Download PDF Here 13th Anniversary
Live Encounters Poetry & Writing Volume Two December 2022.
The poor man’s love, poems by Gordon Ferris.
The poor man’s love
Being in love
is like a poor man
begging for alms
a man in love
sits upright
cup in hand
begging for the
the subject of his desire
to look in his direction
you sit, hand on his arm,
He has no nervousness at your touch
it elicits no thoughts or impulses
It feels just natural
you constantly push and encourage him
He has often thought of being with you
In his head, in his imagined conversations with you
there is always found
so many reasons why
you wouldn’t be interested
in someone like him
He goes on to think about why
He should and deserves to be on his own
convinces himself
that being on his own is
the best and most natural way for him to be
He has no wish to have
someone become his possession
or for him to become a possession
he prefers seeing the world
through his own eyes
not having the view
reflected through the lens of another
so doesn’t ask her out
But sometimes he still
dreams they are together
but always has
that fear of rejection
showing its ugly face.
He accepts all that he is.
Pleasure and pain are sisters
sometimes when you go after something that
makes you feel good
you sacrifice what
you know to be right (or. The right thing)
because something feels good
doesn’t mean that
it is good.
watch the black cat
changing colour
before it
crosses your path
or watch the old woman
walk under a ladder
watch the lady
blessed with beauty
make the sign of the cross
at the mention
of someone in pain
and shed a tear
for the stranger
who suffers loss
© Gordon Ferris
Gordon Ferris was born and raised in Finglas, a North West suburb of Dublin. In the early eighties, he moved to Donegal where he has lived ever since. He started writing in 2014 and has had many short stories and poems in publications including Hidden Channel, A New Ulster, The Galway Review, Impspired Magazine, and Lothlorien Poetry Journal. He has also won prizes in the summer 2020 HITA Creative Writing Competition for his poem ‘Mother’ and won the winter competition for his poem ‘The Silence’. Gordon was awarded a Poetry Town Bursary by Poetry Ireland.