Category: Anti-war

Forked Tongues

THIS THURSDAY AT 6:30 PM
Lowercase presents: SPEAKING IN TONGUES
At The Medusa Bar
Hello dear readers and followers, if you are in the Geelong area, come along, you are most welcome, and I will be reciting my new poem “Forked Tongues”.


Forked Tongues




War clouds cover the sun

The wind hums through dead leaves

They’re talking in tongues


Beach sand is on the run

The waves sharply rise and cry

They’re talking in tongues


Moon shadows are left undone

Their white light hides under trees

And they’re talking in tongues


The new dawn has begun

Sunrise greets everyone

But we’re talking in tongues






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:

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) February 2023

Let Us Grow (a Memento), is up at Coffee House Writers Magazine

Hello dear readers and followers, I now write for “Coffee House Writers” magazine on a fortnightly basis, and my poem “Let Us Grow (a Memento)”, is in this week’s edition of Coffee House Writers Magazine. … please click on the link below and visit my poem, at Coffee House Writers. >> https://coffeehousewriters.com/let-us-grow/



Let Us Grow (a Memento)


The flowers still stand tall and strong

After the ghastly storm

Not long

They cry, before the bees do swarm

All day they hum their song

Conform


They remain a unified team

Work together they say

Then beam

Enjoy our colourful display 

Retain us in your dreams

Always



“The Great Gates Of Kiev”, Writer(s): Greg Lake, Keith Noel Emerson
How amazingly appropriate for todays world, written in 1971

Come forth, from love’s pyre
Born in life’s fire,
Born in life’s fire
Come forth, from love’s pyre
In the burning, of our yearning
For life to be
And in pain there will (must) be gain
New Life!

Stirring in salty streams
And dark hidden seams
Where the fossil sun gleams

They were, sent from (to) the gates
Ride the tides of fate
Ride the tides of fate
They were, sent from (to) the gates
In the burning of our yearning
For life to be





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:

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) February 2023

Birds on Wires 




Birds on Wires 


Weary gray clouds 

Lay anchored in the sky 

Moist air hangs breathless 

Not a wisp to disperse the flies 

An anxious sweaty dampness

Clings to everything 


Birds on wires sit motionless 

Waiting for a thermal updraft 

To lift spirits beyond this world of smallness

Where greed and wars seem senseless

And remain the leader’s primary craft 







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:

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) January 2023

Please Let Them Grow (a Tanka)





Please Let Them Grow (a Tanka)




Ravages of war

Shall not weary their progress

United they stand

Strong and resilient they grow

Let the earth be their witness






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:

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) January 2023

The World’s Fractured Mirror 

On Weekly Prompts, the Weekend Challenge is the word; BEND. Please go over and visit their fabulous site by clicking on >> Here . The poem below does have the word ‘Bend’ in it, and that’ll be close enough for me …
Featured Image: Another marvelous photo by, Derrick Knight >> https://derrickjknight.com


The World’s Fractured Mirror 

 
 
At the close of day 

Sunset’s empty Amphitheatre  

Descends across a bend in the twilight zone 

And semidarkness 

Oppresses the horizon’s  

Endangered vanishing point 


What loiters beyond 

The skylines diminishing aurora? 

Will the night-fires of war 

Continue to be entrapped 

For ever and ever, inside 

The world’s fractured mirror 





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:

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) January 2023

An Unseeded Renewal (a Tanka)





An Unseeded Renewal (a Tanka)




Sunflowers of peace

We have not forgotten you

The war has not stopped

Killing fields are still on fire

Young stems need help to survive







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:

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) January 2023

A Sad Winter Flame (A Tanka)

In May this year, I attended an Ekphrastic Poetry Workshop at the Foundry Studio & Gallery. Today’s Poem/Tanka is another piece I wrote from that day, and which I have not posted on my site before now.
Featured Image Above: My photograph of, Lee McGrath’s fascinating painting, “Winter Flame Tree” (Acrylic on canvas)



A Sad Winter Flame (a Tanka)


Dismayed, how to stop

Leaning against the hard rain

Unseasonal pain

Sodden, a sad winter flame

Downtrodden, a stained Ukraine







Ivor Steven (c) November 2022

A Crescendo For Peace

The weather is wet and windy here in Ballarat, but that does’t matter. I’m resting, relaxing, and enjoying the break. Today’s poem is from June 2019.
Featured Image above; Street art on a building next door to the ‘Analogue Academy’, where my book launch was held on Saturday.

A Crescendo For Peace


Sounds of music, ring in my mind

Our hearts beat, to a slow drum

My soul hears the rhythm of life

I see angels playing a harp’s serenade

In harmony with the royal string quartet

Grand orchestra’s loudly join in

And choirs of the world are singing our song

Together, chiming the peace-bells of our time

Creating a crescendo of music, ringing in my mind








Ivor Steven (c) October 2022