Collaborative Poetry

the Hot Box

 

I can’t remember who either party was, but there was this one guy who always commented on another gentleman’s photos of abstract deranged maniacal artworks captured in their native environment amidst chaotic, extravagant, conspicuous squalor, and the interrogator always asked him, ‘hey man how are you doing?’ or something to that effect, ‘are you okay?’ and every time I read it somehow was struck like a closed fist backhand, by how inappropriate that continued to be, made me deeply uncomfortable and him surely much more so, because what’s the possible answer, I’m not, he even more assuredly, nor clearly the inquisitor is compassionate or sane, and certainly such querying could without difficulty be conducted discretely and non-confrontationally if removed from public exhibition or forum, confined to the appropriate privacy of their dm’s.

 

running gag order

 

 

 

 

Collaborations

 

trust issues

resetting passwords

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Jerome Berglund

         & Christina Chin

 

service revolver 

purple heart 

pinhole 

leak

Jerome Berglund

         & Shane Coppage

 

urban sidewalk 

first orioles compete 

for warm trees

eavesdropping on smarter

people at the museum

Christina Chin

         & Jerome Berglund

 

The Old Pond

 

To align yourself with a golden idol of Conotocarious rather than the descendants of persons whose teeth he ordered yanked to make his dentures with?

 

in my book st. peter’s warts

 

 

* NOTE: A nickname given to George Washington by the Iroquois people in 1753. It translates to “Town Destroyer” in English. The name can also be translated as “Town Taker”, “Burner of Towns”, “Devourer of Villages”, or “he destroys the town”.

William Keith absent-minded

 

Dreamt we traveled back to revisit our old neighborhood together, caught up. Even in my wildest fantasies I had not before been able to imagine conversing with you again unabashed – with straight back and head held high, finally unsullied by those stains of stagnation, inferiority, shame and doubt – even platonically, without any expectations, until this morning.  Such rare visits during slumber might be enough, sustain me.  What were the decisive factors precipitating this anomaly, could I recreate conditions, replicate results? 

 

first day weather

is accommodating –

smoke two cigarettes

 

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.

Shane Coppage is a poet and artist. His poetry has been published in Prune Juice, Whiptail, Humana Obscura, dadakuku, Trash Panda, The Heron’s Nest, Modern Haiku, Wales Haiku Journal, The Wee Sparrow Press, and Cold Moon Journal, among others. Coppage lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, with his growing family.

Christina Chin is a painter and haiku poet from Malaysia. She is a four-time recipient of the top 100 in the mDAC Summit Contests, exhibited at the Palo Alto Art Center, California. 1st prize winner of the 34th Annual Cherry Blossom Sakura Festival 2020 Haiku Contest. 1st prize winner in the 8th Setouchi Matsuyama 2019 Photo-haiku Contest. She has been published in numerous journals, multilingual journals, and anthologies, including Japan’s prestigious monthly Haikukai Magazine.

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Setu, May 2025