Throwback Friday, The Faeries of Fry’s Lane, by Ivor Steven

Here is a copy of my article I posted on “Go Dog Go Cafe” this morning,
>> http://godoggocafe.com/2022/12/15/throwback-friday-the-faeries-of-frys-lane-by-ivor-steven/

A poem I wrote in May 2020 and now is published in my book “Perceptions”, page 3, prompted by Derrick Knight’s Featured Photo Above: ‘Hedgerow faeries along Fry’s Lane’ >> https://derrickjknight.com/2020/05/21/hedgerow-fairies/




The Faeries of Fry’s Lane




Walking down Fry’s Lane

Sheltering from the misty rain

I did spy among the hedgerow berries

A Frolic of mystical faeries

Like iridescent glowing canaries

A fluttering of night-time luminaries

Trying not to disturb their magical home

I quietly asked them, “Areyouallalone”

The faeries laughed and danced

They replied, “Your visionisby perchance

and your dreams may turn to stone

if you wish for a golden throne”

Suddenly the glittering sands of time

Illuminating the faeries wings of rhyme

Begun vanishing from their falling stars

And the faeries quickly flew back to their green Avatar







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) December 2022

I Am Going To Die

Featured Image Above; ‘Waiting for Rainfall – Winton Wetlands, a painting by Geelong Artist/Poet, Jo Curtain, and the image was this weeks Geelong Writers Inc. Ekphrastic Photo Prompt, that subsequently inspired my ‘morbid’ poem below

I Am Going to Die




I am a fish out of water

Writhing and flopping

In this polluted puddle

Splosh!

Another toxic garbage bag

Squelches by

How did I ever survive

Here, in the wetland’s stagnant cesspools


Now, my rotting sun-burnt scales

Are covered in flies

Swarming!

The flies are sticking to my eyes

Maggots are clogging my gills

I cannot breathe


I hear Mother calling

“There is no need to cry

It’s your time to die”

Splosh!

The hovering vultures

Have begun swooping







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) December 2022

Standing On the Edge of Time

December is here and the final monthly colour challenge for 2022 at Weekly Prompts is – Pinkish. Please go over and visit their fabulous by clicking >> HERE

Featured Image Above; ‘Weird/Wonderful’, a painting by Geelong Artist Wendy Ratawa, which was this weeks Geelong Writers Inc. Ekphrastic Photo Prompt, that subsequently inspired my colourful poem.

Standing On the Edge of Time


Am I dreaming

Sprawled across Saturn’s rainbow rings

Wishing

I was there

On the edge of Jupiter’s

Multicoloured volcanoes

Observing the chromatic universe

Through my kaleidoscopic eyes


I am here

Standing on the edge of time

Above Tower Hill’s dormant crater

Overlooking a picturesque valley

Of blue lakes and

Multicoloured forests









Tullawalla is Available From;

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

Ivor Steven: email, ivorrs20@gmail.com

Amazon: search via, ‘Tullawalla by Ivor Steven’



Ivor Steven (c) December 2022

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

The Closing Chapter

On Saturday morning I visited the the local “Pop Up Creatives Market”. The artwork at the “Wild Woodland Warrior” stall, run by Stephanie had many excellent paintings, and I bought a intriguing print “Library of Possibilities” … we had a nice chat, she likes poetry and we had a mutual poet friend in Jeremy Palmer … and she has an exhibition running at the momont at the Analogue Academy, the venue of my book launch next Saturday November 22nd … My poem below, “The Closing Chapter” was inspired her painting in Featured Image Above





The Closing Chapter




After the first page was turned

The saga progressed slowly

Unopened books were lost

Unused words were found

New novels had to be read

The search for more

Went on, and on


Adventure volumes were added

Library expansion soared upwards

Higher than fiction could fly

Fluttering beyond

The ladder’s last rung

Where the quest for more

Was out of reach

And the tale of uncharted possibility

Remained the unfinished story

Of the closing chapter






Ivor Steven (c) October 2022


NOW … REiMAGINE, Ekphrastic Poetry At The Foundry Studio & Gallery

The Geelong Writers Inc produced this excellent Chapbook from the Ekphrastic workshop that I attended only Three weeks ago, and a big thank you goes to our President, Guenter Sahr, and our hard working Editor, Victoria Spicer …

The Chapbook is available at only $5 via Geelong Writers Inc >> https://www.facebook.com/geelongwritersvic/


And below are my two poems that were published in the Chapbook








Ivor Steven (c) June 2022

Worldly Smirk (a Tanka)

The Ekphrastic poetry workshop I attended on Wednesday was an inspiring event, and here I have written a tanka about a clay figurine as depicted in my Featured Image above.

Worldly Smirk (a Tanka)




I do not know you

But your glassy eyes know me

Why that worldly smirk

I have a million questions

Do you have all the answers






Ivor Steven (c) May 2022

A Banner Of Sunflowers

Continuing on from yesterday’s Ekphrastic poetry workshop, here is my poetic response to Shirley Drayton’s creative piece of textile artwork “Golden Sunflowers”

A Banner Of Sunflowers


look!

up there

above the War’s

darkest clouds

there is a blue banner

embroided with sunflowers

swaying

through a hole

in the eastern sky


bearing a message

of ‘Hello’

or is it ‘Goodbye’?

a sweeping reminder

from our Ancestors

we feel your suffering and pain

from the merciless hard rain

blood filled rivers and cratered plains

smoke filled skylines and cracked windowpanes”


however, we also know

beyond the broken horizon

the sunflower seeds of hope

will germinate again

and future seeds for peace

will regenerate a new campaign






Ivor Steven (c) May 2022