Erupting in Flowers

Ronald Charles Epstein is a Toronto-based freelance writer and published poet.

Michael Bullock is a prodigious and accomplished author who has written
poetry, fiction, plays, and translations. Erupting in Flowers is his
49th book.

Although one should not judge a book by its title, it is safe to assume
that flowers are frequently mentioned. This does not make his verse a
mere glorification of nature, gardens, or even beauty. Bullock does not
just celebrate the flower for itself, but uses it as a symbol for other
concepts. At the risk of mixing garden metaphors, it can be asserted
that the flower is the root of this work.

The writer compares literature to nature, referring to “Word
Flowers” that have an addictive quality; this metaphor is used as an
implicit explanation for his vocation. Since this topic is often
associated with love, he refers to “[t]he flower that blooms between
us” in his “Lament for a Vanished Lover.” He compares “Dreaming
Roses” to “perfumed breasts”; this poet may be preoccupied with
plants, but his emotions sometimes have an unexpectedly erotic edge.

Bullock’s verse is image-oriented. The aforementioned blooming flower
is “a bird / that flies away.” Such shape-shifting may suggest an
animated cartoon or an avant-garde film, images that may attract or
repel the mainstream reader.

This highly personal work enlists Hamlet and Harlequin to explore his
special interests. It is a risky choice that is based on the assumption
that readers share the same concerns, or at least find meaning and
beauty in the poet’s observations.