Originally from Liverpool, Harry Owen moved to South Africa’s Eastern Cape from UK in 2008, where he had been appointed the inaugural Poet Laureate for Cheshire in 2003.
Outspoken in his commitment to the natural world and a passionate advocate of poetry, he is the author of eight collections, including The Cull: new and resurrected poems (Poets Printery, East London, 2017) and All Weathers (Ink Sword Press, Grahamstown, 2019), a collection of dog and cat poems in support of the local SPCA.
In addition, he has edited three anthologies – I Write Who I Am: an anthology of Upstart poetry (2011); For Rhino in a Shrinking World: an international anthology (2013); and Coming Home: poems of the Grahamstown diaspora (2019), all with Poets Printery.
Harry hosts the popular monthly open floor event called Reddits Poetry in Grahamstown, where he lives and writes.
Bougainvillea
Behold: blood of the dune forest
oozing its arterial fullness
from multi-needled succulence
into the warmth of a June day
filled with hornbills, vervets, a slick
of glossy starlings, palm fronds
sighing as the winter ocean
rolls its eternal honesty
landward. Sit here and wait. Behold:
all that’s lovely will come to you.
Harry Owen
