Owen Bullock began writing haiku in 1999 and has published four collections, Wild camomile (2009), Breakfast with epiphanies (2012), Urban Haiku (2015) and River’s Edge (2016). He is a former editor of Kokako, New Zealand’s only specialist haiku magazine, and was one of the editors who produced Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka, Vol IV (2012).

He has also published three books of longer poems, Sometimes the sky isn’t big enough (2010), Semi (2017) and Work & Play (2017), as well as the novella, A Cornish Story (2010).

Owen holds a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Canberra where he currently teaches. Visit his podcast website to hear about Owen’s latest research. 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.