Review of eyesore
by Johannes S.H. Bjerg & Charlotte Jung
Ottawa: above/ground press 2025
isbn: 978-1-77460-421-2
20 pages; 8 X 7 inches; stapled
Review by De Villo Sloan
Stockholm-based poet and playwright Charlotte Jung and Danish writer and artist Johannes S.H. Bjerg have collaborated to produce what might easily prove to be this year’s best collection of visual poetry: Jung’s minimalist concrete poetry and Bjerg’s calligraphic, asemic neoglyphs.
Rob McClennan – above/ground press editor – again displays his talent for locating and publishing the best postavant art and lit in his burgeoning chapbook series. eyesore is eminently collectible, and the thoughtful reader will want to revisit the book many times to explore its possibilities for interpretation.
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Asemic neoglyph in eyesore by Johannes S.H. Bjerg
Johannes S.H. Bjerg is known in the visual poetry community primarily for his calligraphy-based asemic texts. He eschews the faux abstract expressionist approach taken by many of his contemporaries in favor of a stark, black and white textuality that complements Charlotte Jung’s poetry perfectly. Bjerg's vision of asemics is similar the vision of Jim Leftwich and Tim Gaze (1993).
Bjerg’s compositions in eyesore are imbued with complexity not fitting a strict minimalist definition. His cursive streams weave in, above, and below the boundaries of our shared language.
Yet each piece is a single entity, drawing from the concept of the neoglyph (a term coined by John R. McConnochie). In the context of eyesore, each of Bjerg’s pieces can be read as a single asemic poem in a dialog with Jung’s work. His asemic pieces, for me, are similar to the approach taken by John M. Bennett and Henry Michaux.
“meaning” by Charlotte Jung in eyesore
In my review of Charlotte Jung’s Collected (Timglaset 2023), I praised her concrete poetry, which I see sharing many traits with the work of Aram Saroyan. She works within the constraints of concrete poetry rooted in Modernity.
Jung also has a unique ability to present fluidity
and subtle expression in a way that surpasses the work of previous generations.
eyesore is another valuable addition to the growing body of Jung’s work.
Rob McClennan has made an important contribution
to vispo with the publication of this chapbook. The audience is presented with a
unique opportunity to explore “new poetries” in the form of asemic writing and
minimalist poetry in a lyric sequence. In eyesore, we see a glimpse of poetry’s
future.
- - De Villo Sloan
December 2, 2025
Elbridge, New York, USA
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