Clouds Are Down

Today I am reposting a poem from July 2020. The day has become very wet and “cool” this afternoon, and coincidently the Wednesday Challenge from Weekly Prompts is the wordCOOL. Please go and visit their fabulous site by clicking on >>
Here



Clouds Are Down




Coldness hovers in foggy grey air

The sun’s dirty eye-wear

Icy winter ground

A crunchy grass sound

Blue skies await, clouds are down

There’s hope above, in her golden crown






Hafsol (Sun of the sea), Rigur Ros, lyrics in English.

Sun of the sea

Behind a cloudburst,
the sun awakens from hibernation
Cools off with the cold drops of rain
Plays with the hot flames of fire
Creates a rainbow talking on the arm,
talking on Behind a cloudburst,
the sun awakens from hibernation
Cools off with the cold drops of rain
Playing with my name I would like to look for
Creates a rainbow



Ivor Steven (c) June 2023

Eventide

Hi dear readers and followers, after several setbacks, I have resumed working on writing my third book of poems. Since I published “Tullawalla” and “Perceptions”, I was surprised to discover that I had written over 700 more poems after those 2 ‘manuscripts’ were completed … From these 700 poems I have selected “208” pieces to be considered for entry into my new manuscript. Now! the difficult process of culling the list down to a reasonable number begins …


Eventide 


I looked beyond the afternoon sky 

And shyly asked the sun to guide my eye 

“What is the average number of pages in a book of poetry? 

How many poems should there be in my book of artistry? 


Then projecting out of the blue sky 

The bewildered sun winked into my eye 

And knowingly replied 

“Brush all your self doubts aside 

and let your soul flow with the moon’s eventide” 








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) June 2023

Bird on a Ladder





Bird on a Ladder


 
 
I am a blackbird on a circus ladder 

Singing about how the world is feeling sadder 

Or should I sing, “becoming madder” 


Here on the last rung, I stand 

Below, I see a treeless land 

Above, I hear a breathless sky 

After the show, I untangle my necktie 

And I ask you why 

“Does it matter, when I leap, what route do I fly?”  








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

Swans Gliding By

The weekend monthly Colour Challenge, at Weekly Prompts is: Blues! Please go and visit their fabulous site by clicking on >> Here … My poem below mentions ‘Blue’




Swans Gliding By




The showy morning clouds

Are my gregarious pantomime


Their grey fluffy curves

Dance across the sky’s blue stage

Like Ballerina Swans

Gracefully gliding by








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

Lines To Nowhere, is up at Spillwords Magazine

I am ecstatic that my poem “Lines To Nowhere”, has been accepted and published in Spillwords Magazine today, and I am very grateful to the editor Dagmara for selecting my piece … Please go over and visit my poem at Spillwords and if you wish, leave a 💗 for my article, by clicking on this link >>









Ivor Steven (c) June 2nd 2023

Words Are Free


 “Dear Reader, beware. You think you’re reading my poems, but in truth, they are reading you. My words are mirrors and windows. Your reaction is merely a reflection of your own nature and experiences.” — John Mark Green



A Ten-Word Poem (Words Are Free)

A bewitched heart 

Savagely eaten by vultures 

Cannot be restitched  




FREE, a PDF Copy of my poetry booklet; Shangri La, Volume 2. The Other Side of Yesterday
Click >> HERE






Ivor Steven (c) June 2023

Shangri La, Volume 2. The Other Side of Yesterday

FREE PDF COPY >>> Links Below

Hello, dear readers and followers, as you might know I stopped producing my “Tullawalla Booklets” at # 31, because that was the house number of our family’s Tullawalla Homestead.
But the booklet formats are a superb way for me to catalogue the vast number of poems that I produce and as the saying goes “I Am Turning Another Page”. Here I have begun a new series of poem booklets, and they are called “Shangri La” which is the name of my little Villa, and is my piece of “earthly paradise, a retreat from the pressures of modern civilization”.
Incredibily, I now have a total of “1452” Poems filed in these booklet formats!!
Click >> Here. for the link to your FREE: PDF Copy of “Shangri La, Volume 2. 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

Led 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) May 2023

Behind Your Mirror, Is in this weeks Coffee House Magazine


Hello dear readers and followers, I am now back writing for “Coffee House Writers” magazine, after a 6 weak self-enforced break due to my personally hectic schedule during April and May. Luckily, I had my article ready for publication before I contracted ‘Covid’, and my poem “Behind Your Mirror”, 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/behind-your-mirror/


Behind Your Mirror 


At the local veil sales 

You will hear me ask 

“Are you wearing a mask” 
 

You, lurking in the back pews

Beyond your mirror’s view 

Waiting to be rescued 


When you return home 

If you roll away your mirror of stone 

You will no longer be alone 






Ivor Steven (c) May 2023

Boy in a Bubble (Revised)

Another covid/isolation poem from March 2020, although my revised version here is almost a complete rewrite. Good news, today I made a small but noticeable improvement




Boy in a Bubble (Revised)


I’m living inside a bubble, unable to flee

Shadows are drifting away from me

Shivering silhouettes are beyond arms reach

I’m an isolated grain of sand from yesterday’s beach


I’m sleeping alone within my crazy daydreams

Thinking of life and wishing to be with my honey and cream*

This commonwealth of man has isolated the birds and bees

Now I’m sleepwalking, toward the forest’s hugging tree







*Honey and Cream: refers to “Cream and Honey” a poem from my book “Tullawalla”, >> https://www.amazon.com.au/s?k=Tullawalla&crid=1FWSLQYMP5NLQ&sprefix=tullawalla%2Caps%2C300&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

Cream and Honey

I dream of what might have been
Dream of what I have not seen
Snow on top of lover’s hill
Cream filling my empty till

I had forgotten what could have been
Forgotten what I had already seen
Flowers on top of her wooden bier
Honey kisses, and my empty fear

I am dreaming of where I have been
Dreaming of what no-one is ever seen
Snowflakes silently melting in her palm
Cream and honey, my lover’s balm




Ivor Steven (c)  March 2020

Survive Again

Another poem from those “Covid/Lockdown” times, March 2020 …
My Doctor has me on an anti-viral/covid medication to stop my situation from worsening, and hopefully, I’ll be improving soon …




Survive Again – (March 2020)


I’m here, in my writers room

Secure in this single cocoon

But my active mind’s wondering

And dreams, of freely wandering


Be patient I am told

Remember those bad days of old

When your body turned cold

Dead from a unworldly mould


You’re to be a good patient again

Remember those months of pain

When clots and spots invaded your brain

And how you survived, to see your spirit reign









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