Violets and a Purple Cyclamen

This Saturday the Weekend Challenge from ‘Weekly Prompts’ is March’s colour,  Purple. Please go over and visit their fabulous site by clicking >> Here. My photos and the below poem is my response to their ‘Monthly Colour Challenge’.



Violets and a Purple Cyclamen



My morning courtyard is aglow

Below the garden’s colourful shadows

Of a newly blooming purple cyclamen

And the forever flowering bougainvillea

They are my sentinels for her hanging basket

Our wedding flower of Drooping Violets

Casting forever memories upon my writing booklet

Ivor Steven (c) March 2021

A Beautiful Red Flower

This week’s Wednesday Challenge, on Weekly Prompts is the word BEAUTIFUL. Please go over and visit their fabulous site by clicking >> Here. Below is my beautiful response to the prompt…



A Beautiful Red Flower

Auburn was her hair

A ruby Day-lily

A red flame Begonia

Crimson and warm

Auburn was her hair

A scarlet Geranium

A maroon Bougainvillea

A soft vermilion art form

Ivor Steven (c) March 2021

Sorry! We Caught The Wrong Bus

I was catching a bus home this afternoon, as per normal, after my walk down Pakington St. However, mistakenly I caught the wrong bus !! I looked up, and I did not see the sign. In the long process of hopping on a couple of different buses, I eventually found my way home. During my time of the extra bus trips, I came up with the words of this poem.

Sorry! We Caught The Wrong Bus

Is this the air I breathe?

A misty haze out in front of me

Is this the sky I see?

A big smoggy Vee

High in the mountain plains, flowerless, without bees

Miles of burnt-out wasteland and no trees

Beyond the eroded soils, there’s the earth’s oceans

Mercury settled deep, with a topping of dead fish by the millions

Is this black bitumen I walk on?

Long oily tar rolled out by the ton

Is this real water I drink?

Manufactured I sip. On my knees I do sink!

Mother nature. “Please forgive us!”

We did not know. “Sorry! We caught the wrong bus.”



Today’s poem is in response to Weekly Prompts, and their Wednesday Challenge, which is: Bus Riding! Please go over and visit their fabulous site by clicking > Here.

Ivor Steven (c) December 2020

Ribbons and Buttons

Over on Weekly Prompts, the Wednesday Challenge is Button Jars. Please go over and visit their fabulous site by clicking >> Here. And the poem below is my response to the prompt.

Ribbons and Buttons



Reclining in my verandah chair

I notice my blue shirt needs repair

And I search for her sewing box of needles and cotton

Looking for a few shiny buttons

There between memories of pink and white ribbons

In a basket full of trinkets, not to be forgotten



Here inside my private cube

I’m a cool Mr Fix-it dude

Or so I was secretly told

By a girl who came in from the cold

Her greeting did warm my soul



Me, a lonesome old stray

Smiled, and come what may

I proudly donned the blue shirt for today

Ivor Steven (c) Sept 2020

Below the Surface

This Saturday the Weekend Challenge from ‘Weekly Prompts’ is The Face. Please go and visit their fabulous site by clicking >> https://weeklyprompts.com/2020/09/19/weekend-challenge-the-face/ .. And the below is my response to this weeks prompt.

Below the Surface

I’ve had thorns under my feet

And a rose between my teeth



I’m on a voyage to somewhere, and beyond

And the false façade goes on and on

Left follows right, one of us cannot be wrong

The Small Faces are singing the same old song

And the winter snake-skins have all gone

Lets face it, will I ever truly belong?



The mysterious journey never ends

Until that inevitable finale bend

George said it’s “A long and winding road”

And I’ll face life’s hard curves, unbowed




Above Artwork:  By Kerri Costello, Graphic Design Artist, my beautiful niece/second cousin, who lives in Philadelphia, she’s so very talented, and a very special person in my life, thank you Kerri.

Ivor Steven (c) Sept 2020.

Yellow Light

“How wonderful the colour yellow is. It stands for the sun!” – Vincent Van Gogh.

This weekend is the Monthly Colour Challenge for August, and the ‘Weekly Prompt’ team have chosen;  Sunshine Yellow.  Please go and visit their fabulous site by clicking > Here Below; is my response to the prompt, with attached photos and a Haiku

 

Yellow Light,  a Haiku

 

Today the sky smiled

Above golden setting sun

And the moon did shine

 

 

Ivor Steven (c)  August 2020

My Scenic Saturday

The Weekend Challenge on Weekly Prompts is, Scenic. Please go over and visit their fabulous site by clicking >> Here … Below is my photographic article in response to the prompt…

My Scenic Saturday

 

After writing my daily poem in the morning, I then pottered around in my courtyard garden, however my fingers were becoming frozen from the frosty dawn, and I decided to delay the potting, until after going out for my usual Saturday coffee and cafe visit, to the scenically rural Box Office Cafe. The above photos are from my lunchtime visit today. The winter sun was starting to warm me up, and on viewing my photos, you’ll understand, (maybe), why I frequent this quaint and rustic establishment….

It was definitely a lot warmer when I arrived home. Last week a friend of mine made me two wall hanging racks out old wooden pallets. I hung them up during the week, and today was my day to fill the two pallets with plants… The below photos, were taken after I finished the potting and planting…. and I’m very pleased with the gorgeous ”scenic” outlook of my small but vibrant courtyard…

 

 

 

Ivor Steven (c)  June 2020

Our World, Air For Us All

I posted this poem yesterday evening, I’m republishing today, without the ‘Links/Pingbacks’…  and I’m adding another old ‘Bee Gees’ song “Words”, which seems to be appropriate for my poem here, which basically, is only ‘words’ from my pondering thoughts.

 

 

Our World, Air For Us All

 

What grows up

Eternally falls to ground

What’s absorbed in

Eventually seeps out

 

Did you hear the sound?

The world is round

 

But is the universe a square?

As we struggle to breathe in our share

Did you hear there’s enough air for us all?

So why cry before we’ve learnt how to crawl?

 

 

 

Ivor Steven (c)  June 2020

A Collection, Nearly Time To Go Home

On “Weekly Prompts” their weekend challenge is: Story. Please go and visit their fabulous site by clicking >>HERE…. And below I’m continuing my “Story” about my trip to Philadelphia in May last year, via a collection of my poems and haiku’s …

 

Wet Flowers of May

 

Philadelphia rain

Like a rattling freight train

Wet fat drops

That didn’t stop

Watering flowers on mother’s day

Sharing the liquid joy of May

 

Haiku: Family History

Boxes of photos

Memory lane in my hands

Decades of stories

 

The Golden Pot

I’ve travelled to the end

Of yesterday’s rainbow

I found the golden pot was full

Full of warm hearts

The pot of hearts was overflowing

With ladles full of kindness

And their kindness was a cascading

River of magical rainbows

 

Haiku: We Lost The Sea

Bridges of dreams crossed

The ocean and river spanned

Waters of love found

Ivor Steven (c) May 2019

The Forest Of Doubt

This Saturday, the weekend challenge on Weekly Prompts is: Walkabout. Please go over and visit their fabulous site by clicking >> HERE.  And below is my response their prompt.

 

The Forest Of Doubt

 

Tonight, after dusk

I’ll be in the dark forest of Doubt

On a mystical walkabout

To find those elusive faeries

With their wings of mysterious star-dust

And I shall fill my empty pockets

Ready for Mothers Day tomorrow

Whereupon I’ll spread the magical sparkles

One handful on my mother’s headstone

The second one on my wife’s grave site

And as the same as other years gone by

For us, the faeries willing share their night

 

 

Ivor Steven (c)  May 2020