Live Encounters Poetry & Writing 16th Anniversary Volume Seven
November- December 2025
The Silver Spoon, poems by Gordon Ferris.
The Silver Spoon
Today, I was reminded of a stream
A stream, where, as a child, I used to jump across
on the way to Concor Hill
a stream long gone underground
like a lot of our old beauty
disappeared to become
a thing from our past
a thing that was our everyday
now a vague reflection in that flowing baby river
In the centre of a forest
I was reminded
of an ancient ruin
transformed in my child’s mind
to a jungle in our
War games played.
All gone underground now
replaced by houses, factories
or places that generate finance
No place for wandering childhood
Escaping the adult world
or to hold off the demons
that inhabit the grown-up world
The demons etched on the faces of all
who have left their childhood behind
and marched onwards
towards the shadow of
respectability
and
responsibility.
A Dog Sleeps
A dog sleeps on the floor
I watch her breath rise and fall
Her paw jerks suddenly
a dreaming gesture
Reassuring me, she still exists
You are getting old now
You struggle with some things
You need a nudge into the car
You struggle to rise from sleep
And stretch out your hind legs
But, when loved ones appear
You forget your pain
You love deeply
unconditionally
You would die for those you love
© Gordon Ferris
Gordon Ferris born and bred in Finglas, a Northwest 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, Lothlorien Poetry Journal and Live Encounters. 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. His first book was published in January 2023 by Impspired, a short story collection called Echoes and his second book, A Mirror Looking Out, a poetry collection, published by the same publisher, Impspired, under the brilliant stewardship of Steve Cawte.