NVN Tuesday: Mess Up and Chop Down

“Highku” by Jerome Berglund and “Uprooted on Route 99” by Kathryn Stepanski

HIGHKU

by Jerome Berglund

The highest camp on the world’s tallest mountain is littered with garbage that is going to take years to clean up, according to a Sherpa who led a team that worked to clear trash and dig up dead bodies frozen for years near Mount Everest’s peak. The Nepal government-funded team of soldiers and Sherpas removed 11 tons of garbage, four dead bodies and a skeleton from Everest during this year's climbing season. Ang Babu Sherpa, who led the team of Sherpas, said there could be as much as 40-50 tons of garbage still at South Col, the last camp before climbers make their attempt on the summit. —AP, July 6, 2024

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heavenly threshold
near the summit 
all the waste

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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 Yavanika.

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UPROOTED ON ROUTE 99

by Kathryn Stepanski

A beloved palm and pine tree mark California’s center. Now they’re being cut down. —The Guardian, July 6, 2024

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Where Northern California meets Southern California they stand,
Phoenix Canariensis and Cedrus Deodara.
The palm and the cedar pine
on the route from Calexico to Vancouver,
over a hundred years their roots have grown.
To be chopped down as highway lanes expand,
turning into asphalt at the fate of Caltrans.

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Kathryn Stepanski is the author of The Career Search Book. Her writing has appeared in The Oakland Tribune, San Francisco Bay Guardian, Burner Magazine, and Jokes Review. She is a teacher in Oakland, California.