Poet Profile

Owen Bullock

Owen Bullock began writing haiku in 1999 after reading WinterSPIN (now Kokako); he published his first haiku and tanka the following year. Originally from Cornwall, Owen lived in Aotearoa New Zealand for 25 years before migrating further to Australia in 2014. He has a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Canberra, where he currently teaches.

Awards and Other Honors:

Co-Winner, Haiku International Association Contest, 2015 & 2009; 2nd Prize, Betty Drevniok Award, Haiku Canada, 2016; 2nd Prize, New Zealand Poetry Society International Poetry Competition, 2009; 2nd Prize, Kokako Haiku & Senryu Competition (NZ), 2009; 2nd Prize, Whitireia Poetry Competition (NZ), 1999; Runner-up, Vladimir Devidé Haiku Award (JAP), 2013; Runner-up, Virginia Warbey Poetry Prize (UK), 2007; Runner-up, Snapshots Haiku Calendar Competition (UK), 2007; 3rd Prize, Kusamakura International Haiku Competition (JAP), 2011 & 2003; 3rd Prize, Kokako Tanka Competition (NZ), 2011; 3rd Prize, New Zealand Poetry Society International Haiku Competition, 2001; San Francisco International Haiku, Senryu, and Tanka Contest (2021); 3rd Morioka International Haiku Contest (2021); Autumn Moon Haiku Contest (2021); New Zealand Poetry Society International Haiku Competition (2021, 2009, 2006, 2005, 2002); H Gene Murtha Senryu Contest (US, 2020); The British Haiku Society Awards (2020); R. H. Blyth Award (UK, 2019); Polish International Haiku Competition (2016); Setouchi Matsuyama Photo Haiku Contest (2014); Kokako Haiku & Senryu Competition (2013, 2005); Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Invitational (2013); Irish Haiku Association Competition (2012); Klostar Ivanic Haiku Competition (CRO, 2010 & 2008); Tanka Society of Japan Festival Competition (2009); Ludbreg Haiku Calendar Competition (CRO, 2003); Canberra Critics’ Circle Award for Poetry 2015.

Books Published:

Five collections of haiku - Summer Haiku (Recent Work Press 2019), River’s Edge (Recent Work Press, 2016), Urban Haiku (Recent Work Press, 2015), Breakfast with Epiphanies (Oceanbooks, 2012), Wild Camomile (Post Pressed, 2009); a bilingual collection of tanka - Uma rocha enorme que anda à roda (‘A big rock that turns around’), translated into Portuguese by Francisco Carvalho (Temas Originais, 2021); three books of poetry - Work & Play (Recent Work Press, 2017), Semi (Puncher & Wattmann, 2017), Sometimes the Sky Isn’t Big Enough (Steele Roberts, 2010); the novella - A Cornish Story (Palores, 2010), and a number of chapbooks of poetry, haiku and haibun.

into the stillness
a neighbour shovels
gravel

ex-junkie 
two bags
in his teacup

even now I decide
not to cross out
mother's number

meditation―
the dent in the monk’s
head

black swan
water drops
jewel the neck

I would have given up 
so many times . . .
we mend the tent

Credits:

“into the stillness”- Presence #17, 2002; “ex-junkie” - Frogpond vol. XXV:3, 2002; “even now I decide” - paper wasp vol. 17:4, 2011; “meditation” - The Heron’s Nest vol. XIII:1, 2011; “black swan” – Co-Winner, Haiku International Association Contest, 2015; “I would have given up” - 2nd Prize, Betty Drevniok Award, 2016.