Split Sequence Collaboration: Jerome Berglund and Marjorie Pezzoli

Jerome Berglund

Jerome Berglund (+ Marjorie Pezzoli)

Jerome Berglund has worked as everything from dishwasher to paralegal, night watchman to assembler of heart valves. Many haiku, haiga and haibun, and collaborative tan-renga, rengay, and split sequences he’s written have been exhibited or are forthcoming online and in print, most recently in bottle rockets, Frogpond, and Modern Haiku. His first full-length collections of poetry Bathtub Poems and Funny Pages were just released by Setu and Meat For Tea press, and a mixed media chapbook showcasing his fine art photography is available now from Yavanika.

Marjorie Pezzoli is a silk painter for 25+ years, visual artist, storyteller, and poet. Her writings deal with grief, hope, cosmic wonders, and stuff that catches her eye. Her poetry has been published in numerous anthologies since 2019. Many of her writings are inspired by her photographic observations taken while walking Beau, the dog with Betty Davis eyes. Marjorie looks for words that are worth a thousand images. wwwPezzoliart.com

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Setu, April 2024

Ruins of Time: Collaboration (Hybrid Form)

Digital Art: Robert Maddox Harle, Australia

Text: Sunil Sharma, Canada

***

The ruins.

Of trees

Shrubs

Woodland

Ramparts---broken.

Faded planet

as a prop

on a desolate stage

that evokes the tragedies of the Bard

or, landscapes scarred

of Camus---unreal in the last century, now

real, pandemics-inflicted years that unspool

like a Dante’s infernos or Goya’s Black Paintings---

frightening visions, released by the callous systems

of post-Capitalism---nothing sacrosanct except super profits!

The androids forced to contemplate their

past, the

flawed inheritance

and caught in the meditative pose

by another visionary!

---

Setu, December 2021

Collaborations: Visuals and Text Interface

Visual: Gopal Lahiri, Text: Sunil Sharma

The Call of the Mountain

The call rings out loud in

The solitude of a suburban 

Home. During the

Raging pandemic, the

Mountain wrapped in

Cool blue,

Beckons---

Like a long lost friend

Standing the other side

Of the shimmering lake.

Electric blue,

Beckons---

Like a long lost friend

Standing the other side

Of the shimmering lake,

Waving silently, hopefully.

***

Solitude

Another world awaits the 

Traveler here. 

A pathway to bliss and

Tranquility

Wilderness?

Sorry!

It is where God’s other

Children live, away from the

Civilization, predatory!

Come and immerse yourself

In the tranquility but

Come as a photographer, not

As a hunter or

Poacher. Let them

Live as designed by

Nature, not as dictated by

An insatiable greed for the

Super profits.

***

Rose

You are a thing of 

Beauty, rose!

Fascinating humankind

For centuries

With colours, textures

And fragrance, carefully

Evolved over time.

You continue to be a source

Of pure sensuous

Delight!

Conveying this subtle message:

Should not humans create

Beauty rather than

Enmity?

Concord,

Not discord?

Patterns intricate, aesthetic

Rather than things destructive

Decisive for vote-bank politics?

***

Be a rose!

Give delight in every situation.

Comfort the distressed and

Spread fragrance and beauty

Everywhere, despite living

On thorns and being fragile!

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Setu, May 2021