Throwback Friday, A Forever Coat (Revised)

Hi dear readers, unfortunately, I have tested “Positive” with ‘Covid’ … and will be resting up for a few weeks

A Forever Coat (Revised) 

Her favourite coat still hangs in my wardrobe 

Every time I open the robe’s door 

I inherently see her family heirloom 

A gift that was handed down from her grandmother 

However, a gift she was not able to wear after her sickness began 

Not once, over the next thirty years of her failing frailty


 

Sadly the declining illness brought about her finality

And nostalgically I held onto her favourite coat  

I knew! We all knew. She was amazing

However, she is not going to mystically reappear

And the coat’s warmth will never again cover her gentle shoulders

Consciously I am not sure, why the coat remains 

I have tried to give the coat away 

To a deserving charity, and even a local actor’s group 

Fortuitously her coat has not been accepted 

Here in the wardrobe, the glorious fur coat stays 

Along with the other trinkets of her forever spirit 

Ivor Steven (c) May 2023

Happy Birthday Mom

Mom’s birthday and Carole’s birthday were not far apart, and appropriately they enjoyed a very close relationship …
Today is my mother’s birthday, and next Sunday is Mothersday, and coincidently, today was also Carole’s funeral day … Here is my tribute to those 2 magnificent women in my life…

My Women

After I had left the hem

Without women

I could not have survived my time

I would not have braved the climb

Ladies you were my rhyme

My mothers of thyme

Helping me roll away the stone

Maintaining these old bones

Repairing the bridges, I had burnt

Reciting the messages, I had learnt

Cheering from the sidelines

Supporting my broken designs

Women of my rhymes

Mothers for a lifetime

Ivor Steven (c) May 9th 2023

Unforgettable

Yesterday

Was one of those days

At lunchtime

I went to the Box Office Cafe

I forgot

And left without paying

For my coffee and cake

In the afternoon

I had a doctor’s appointment

I forgot

And left without paying

For the Fee at reception

After Dinner

I caught a bus into town

I forgot

That the ‘open mic’ night

Occurs on the second Thursday of each month

This morning

I watch the sunshine

Flickering on her handmade curtains

I remember

And I relight her candle again

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/

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) May 2023

Throwback Friday, Today’s Fragments (Revised)

Today’s ‘Throwback Friday’ poem is from my remembrance week a year ago

“Below; I have formed one poem out of four Senryu that I wrote this morning, and I have many fractured thoughts within my soul, a decade after Carole’s passing on May 3rd 2012 at 1.15pm …“

Today’s Fragments (Revised)
(A four Senryu poem)


I am who I am
I can’t be another man 
She’s my hologram

I sat beside her 
Next to yesterday’s campfire 
Embers in the wind 

A red flame flickers 
Above her celestial star 
My eternal light  

On my island home 
Sea mist falls across my arms
Completion awaits 

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/

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) May 2023

Here I Am, Eleven Years On

Today, May 3rd, is the eleventh Anniversary of Carole’s passing

Here I Am, Eleven Years On 

here I am shuffling on 

the same old yellow brick road 

that I wandered on eleven years ago 

here I am running from 

the same old dark storm 

that I escaped from eleven years ago 

here I am blushing under  

the same old halfmoon 

that I sheltered under eleven years ago 

here I am dreaming about 

the same old red head 

that I dreamed about eleven years ago 

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/

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) May 3rd 2023

The Other Side of Yesterday

The Other Side of Yesterday

 

“Have I come to the end of the road”

I asked the forest’s guardian toad

He quietly replied

“There is always another way

like there is always another day”

 

Here, is not where I need to stay

I would like to cross the river today

To redefine the other side of yesterday

When life’s narrow causeway

Lead me to her underground doorway

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/

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) April 2023

Throwback Friday, A Box of Old Crayons, by Ivor Steven

A poem I originally wrote in March 2021 and was Short-listed by Postive Words Magazine in their October 2022 Competition.

A Box of Old Crayons

Sometimes I stare at an empty table

And wonder if I would ever be able

To turn the fading power back on

I was unsure about another swansong

But each time I became lost and wrong

I found another box of old crayons

And from here and there, words did flow

Nurturing my dry mirages to regrow

Replenished by the thawing mountain snow

Nature’s river rejoined my ocean’s undertow

Again, colouring in my life of highs and lows

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/

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) April 2023

Hello Mate

“When your father’s name is etched in stone It is never as indelible As the etching in your heart” … Colleen Brown

Hello Mate

Happy birthday mate

No, I’m not late

I would have got that stare otherwise

No, never a cross word from your eyes

Everyday, the gentle guy

Yes dad, you were our sunrise

Kindness, compassion, a heart oversized

Yes dad, always by our sides

Everyday, you earned a Nobel prize

Yes dad, always love in your eyes

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 5th 2023

Embedded

No more highs and lows

Nor ups and downs

The rollercoaster wheels

Have sadly departed

From their weary axles

And the embedded tracks

Now rest underneath

Dried leaves and fallen branches

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

Throwback Friday, Time In A Turbulent Sea, by Ivor Steven

JANUARY 20, 2023  >> https://godoggocafe.com/2023/01/20/throwback-friday-time-in-a-turbulent-sea-by-ivor-steven/

A poem I wrote in early February 2019, while recovering from my third stroke. I have slightly revised a few words, and altered the title – originally “Time and the Sea”



Time In A Turbulent Sea

My time, weeks, days, and hours have gone

My time, between one procedure and the next

Time to explore this healing castle

Time to write about realities and dreams

Time to chat to eager listeners

Time to observe the people living within

Time to think about the world’s problems

Time to visualise pictures of tomorrow

I am not a patient in his bed

I am free-standing and waiting instead

I am a walking and talking local poet

I am not allowed to vacate the site

They want me near, to study my plight

They want me here, to secure my bed

They need me near, to look into my mind

They need me here, so I am easy to find

Solstafir – Midaftann, Translated Lyrics

Mid-Evening

Now I have come home

After a journey on the deep seas.

The wave was so high,

The saltiness ate everything up.

I drowned in a black hole,

I pulled at the hand of death.

So high, it was so high,

And the moon lighted a path, yes the moon high in the sky,

And the moon lighted a path, yes the moon lighted a path.

So high, so high, wave of the sins, wave of the sins.

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