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Poetry by Paul O'Mahony

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Favourite Quotes

I never went to college — I don’t believe in college for writers. The thing is very dangerous. I believe too many professors are too opinionated & too snobbish & too intellectual, & the intellect is a great danger to creativity … because you begin to rationalize & make up reasons for things, instead of staying with your own basic truth — who you are, what you are, what you want to be. I’ve had a sign over my typewriter for over 25 years now, which reads “Don’t think!” You must never think at the typewriter — you must feel. Your intellect is always buried in that feeling anyway.
– Ray Bradbury

A man, yet by these tears a little boy again,
Throwing myself on the sand, confronting the waves…
– Walt Whitman

I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.
– Mary Oliver

Whoever you are, now I place my hand upon you, that you be my poem…
– Walt Whitman

If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs…
– Wilfred Owen

And all men kill the thing they love,
By all let this be heard …
– Oscar Wilde

A book must be an axe which smashes the frozen sea within us.
– Franz Kafka

If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry.
– Emily Dickinson

There are worse things than having behaved foolishly in public.
– Fleur Adcock

Recent Posts

Favourite Quotes

“We are meaning making machines”
– Paul O’Mahony

“I never went to college — I don’t believe in college for writers. The thing is very dangerous. I believe too many professors are too opinionated & too snobbish & too intellectual, & the intellect is a great danger to creativity … because you begin to rationalize & make up reasons for things, instead of staying with your own basic truth — who you are, what you are, what you want to be. I’ve had a sign over my typewriter for over 25 years now, which reads “Don’t think!” You must never think at the typewriter — you must feel. Your intellect is always buried in that feeling anyway.”
– Ray Bradbury

“A man, yet by these tears a little boy again,
Throwing myself on the sand, confronting the waves…”
– Walt Whitman

“I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.”
– Mary Oliver

“Whoever you are, now I place my hand upon you, that you be my poem…”
– Walt Whitman

“If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs…”
– Wilfred Owen

“And all men kill the thing they love,
By all let this be heard …”
– Oscar Wilde

“A book must be an axe which smashes the frozen sea within us.”
– Franz Kafka

“If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry.”
– Emily Dickinson

“There are worse things than having behaved foolishly in public.”
– Fleur Adcock

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Category: exercise

Crimson

a robe dyed crimson –
kermes cling to oak plump packed –
ready to be squashed

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Posted on July 27, 2025Author Paul O'MahonyCategories exercise, haiku, poetryTags crimson, kermes, robe, squashLeave a comment on Crimson

Together

together again –
emperor penguins warm egg
as the iceberg drips

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Posted on July 25, 2025Author Paul O'MahonyCategories exercise, haiku, poetryTags egg, emperor, iceberg, penguinLeave a comment on Together

Tear

crocodile tear –
rolled from eyes beseeching trust
lubricating spring

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Posted on July 25, 2025Author Paul O'MahonyCategories exercise, haiku, poetryTags crocodile, haiku, tearLeave a comment on Tear

Promise

bees promise honey
when dandelions’ nectar blooms
workers feed the queen

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Posted on July 25, 2025Author Paul O'MahonyCategories exercise, haiku, poetryTags bee, honey, promiseLeave a comment on Promise

PURPOSE

porcupine purpose
puncturing beaks in springtime
a horned owl retreats

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Posted on July 25, 2025Author Paul O'MahonyCategories exercise, haiku, poetryTags haiku, owl, poetry, porcupine, purposeLeave a comment on PURPOSE

Spiritual

swan on the water

glides past an old cathedral – 

spiritual air 

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Posted on July 21, 2025Author Paul O'MahonyCategories exercise, poetryTags cathedral, spiritual, swan, waterLeave a comment on Spiritual

Onyx

Gemini twins wear 

black onyx during the night

ravens for dreamers

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Posted on July 19, 2025Author Paul O'MahonyCategories exercise, haiku, poetryTags dream, Gemini, onyx, raven, twinLeave a comment on Onyx

Mellow

mellow after tea
freesias and peonies fade
into the moonlight

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Posted on July 17, 2025Author Paul O'MahonyCategories exercise, poetryTags freesia, haiku, mellow, moonlight, peony, TeaLeave a comment on Mellow

Wormhole

a beetle burrows
through into an other world
follow the wormhole

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Posted on July 15, 2025Author Paul O'MahonyCategories exercise, haiku, poetryTags beetle, burrows, wormholeLeave a comment on Wormhole

Contrarian

contrarian breeze
undermines Irish heatwave
dandelions in flight

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Posted on July 14, 2025Author Paul O'MahonyCategories exercise, poetryTags contrarian, Dandelion, haiku, heatwave, internet, irish, weather, windLeave a comment on Contrarian

Idolatry

shocked by golden calf
first commandment smashed to bits
idolatry rests

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Posted on July 13, 2025Author Paul O'MahonyCategories exercise, haiku, poetryTags bible, calf, commandments, idolatry, mosesLeave a comment on Idolatry

Savant

a savant alert
person of the forest smart
orangutan smiles

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Posted on July 12, 2025Author Paul O'MahonyCategories exercise, poetryTags alert, forest, haiku, orangutan, savant, smart, smileLeave a comment on Savant

Rook

rook fishing earthworms
beheading the earthworker
parliament awaits

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Posted on July 8, 2025Author Paul O'MahonyCategories exercise, haiku, poetryTags earthworms, fishing, parliament, rook1 Comment on Rook

Prism

ice shards glistening 

rainbow colours refracting 

locked inside a prism 

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Posted on July 5, 2025Author Paul O'MahonyCategories exercise, haiku, poetryTags ice, prism, shardLeave a comment on Prism

Susurrus

oak leaves in faint breeze
acorns blown across the grass
susurrus passes

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Posted on July 3, 2025Author Paul O'MahonyCategories exercise, haiku, poetryTags Susurrus, windLeave a comment on Susurrus

Boxer

a boxer – fortune
dragon sparking hope of gold
bamboo grass thriving

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Posted on July 3, 2025Author Paul O'MahonyCategories exercise, poetryTags boxer, dragonLeave a comment on Boxer

Heel

a buck stands at heel
watching his moon brother smile –
silent stalker owl

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Posted on July 3, 2025Author Paul O'MahonyCategories exercise, haiku, poetryTags buck, heel, moonLeave a comment on Heel

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