Todd Edward Anderson

The boy was poor, to be sure, but as he felt
Poverty an unstipulating state,
And as he felt no shackles ‘pon his poor legs,
Nor felt it did him a turn to act poor,
And as he cherished some close acquaintance
With the poorly done by and poorly kept,
Nor wished in future to be free from these,
And as he felt his poor stomach, knowing
Not the riches withheld by his poor tongue,
Could with no good conscience plead its poverty,
Nor would the poor boy hear those poor grumblings,
Or if he did hear them, would hear not grumble,
But poor thankfulness for a previous meal
Fondly and lovingly remembered,
And as he felt his poor arms thick enough
To lift and thin enough to squeeze through slats,
Nor felt an arm might lift his poverty
If it were thicker, since weighing more,
More heavily would impoverish,
And as he felt the poor crumbs of wealth fell
Well within arm’s reach, so that he strained
Only a little to fetch them to his lips,
Nor wished to snatch up so much fallen wealth
That other, poorer snatchers should so strain
Their underprivileged arms as break them full,
And as he felt his heart, unlike his pockets,
Already filled to brimming, as half-way
Houses and work houses and orphan houses
Brimmed to the rafters with unshining souls,
The poor boy curbed his expectation,
Knew at that bleak house she offered enough.

Todd Anderson (Stuff of the Rind, Sand and Sail, The Reluctant Prophet) writes the newsletter Mirth to share a behind-the-scenes look at his writing process as well as to offer readers the first fruits of his poetry and reflections. He grew up in the forests of small-town Ontario, contending against nature in all its beauty and harshness.  His training as a literary scholar of Latin and English literature inflects his love of poignant turns of phrase, but it is the influence of his family and their myriad adventures together that infuses his story-telling and poetry with its substance and power.  Todd lives and writes in Ottawa with his wife and six children. If you are interested in supporting Todd’s work, please follow the links below to donate or buy his books.