Either Way

On Weekly Prompts, the Weekend Challenge isFork In The Road , please go over and visit their fabulous site by clincking >> Here . The poem “Either Way” below is my response to their prompt

Either Way


At this point in time

Do you feel we have lost our way?

Our spinning world of rhyme

Is one big rotting orb of grime


Our life’s a journey

A climb up into the light

Or a fall into Hades

Either way, over time

Has existence become jaded?


We wait for a calming serenade

From above dark clouds full of pain

Us mere mortals need a different space

If our dreams are to ascend beyond this place





Ivor Steven (c) November 2021

Mad-hatters, No Matter the Season

On “Weekly Prompts” the Wednesday Challenge is, AUTUMN MAGIC. Please go and visit their fabulous site by clicking >> Here and the below poem is my response to their ‘prompt’ ..

Mad-hatters, No Matter the Season


The latter of matter

Did not scale the ladder

The origin of matter 

Is in our hearts pitter-patter


Matter is neither flatter nor fatter 

“What does it matter 

If we are all mad-hatters”?


We are but leaves and twigs of the ground 

Awaiting nature’s beckoning sounds





Ivor Steven (c) Sept 2021

Where to Now?

Eugi’s Weekly Prompt – “Connector” – September 23, 2021, click on the link to visit her fabulous site . >> https://amanpan.com/2021/09/23/eugis-weekly-prompt-connector-sept-23-2021/




Where to Now?


Where do they hide? 

When the sea is at full-tide


What lays beyond the sand?

In foreign hands on distant lands 


Their long windy road is untraveled 

With trials of fear yet to be unravelled





Ivor Steven (c) Sept 2021

His New Sanctuary is Luxury

The Weekend Challenge from Weekly Prompts is: Sanctuary. Please go over and visit their fabulous site by clicking >> Here . and the poem below is my response to their prompt …

His New Sanctuary is Luxury


Sometimes in life

Just when it’s right

There’s that moment

And tonight’s that moment

Sometimes we are lucky

Against all the odds

There’s that fortunate time

I am ecstatic and feeling blessed


Gratefully thankful

I write these words on today’s Newspaper

Reading tomorrow’s weather forecast

Happiness is here

Here right beside me

Under my verandah roof

Comfy and relaxed

Frankie love’s his new sanctuary



Ivor Steven (c) August 2021

Violets and a Purple Cyclamen


This Saturday the Weekend Challenge from ‘Weekly Prompts’ is March’s colour,  Purple. Please go over and visit their fabulous site by clicking >> Here. My photos and the below poem is my response to their ‘Monthly Colour Challenge’.



Violets and a Purple Cyclamen



My morning courtyard is aglow

Below the garden’s colourful shadows

Of a newly blooming purple cyclamen

And the forever flowering bougainvillea


They are my sentinels for her hanging basket

Our wedding flower of Drooping Violets

Casting forever memories upon my writing booklet





Ivor Steven (c) March 2021

A Beautiful Red Flower

This week’s Wednesday Challenge, on Weekly Prompts is the word BEAUTIFUL. Please go over and visit their fabulous site by clicking >> Here. Below is my beautiful response to the prompt…



A Beautiful Red Flower


Auburn was her hair

A ruby Day-lily

A red flame Begonia

Crimson and warm


Auburn was her hair

A scarlet Geranium

A maroon Bougainvillea

A soft vermilion art form





Ivor Steven (c) March 2021

Sorry! We Caught The Wrong Bus

I was catching a bus home this afternoon, as per normal, after my walk down Pakington St. However, mistakenly I caught the wrong bus !! I looked up, and I did not see the sign. In the long process of hopping on a couple of different buses, I eventually found my way home. During my time of the extra bus trips, I came up with the words of this poem.

Sorry! We Caught The Wrong Bus

Is this the air I breathe?

A misty haze out in front of me

Is this the sky I see?

A big smoggy Vee

High in the mountain plains, flowerless, without bees

Miles of burnt-out wasteland and no trees

Beyond the eroded soils, there’s the earth’s oceans

Mercury settled deep, with a topping of dead fish by the millions

Is this black bitumen I walk on?

Long oily tar rolled out by the ton

Is this real water I drink?

Manufactured I sip. On my knees I do sink!

Mother nature. “Please forgive us!”

We did not know. “Sorry! We caught the wrong bus.”



Today’s poem is in response to Weekly Prompts, and their Wednesday Challenge, which is: Bus Riding! Please go over and visit their fabulous site by clicking > Here.




Ivor Steven (c) December 2020

Ribbons and Buttons


Over on Weekly Prompts, the Wednesday Challenge is Button Jars. Please go over and visit their fabulous site by clicking >> Here. And the poem below is my response to the prompt.


Ribbons and Buttons



Reclining in my verandah chair

I notice my blue shirt needs repair

And I search for her sewing box of needles and cotton

Looking for a few shiny buttons

There between memories of pink and white ribbons

In a basket full of trinkets, not to be forgotten



Here inside my private cube

I’m a cool Mr Fix-it dude

Or so I was secretly told

By a girl who came in from the cold

Her greeting did warm my soul



Me, a lonesome old stray

Smiled, and come what may

I proudly donned the blue shirt for today




Ivor Steven (c) Sept 2020

Below the Surface

This Saturday the Weekend Challenge from ‘Weekly Prompts’ is The Face. Please go and visit their fabulous site by clicking >> https://weeklyprompts.com/2020/09/19/weekend-challenge-the-face/ .. And the below is my response to this weeks prompt.




Below the Surface

I’ve had thorns under my feet

And a rose between my teeth



I’m on a voyage to somewhere, and beyond

And the false façade goes on and on

Left follows right, one of us cannot be wrong

The Small Faces are singing the same old song

And the winter snake-skins have all gone

Lets face it, will I ever truly belong?



The mysterious journey never ends

Until that inevitable finale bend

George said it’s “A long and winding road”

And I’ll face life’s hard curves, unbowed




Above Artwork:  By Kerri Costello, Graphic Design Artist, my beautiful niece/second cousin, who lives in Philadelphia, she’s so very talented, and a very special person in my life, thank you Kerri.



Ivor Steven (c) Sept 2020.

Yellow Light

“How wonderful the colour yellow is. It stands for the sun!” – Vincent Van Gogh.

This weekend is the Monthly Colour Challenge for August, and the ‘Weekly Prompt’ team have chosen;  Sunshine Yellow.  Please go and visit their fabulous site by clicking > Here Below; is my response to the prompt, with attached photos and a Haiku

 

Yellow Light,  a Haiku

 

Today the sky smiled

Above golden setting sun

And the moon did shine

 

 

Ivor Steven (c)  August 2020