Treasuring Poetry – Meet prolific poet, Ivor Steven, and a review #poetry #poetrycommunity #TreasuringPoetry

My April Treasuring Poetry guest is talented and prolific poet, Ivor Steven. Please enjoy his thoughts about poetry and some of his favourite poems.

What is your favourite style of poetry to read?

Oh, there are so many styles of poetry that I like. In my personal library I have poetry books by Leonard Cohen, William B Yeats, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, John Keats, Henry Lawson, Banjo Paterson, and Rupi Kaur, and of course numerous other local poets. My selections are of a range of styles and very eclectic, however, my favourite poetry style is rhythmical freestyle poems.

What is your favourite poem in your favourite style to read?

Since I was a teenager, I have been an avid follower of Leonard Cohen’s writings, and he has had a huge influence on the way I draft my poems. One of my favourite poems of his is “Avalanche”.

“Avalanche“
  Well, I stepped into an avalanche,
 it covered up my soul;
 when I am not this hunchback that you see,
 I sleep beneath the golden hill.
 You who wish to conquer pain,
 you must learn, learn to serve me well.
 You strike my side by accident
 as you go down for your gold.
 The cripple here that you clothe, and feed
 is neither starved nor cold;
 he does not ask for your company,
 not at the centre, the centre of the world.

When I am on a pedestal,
 you did not raise me there.
 Your laws do not compel me
 to kneel grotesque and bare.
I myself am the pedestal
 for this ugly hump at which you stare.

You who wish to conquer pain,
 you must learn what makes me kind;
 the crumbs of love that you offer me,
 they’re the crumbs I’ve left behind.
 Your pain is no credential here,
 it’s just the shadow, shadow of my wound.

I have begun to long for you,
 I who have no greed;
 I have begun to ask for you,
 I who have no need.
 You say you’ve gone away from me,
 but I can feel you when you breathe.

Do not dress in those rags for me,
 I know you are not poor;
 you don’t love me quite so fiercely now
 when you know that you are not sure,
 it is your turn, beloved,
 it is your flesh that I wear.

What is your favourite style of poetry to write? Why?

I must say I like writing Haiku, Tanka, musettes, and other forms of short poems. However, I only started writing poetry after I had suffered a semiserious stroke in 2000. During my rehab, the speech therapist encouraged me to write rhyming words to help regain my cognitive abilities. I developed a knack for rhyming words and from there my writing knowledge gradually expanded. With my restricted thought process, the rhythmical Freestyle Poems were an uncomplicated style for me to follow and I kept improving on my newfound journey into the world of poetry.

What is your favourite of your own poems in your favourite style?

Oh gosh, I have written nearly two thousand poems over the past twenty years, my favourite one is from my first book “Tullawalla”, I wrote the poem in Philadelphia while visiting my cousins in 2019. The trip to America was only two months after my 2^nd and 3^rd strokes, and the journey was truly a “dream come true”. 
 
Dreams of The Heart

I cannot walk the continents
Like the intrepid Marco Polo
But my feet have felt the sands of time
Pass between my toes

I have not sailed the high seas
Like the courageous Christopher Columbus
But my body has bathed
In an ocean full of kind hearts I am yet to fly in space
Like the brave Neil Armstrong
But I have reached for the stars
And touched my soul’s dreams

How do you promote your poetry and poetry books?

I promote my poetry and books via my WordPress website, and social media sites: Instagram. Facebook. Thread, and a new website Medium. Also, I am an appointed writer for the online Coffee House Writers magazine (America), and they allow me to promote my Books on their members chat-site. I am a member the Geelong Writers Inc, who have Monthly social gatherings where I can sell my books. I frequent several local cafes, at which I am allowed to display and sell my books. I regularly attend local Arts Markets and I have had Book Stalls at nearby book festivals, the most recent being the prestigious Clunes Booktown Festival.
>> Clunes Booktown Festival – For the love of story

You can find out more about Ivor Steven on his blog here: https://ivorplumberpoet.press/about/

My review of Until Eyes Hear Sound

Available from Lulu.com here: https://www.lulu.com/search?contributor=Ivor+Steven&adult_audience_rating=00

and Jaymah Press here: https://www.jaymahpress.com.au/product-page/until-eyes-hear-sound

Until Eyes Hear Sound is a wonderful collection full of impactful poems about numerous important issues humanity faces as a collective, as well as the beauty of our natural world.

The book is divided up into ten chapters as follows: Little Creatures and Birds; Planet Earth, Nature and Existence; The New World? The Same Universe; Observations – “Until Eyes Hear Sound”; War! Without Peace?; Memories and Rhymes; Poetry in Slow Motion; Humour, Fantasy, Faeries, and Weird; and Short Poems, Haiku, Senryu, Tanka, and Others. Each section shares a smaller collection of poems that highlight the best and worst of that category. The poems are written in a mixture of freestyle and rhyming verse and are easy to read and vivid in their description.

The following are a few lines from some of the poems I related to the most in the collection:

“Raw rain is tumbling across town
Mother Nature’s roaring sound
Amplifies her tears slapping the ground
As her dark clouds wrinkle into a frown”
from She Knows

“Behind every mask there is a weathered face
Behind every face old lines survive in place
Behind every place memories live with grace”
from My World, My Thoughts

“arriving
via the cemetery gate
holding her flowers
hands quivering
heart quickens …

“leaving
via the cemetery path
renewing goodbyes
crying silently
breathing slowly”
from Arriving and Leaving, Visiting Her. This was my favourite poem in the collection.

A beautiful collection.

About Robbie Cheadle

Award-winning, bestselling author, Robbie Cheadle, has published fourteen children’s books and three poetry books. Her work also features in several poetry and short story anthologies.

Robbie also has two novels published under the name of Roberta Eaton Cheadle and has horror, paranormal, and fantasy short stories featured in several anthologies under this name.

The eleven Sir Chocolate children’s picture books, co-authored by Robbie and Michael Cheadle, are written in sweet, short rhymes which are easy for young children to follow and are illustrated with pictures of delicious cakes and cake decorations. Each book also includes simple recipes or biscuit art directions which children can make under adult supervision.

Robbie and Michael Cheadle have recently launched a new series of children’s books called Southern African Safari Adventures. The first book, Neema the Misfit Giraffe is now available from Amazon.

Robbie’s blog includes recipes, fondant and cake artwork, poetry, and book reviews. https://robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com/