Alan Ireland Poet Free verse

Cut-Price Poetry

Why am I drawn
to this scowling girl
selling her poems
in a Shinjuku underpass?

Every Tuesday she is here,
next to a Nikon ad,
threatening commuters
with her cyclostyled angst.

Busy people keep up
with the times,
do a tap dance
on their smartphones.

Only drunks buy poetry.
Grubbing for their last,
sweaty coins, they
mock her with every purchase.


First published in Eclectica Magazine

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Michael Maul July 30, 2025 at 9:00 AM This is a very good piece of writing Alan Ireland July 31, 2025 at 12:41 AM Thank you. I wrote a few good pieces about 10 years ago -- before the Christchurch mosque shootings (a hoax) and Covid (a scam) came along to distract me.

John Fleming July 30, 2025 at 4:49 AM Absolutely brilliant!!! Why this poem did not get the acholades it most rightfully does deserve, from people here on this site anyways, is just beyond me. What an awesome and towering piece of genius you have penned here, Alan. Staggering poetry. :) john Faved! Alan Ireland July 31, 2025 at 12:35 AM Thank you for those kind words. I've got a few more pieces, all published in good magazines, that I'll post here when I have time.

Darlene De Beaulieu March 19, 2025 at 10:01 AM Hello Alan Ireland, they should not have mocked her. It was a wrong thing todo. If a person likes her poetrhy and they are not drunk, they should not mock her. Enjoy your day my friend. /Darlene/

Patricia Cresswell August 12, 2017 at 9:39 AM A vivid picture painted with your words. It puts me there and as a poet may heart reaches out to her. What whirlwind of emotions created by this scene. I will come back to read it and your other work because it touches me and that is talent. Alan Ireland August 12, 2017 at 5:54 PM Thanks, Pat. Actually, the "girl" was a young married woman with a couple of kids. She became quite well known, as a Japanese weekly magazine ran an article on her.

Alan Ireland April 10, 2017 at 3:23 AM This poem was first published in Eclectica Magazine.