Poetry from Owen Bullock : Meant Well

Meant Well

I meant well
but the cracks I widened
in the shell
were too fast for the chick
to live

I’m not alone
in the empty valley

   Bloke Buddha says 
   I usually . . .
   I always think . . .

a cheap novel isn’t enough

finally become wild

I’ve done everything I wanted to do
and it’s the end of my life

I’ve gone peacefully

the Higher Power (the Self) –
Grace is the Self
Light is the Self
Spirit is the Self
God is the Self

I’m a dream of form 
dreaming of form

the beginning of the book meets 
the end of the book

glacier   just be

Beautiful Kenwyn.
with all its eyes shut

sub-bloomial

ludic
as clear as the moon playing Ludo

showing spontaneous and undirected playfulness

a ludic lucid

There’s a chain gang on the highway 
– of course there is, Bob!

. . . waiting on the last train.
it’s always the last train, isn’t it
never the penultimate train

you realise you can do anything
(but it’s not you doing it)

chi-chings it – 
straight in 
& straight back out again

slow & puddly looks after things

keyboard notes 
like stabbing icicles

the middle distance 
– what’s that?

I’m waiting on the end distance to come
but it’s late

the lo-onesome sound 
of a train going by . . .

I’m waiting on the first distance
it’s come and gone and nobody told me
(I don’t know what nobody told me
[that’s often my excuse])

I’m waiting on the beginning distance
(Bloke Buddha says I know exactly what you mean
but he says that about anything & everything)
to show me how to start my isolation

I’m doing great things
(but it’s not me who’s doing it)

Jimi Hendrix posted a new video

Only through self-awareness, and the revealing self-knowledge it brings, can the mind escape from its own bondages and limitations.

I can do what I like
graduated           from what school

   washing my feet 
   of the dust of the mountain
   with the dew of the grass

I’ve always wanted
something for nothing 
the working class legacy
instead of learning
to work

mathematical thanking

washing
the tiles of the floor
devotedly
because it’s better
for my mind

let’s go to the shops
before they sell out of dreams

I’m in love with grey clouds

I want to be an azalea, or at least a bee

a question is trying to understand

   the owl 
   that never hoots
   sticking to our wall

I got away from negative thoughts.

trust     the fly in the spider web

free to do what’s right

first exclamation mark for the day

Bio: Owen Bullock’s most recent publications are Impression (Beir Bua Press, 2022), and Uma rocha enorme que anda à roda (A big rock that turns around), translations of his tanka into Portuguese by Francisco Carvalho (Temas Originais, 2021). His other titles include, Summer Haiku (Recent Work Press, 2019), Work & Play (Recent Work Press, 2017), and Semi (Puncher & Wattmann, 2017). He teaches Creative Writing at the University of Canberra. His other interests include juggling, music and chess. https://poetry-in-process.com/ @OwenTrail @ProcessPoetry 

A Poetry Showcase from Owen Bullock