Category: Nature

Sunflower Seeds (a Tanka)

Over at Weekly Prompts, the monthly Colour Challenge for May is:  Mellow Yellow. Please go and visit their fabulous site by clicking >> Here . Below is my “Tanka” response to their ‘Colour Prompt’ ..



Sunflower Seeds (a Tanka)



Blue skies were mellow

Fields were peaceful and yellow

Sunflowers grew free

Then foreign tanks squashed their seeds

On tomorrow’s scarred harrows






Ivor Steven (c) May 2022

Life is a Bowl of Fudge, is up at Coffee House Writers Magazine

Hello dear readers and followers, as you may know, I now write for “Coffee House Writers” magazine on a fortnightly basis, and my poem “Life is a Bowl of Fudge”, is in this weeks edition of Coffee House Writers Magazine. … please click on the link below and visit my poem, at Coffee House Writers >> https://coffeehousewriters.com/life-is-a-bowl-of-fudge/



Life is a Bowl of Fudge



Upside Down
Hanging around upside down
Gives you a top view of the ground
Reverses the annoying busy sounds
Lets us think of life’s endless bounds
Day And Night
There’s dark, then light
Like there’s day and night
Sunrise and sunset
Like there’s life and regrets
Life ebbs and flows
Life comes and goes
There’s reality, then dreams
Life’s mixture of honey and cream
Sticky and sweet
Like nature’s silver-beat
Lazy Bones
Cordless phones
Garden gnomes
Overhead drones
Windowless homes
Creaks and moans
Lazy bones
Judge 
I am neither a judge
Nor a dealer in sludge
I would rather eat some fudge
And give my side of life a nudge






Ivor Steven (c) May 3rd 2022

Beyond Crickets And Mushrooms




Autumn has been dry and warm

And the earth remains cracked

Providing cosy homes for the field critters

The brown crickets are thriving

And hopping along shared tracks

Innocently dancing there

Beyond the murdering arms of war


Mushrooms are sprouting on the verges

Stoically poised on stumpy stems

Under sheltering white caps

Nature’s nutritional ground fruit

Innocently standing there

Beyond the murdering arms of war






Ivor Steven (c) April 2022

A Universe Above The Sky

Walking in the rain

Wearing water-logged boots

I am dodging millipedes

And hopping over puddles

With the footpath crickets


I see a universe above the sky

As the liquid clouds

Drop their weight

Upon my empty hands

Filling them with verses

Of memories and rhymes






Ivor Steven (c) April 2022

Eleven Shades of Ocean Sunrises

My Pacific cruise was coming to an end in April 2018 and this was the last poem that I wrote during my cruise, as I recalled photographing the “Eleven Sunrises” of the cruise.

Eleven Shades of Ocean Sunrises


the ocean’s sunrise

my daily prize

evoked my gaze

like a glitzy floor-dance

Mother natures

star performer

her razzle and dazzle

upon morning sea drizzle

reflections of colour

her horizon of vigour

purity defined

a royal skyline

endless over time

eleven days she was mine






Originally posted by Ivor Steven (c) April 2018

Sharpen Those Pencils

“As a poet, sometimes we confuse ourselves, Trying to create ashes, instead of fire ” – Loenard Cohen

I wrote this poem for “Go Dog Go Cafe’s , Make It Happen Thursday”, please go over and visit our fabulous site by clicking >> Here http://godoggocafe.com/2022/03/24/make-it-happen-thursday-8/



Sharpen Those Pencils


I like to write with a HB lead pencil
I enjoy the earthy feel of wood in my fingers
And the soft touch of carbon upon paper

During sharpening time, my mind ponders
About the origins of those timber shavings
And the history behind the carbon slithers
These tiny trival objects all evoke thoughts
Then the thoughts instigate words in my mind
And simply like that, my writing process begins

I never retire without my note-pad nearby
And a lead pencil as my trusty writing scribe
Sometimes heavy, other times light
A necessary sword to fight off a dark night






Ivor Steven (c) March 2022

We Do Not Need Darker Skies




Wandering over shadowless ground

Did you notice too?

The clouds loomed darker this morning

And their bleakness was edging closer

Have they lost their way too?



Did you notice?

The birds sounded sadder this morning

They were not singing their awakening tunes

Actually! Where have all the birds gone

Have they fled from home too?






Ivor Steven (c) March 2022

Innocent Millipedes




Please Mr Shootin’ Putin

Do not roll your tanks of destruction

Over the innocent Mr & Mrs Millipede

Millipedes were the earliest animals to breathe air

And make the move from water to land

They date back 428 million years

Now people of the world cannot hold back their tears


Did you know Mr Shootin’ Putin

That Millipedes are fairly timid critters

Docile decomposers that live in the leaf litter

Of forests all over the world!

They aren’t flashy or fast

And they follow the motto

“Slow and steady wins the race”

Millipedes are peaceful

They don’t bite

They can’t sting

And they don’t have pincers to fight back




Please Mr Shootin’ Putin

Do not roll your tanks of destruction

Over the innocence of creation






Ivor Steven (c) March 2022