Poems, hybrid variations on haikai forms by Jerome Berglund

 

Poems, hybrid variations on haikai forms including concrete, haibun, photo-haiku/haiga/shahai, cheribun (cherita + haibun) and gunsaku/string

day one

 

turkish

apricots

 

Ethel Merman

 

in

the

dimness

 

Suddenly without a cloud passes over the sun I am momentarily in the dark struggling to adjust my eyes before being instantaneously blinded as the obstruction clears Klieg and washes over cyclorama this continues vexingly begin to understand why man developed artificial light sources.

    In Mosaic

 

month of affection

on an island watching the

horizon closely

 

increasing life

a wrecked raft’s soggy remnants

footprints lead away

 

in a sea of clouds

by harp the sightless bard spins

a yarn from whole cloth

 

leaves turning colour

it becomes clear has angered

highest offices

 

autumn being gone

giants heartily sup fruit

leave naught but the stone

 

a winter landscape

gets many admonitions

from different spirits

 

few sigils of spring

sun’s sacred cows have lent

some meat to the bones

Jerome Berglund has worked as everything from dishwasher to paralegal, night watchman to assembler of heart valves. Many haiku, haiga and haibun he’s written have been exhibited or are forthcoming online and in print, most recently in bottle rockets, Frogpond, Kingfisher, and Presence. His first full-length collections of poetry were released by Setu, Meat For Tea, Mōtus Audāx press, and a mixed media chapbook showcasing his fine art photography is available now from Fevers of the Mind.