Tag: Lifestyle

Who’s Left to Row the Boat, (Tullawalla, page 37 )


Tullawalla is now available at Amazon
>> https://www.amazon.com/Tullawalla-Meeting-Memories-Australian-Languages/dp/0645377023/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2NUSUI90AWK6&keywords=Tullawalla&qid=1663851584&s=books&sprefix=tullawalla%2Cstripbooks-intl-ship%2C301&sr=1-2




Who’s Left to Row the Boat
… This week it is 22 years since I suffered my first stroke …


The storms are too many to count

Emotional lows had weathered me out

Her journey with MS was a struggle

How much lower could our lives sink


After fourteen years of our battles, I suffered a Stroke

An ambulance came, my brain was in a boat

Floating out to sea, overboard and panic-stricken

I wasn’t swimming, barely awake, and drifting

I had fallen, nothing was working, and not talking

She’s crying, I’m sobbing, my heart is dying

And who’s left to row the boat, I’m thinking

I was jabbed with a needle and silently sleeping


I awoke a day later, in hospital, feeling wasted

My face was limp, mouth parched, was that death I tasted

My mind was active, I thought, where is she

I knew I was bad; the room was all blurry to me

Strong anxieties had set in, I needed to know

Nurses came to me, I pleaded, I wanted to go

“Help me to see her, just give my bed a tow

Please let me go, before I’m covered in snow”






Ivor Steven (c) September 2022

Who’s Rowing My Boat in the Dark?

I’m reposting this poem of mine from August 2020, for two reasons. 1. The poem gives me a chance to present one of my favourite songs by Leonard Cohen. 2. I like this poem, because the piece is open for the reader to interpret my thoughts images in whatever way their feel is right for them.

Who’s Rowing My Boat in the Dark?


Am I in hibernation?

Or am I lacking inclination?

Am I awake and living?

Or just lying here dreaming?

Why do I dream so much?

Visions feel alive to touch

Half-awake, I scribble these notes

Half asleep, am I falsely afloat?

On my mystical Noah’s Ark

Have I the right to ask?

Who’s rowing my boat in the dark?

Is it Her, my brave Joan of Ark?



Hot Cross Buns and Chocolates

Hello readers and followers, the poem I am reposting today is an ”Alphabet” poem that I wrote in April 2019, two days before I left to fly to NewYork, on my way to visiting my Philadelphia cousins, who I had never met, and of course I was also to meet my favourite niece and penpal “Kerri” for the “First” time … So, I thought I would try to write my “First” every Alphabet Poem, to celebrate my “First” every trip to New York and Philadelphia …




Hot Cross Buns and Chocolates


America, here I come, ready or not

Beyond my bed-zoned borders

Chasing those forgotten horizons

Dreams are finally blossoming

Easter treats are tucked in my pockets

Fancy editions of my poems, are packed in the case

Giant airports and planes abound

Hot cross buns, and more chocolates are eaten

Inspiring my week’s holiday mood

Jet engines soaring aloft

Kidnapping me by default

Lawyers left floundering

My medical records lost in transit

Naughty nightingales, again covering for me

Opening my doorways, to the promised land

Passing high above the melody, at heaven’s archway

Quarantine played, Leonard’s Tower Of Song

Rumblings, I hear from a distant Bensalem yard

Spiritual chants, from my family circle

Telepathic messages, humming on a magic carpet ride

Unbroken my promise, now to be honoured

Vikings and villains to be avoided

Weapons disguised, under the statues torch of liberty

Xylophones I hear, playing on the streets of New York

Young ladies are dancing to my tune, Hallelujah

Zero-ground, salutes me there, staying upside down






Ivor Steven (c) May 2022

Back On The Tools

Sorry reader and followers for my lack of blogging today (and tomorrow) … The old poet traded his quill in this morning (and again tomorrow), for his old rusty spanner and diirty hammer ..




Back On The Tools. (adapted from “An Old-time Plumber”)


Could I actually do the task?

Am I physically strong enough?

Am I mentally sharp and stable enough?

To endure two days of hard work?


Surprise, surprise, I survived day one

Job nearly completed and clients suitably pleased

And I am home enjoying a red wine

Although when I finished it was almost dark

And my back was stiff as red-gum bark

But a job stamped by my old-time quality trademark



Horses, Lizards, and Hummingbird Cake




Horses, Lizards, and Hummingbird Cake


Dreaming

With eyes wide open

I rejoice

Beyond, earth, sky,

Moon, sun, and stars


Here today

With eyes open wider

I rejoice

In my surroundings

Dogs, horses,

Lizards, and birds


With eyes smiling

I rejoice

In life’s foolish moments

Chocolates, coffee,

And a hummingbird cake






Ivor Steven (c) May 4th 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