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, Live Encounters Poetry 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. He also had his first book published in January past by Impspired, a short story collection called Echoes. His first poetry collection, A Mirror Looking Out: was published in December 2023, also by Impspired.

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
In dreams
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 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 a view
reflected through the lens of another
so don’t ask her out
But sometimes he still
dreams they are together
but always has
that fear of rejection
it is always showing its ugly face.
He accepts all that he is.

Faraway

Grandchildren’s names, are Nina, Chloe, and Oscar.

Night transforms jumping shadows
Into figures dancing on the wall
No one sees these but you
And as you look at the world your light always shines
Clear eyes and a look that
Have you disarmed any tiredness gone You
Lose track of who you are
One sad-eyed look to say
Every breathing heartbeat is precious
Oceans apart and yet these
Shores have become your other home
Chosen for you out of necessity
Apart from us by just hours
Rough but not unendurable