An Algorithm for Happiness

He recognised the driver as someone
he had never seen before
and, as each moment is an answer
to the last, realised the similarity
to his mother, who had run
away before he was born
and, for years, had captured the joy
of her guilt in rushed postcards
written from the last outpost
of a normal life. He knew
that in a place like this, he couldn’t
throw a stone without missing her,
but remembered that ardour
is the last coat of a loveless man
who, when staring into the future,
can only see the past.

 

 

About the Poet: Maurice Devitt – Runner-up in The Interpreter’s House Poetry Competition in 2017, he was winner of the Trocaire/Poetry Ireland Competition in 2015 and has been placed or shortlisted in many competitions including the Patrick Kavanagh Award, Listowel Collection Competition, Over the Edge New Writer Competition, Cuirt New Writing Award and the Cork Literary Review. He has had poems published in Ireland, England, Scotland, the US, Mexico, Romania, India and Australia and has a debut collection upcoming in 2018 with Doire Press.

 

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