The nine

hearing Sarah Rice & Jo Rendle-Short play a recorder duet

by Owen Bullock

You
 two birds, answering one another
 two peasant men come in from the fields
 taking wine from a skin
 two friends echoing and expanding
 what the other has said
 two colours, fastening and loosening
 their common shade
 two plants aware of the space between
 and where nutrients course
 two apples on the same bough
 base and treble parts
 a chord of harmonies
 two players calling flutes

Biography
Owen Bullock has published three collections of poetry, five books of haiku and a novella, the most recent being Summer Haiku (2019) and Work & Play (2017). He has a website for his research into poetry and process, at https://poetry-in-process.com/.  He is a Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Canberra.