Owen Bullock
Owen Bullock has been writing haiku since 1999. Born and bred in Cornwall, he has been resident in New Zealand for more than 20 years. Owen has published two books of haiku, wild camomile (Post Pressed, Australia, 2009) and breakfast with epiphanies (Oceanbooks, Tauranga 2012). He also wrote the novella, A Cornish Story (Palores, UK, 2010), and a number of chapbooks of poetry and haibun.
His first full collection of longer poems, sometimes the sky isn’t big enough, was published by Steele Roberts in 2011. He is a former editor of Spin, Bravado, Kokako and Poetry NZ, and was one of the editors who produced Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka, Vol IV.
He edited a series of haiku chapbooks for Puriri Press of which his man and boy (2010) is one. In 2014 he began work on his PhD at the University of Canberra in Australia and in 2015 published Urban Haiku (Recent Work Press, Australia). Contact Owen.
tapping
the boatshed wall
a boat
a giant rimu falls
within an hour
rain
years later
off the pier
the same few boys fishing
ex-junkie –
two bags
in his teacup
into the stillness
a neighbour shovels
gravel
op shop
pepper grinder
even has pepper
shadows
on the chess board
becoming fewer
city dump
a little boy finds
an old speech bubble
an ambulance
fades with the distance . . .
sometimes . . .
another accusation the sky is purple
Publication notes
tapping: wild camomile (PostPressed) 2009.
a giant rimu falls: ibid.
years later: ibid.
ex-junkie – : ibid.
into the stillness: ibid.
op shop: ibid.
shadows: man and boy.
city dump: ibid.
an ambulance: moments in the whirlwind (NZ Poetry Society anthology) 2009.
another accusation: Presence #40 (UK) 2010.
