Poem Of The Week 'Tell Them I've Had A Wonderful Life' by Paul O Mahony

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“Tell them I’ve had a wonderful life.”

Ludwig looked very closely for the differences
liked the quiet but feared the solitude.
Tossed round the bed
protesting against conversation
seeping up through floorboards
nightly.

The chatter of newly grown stubble
the scent of young girls giggling
filtering through damp dark
to where corners of sheets
froze his soles
and he was forced to bend back into himself.

This was the place he’d come -
a wild field of thought
the odd cow
milking the language
jumping from one full stop on the rocks
to a landscape drawn out from watershelves –
Wittgenstein in County Wicklow, remembering Little Killary Bay
and the gravel from Maumturk quarries.

An Austrian gentleman
huddled in Kilpatrick House
under Ballymoyle Hill
(Cnoc Bhaile an Mhaoil)
feeling better here than in Cambridge
finding rest difficult
as the cancer of his prostate
quietly released him from his investigations."


Paul O'Mahony grew up in Limerick . He left in 1968, and has recently returned to Cork after 30 years in UK. He began writing poetry in 1995. He's lived in Dublin, London, Bradford on Avon and Bath. He self-published his first collection "Vital Poems" in 2003 and has performed at many literature festivals with "Dandelion Poets". He is keen to make contact with other poets, especially in Munster, and his email address is paul.omahony@btinternet.com and his blog is "http://omaniblog.blogs.ie"

The White House Poets acknowledge the support of: the White House Pub, the Arts Council, Foras na Gaeilge, Poetry Ireland, Limerick City Council