offer the Editor, Lisa, some joyful poetry. Details via this link >> https://www.prolificpulse.com/
Featured Image Above: A photo collage of my “Flowers in the Sky”
Ivor Steven (c) January 2024
A poem I wrote in response to Derrick Knight’s article about “Clearing Up After Storm Gerrit” >> https://derrickjknight.com/2024/01/03/clearing-up-after-storm-gerrit/
Please Note: All photos in my post today were originally taken by Derrick Knight, and I have ‘cropped’ the ones below to fit my article
Stalking the Wards (a Tanka)
After the wild storm
Nature wears her old matron’s
Reigning uniform
Staying to stalk the ward’s lawns
And nurse flora back to norm
Ivor Steven (c) January 2024
Shadowed Ground
I look up and wonder why
The moon is fearfully hiding
In the fading twilight sky
As he forlornly looks down
Upon our shadowed ground
Knowing our King of Peace
Wears a shrouded crown
Dauðalogn Translation: “Calm of death”
Ivor Steven (c) January 2024
A Summer Storm at the Cafe
The second day of the year
And our volatile summer is here
Things remain the same in our sphere
The morning was sunny and warm
But the day soon transforms
And the afternoon’s dark storm clouds
Were our thunderous shrouds
Frankie cuddles up near
As Thor’s hammer rings loud and clear
Video Below, Sigur Ros, performing a 3 minute section of their song “Von”, (which means “Hope”)
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/
OR: email me directly for a signed copy – ivorrs20@gmail.com
Ivor Steven (c) January 2024
As The Sun Sinks Down
The New Year’s Eve sun
Is perpetually the finale one
Sadly
The golden eye sinks down
Upon our war-torn towns
Sadly
Carrying a worried and worn-out frown
From dressing over the world’s
Shredded wedding gowns
And wondering which old clown
Will wear tomorrow’s battered crown
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/
OR: email me directly for a signed copy – ivorrs20@gmail.com
Ivor Steven (c) January 2024
The New Year is Here, or, Growing Up Too Early (a Tanka)
“What’s the right season”
The small summer mushroom asks
“Am I too early
Ouch, this midday sun is hot
I need autumn’s cooling clouds”
Vaka, English translation; day before, evening before, eve
Ivor Steven (c) January 1st, 2024
The Summer Book Fair will showcase Indie Authors from across Victoria and help you find new favourite Authors. FREE entry to all visitors. And I will be one of the “Indie Authors” at the Book Fair
14 Jan 2024, 9:00 am – 1:00 pm
Community Hall, Barwon Heads, 77 Hitchcock Ave, Barwon Heads VIC 3227, Australia
The Book Reality Experience presents the Barwon Heads Indie Author Book Fair, which celebrates stories from children’s books through to horror, sci-fi, fantasy and every genre in between. We can’t wait to welcome you to this one-day event filled with Author Exhibits, readings and the opportunity to talk directly with independently published authors… some of whom will become your new favourites. FREE entry to all visitors.
Click here to learn more about the authors in attendance.
Ivor.Plumber/Poet 