by Alison

Before becoming a mom, a typical Saturday morning for me would include yoga class followed by a leisurely coffee at my local cafe.

These days I can only look forward to such a morning in the form of a birthday or mother’s day gift from husband — you know, one of those handmade coupons tucked in a pretty card and promising me a day to myself.

Ah, well. But I still love cafes, even if my weekly jaunts to a cafe are a little less leisurely.

I love a good espresso or the occasional caramel latte, but truth be told, my love of cafes is not about the coffee — it’s the human connection that draws me.

Whether I am at a cafe to sit quietly and read, meet up with a girlfriend or stop in for a quick caffeine fix, I just love the company cafe life allows me to keep … busy professionals, teenagers texting, blind daters over expressing, moms chasing toddlers along with writers tapping away on their iMacs. Cafe life is vibrant and varied.

And with this in mind I assumed Cafe Haiku was written just for me. It’s a collaboration of photographs and haiku by cross continental friends Zenbu Nometa of Shingu, Japan and Jeffrey Goldsmith of San Francisco, USA. Their book, Cafe Haiku, is a fun and cheeky little look at cafe life.

The haiku that were most interesting to me were (of course) about the people. Such as this one:

Hi there, Nicotine.

Would you like one? Oui, bien sur.

Devilish cafe friend.

Perhaps it’s not legal to smoke in many cafes in the States anymore, but I love this one for painting a little scene of boundaries being blurred and intimacies being formed which is so common in the world of cafes.

Also memorable for me is this one, which makes me think of my college days:

To cafes they go.

To talk of one thing most dear.

Michelangelo.

I might feel a little pretentious waxing on and on about the great artists in some settings. But at a cafe? Never!

Now a book about cafes would not be complete without mention of coffee and this is where Cafe Haiku puts it’s focus, which was not surprising after all seeing as how the book was published by the Caffeine Society.

And although I wish Cafe Haiku contained more haiku about the living pulse of cafe life, I did enjoy many of the caffeinated poems. Such as this one:

Why just go Euro?

Vietnam’s got great Java.

Condensed black and white.

Oh, that sounds intriguing! And with the very pleasing accompanying photograph, oh yum! I could use a Vietnamese Java tout de suite.

Wait. What did I just say???? I do not speak French but it seems this book has made an impression on me. I think I’m going to have to cash in that coupon gift from husband and head to a cafe. And then I shall surely spend half the day reading, chatting, people watching, drinking Java and of course…. writing haiku.