John O'CONNOR Obituary

I've written a blogpost about my memories of John - a good man and a good poet. I have very fond memories of him: http://mairangibay.blogspot.co.nz/2015/05/something-to-say-im-john-oconnor.html

I first met John in the early seventies when I ran across him at poetry events. I discovered he had written a book 'Citizen of No Mean City'. Later, he became closely involved with the Canterbury Poet's Collective and the Sudden Valley Press, other poetry groups, his own journal Plainwraps,the NZ Poetry Society, the institution of the Lauris Edmonds Award (and John would have been a worthy recipient) and of course with the haiku form. He lived for poetry and was an intense practitioner always refining his art, his craft, and emerged a fine if strangely unrecognized poet except among those who knew his work. This a a sad loss, especially given the full flowering of his work in two recent volumes. His championing of poetry and of Canterbury poets especially, but not exclusively, will be greatly missed.

I met John at poetry readings in Dunedin and Christchurch. I admired his poetry. He had qualities of forbearance and kindness. That is what I recall of him. My thoughts are with his family and loved ones.

Such a champion of poetry! John worked tirelessly in the background, never seeking recognition, to support poetry in all its forms, nurturing and encouraging the written and spoken form while developing his own fine poetic voice.

John was a fine poet, and someone I liked and respected very much. He gave an enormous amount to poetry in Canterbury, and we will be in his debt for many years to come. He will be missed.

That John O'Connor is an essential figure in Canterbury poetry will probably be granted even by those who won't take the necessary next step: At his best, and poets are only worth remembering at their best, John's eye for significant detail and his ability to calibrate the reader's ear made him an essential figure from the South.