by Kelly

a hot cup of tea

a cookie, a fireplace

a mystery and me

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.

by Alison

heart palpitations

and heightened anxiety -

green tea overdose

by Alison

Where’s my cup of tea?

Packed away somewhere in a

moving box of course.

by Alison

tea, pan chocolate

kind women and Greek songs my

home away from home

by Alison

green tea and kleenex

for two no marshmallow peeps -

but still we are blessed

by Alison

I teach him how to

measure, steep, garnish and serve

my favorite tea

April is National Poetry Month and we’re celebrating!

Each Monday this month, we’re throwing out a topic and inviting readers to share haiku on the subject.

This week’s topic: Kitchen

Add your haiku as a comment. Let’s see how many we can collect!

by Alison

she surprises me

with a pot of tea because

she knows I like it

We’re so smitten with our personalized haiku tea and coffee cups that we bought through Etsy that we just needed to know more about them.

We hunted down their creator, Alexis Siemons, and asked her all about her haiku inspirations.

Why do haiku and tea make a perfect pair?

I believe that haiku and tea complement one another because they both maintain a balance of structure and creativity.

Haiku are structured by syllable count but also allow room for creative expression. Tea is structured by specific temperatures and brewing processes although the tea itself and personal blending (milk, agave, etc.) are creative.

Also, I think the simplicity and brevity of haiku pairs nicely with the brief moments that tea drinkers experiences as they indulge in a cup. And in a deeper sense, since the haiku is a form of Japanese poetry it seems to connect to tea ceremonies.

Do you usually write haiku over tea?

I always write haiku while brewing and sipping tea.

The brew process gives me a few stolen moments just to focus on the task at hand: making tea. Although simple, the brew and sip experience presents much to think and write about as the water, leaves, tea pot, cup, etc., are all inspiring subjects.

Above all, I enjoy the thrill of jotting down a few haiku that move from tea to mind to pen to paper in those brief creative moments.

Have you found a particular type of tea, or a particular tea house, to be more haiku-inducing than others?

I write most of my haiku in my kitchen rather than tea houses as the entire process inspires me.

I can’t think of a particular tea that has proved to be most inspiring, however, I can say that my glass tea pot has sent me into a haiku frenzy countless times. There is something about watching the water transform that is truly beautiful.

Do you have a favorite tea-inspired haiku?

I never actually thought about picking a favorite although I am partial to my first haiku inspired by tea:

leaves like paintbrushes

are coloring the water

steep it, watch and breathe

And since tea and Philadelphia are near and dear to my heart, I would have to say this would be the runner up:

Sitting with Franklin

Sipping on brotherly love

This tea is for two

Your haiku teacups are charming and handwritten. What do you think the personalized handwriting adds to the haiku?

I think that the handwriting adds a personal touch that truly relates to the personal process of brewing your own cup — but maybe that’s just me.

I also sincerely enjoy writing each haiku by hand because I know that each cup is unique and one of a kind.

Tea is a great inspiration for your haiku. What else inspires you?

Just about anything and everything inspires me.

However, I find that I am creatively charged after browsing Etsy, of course. And reading design blogs also inspires me. I like design*sponge, apartment therapy and Oh Joy!

Short stories also inspire me since wonderful details are packed into a limited amount of pages.

Antique stores, vintage fashion and jazz music (Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday) also bring me great creative moments as I love to think about history and take trips down memory lane. I’m an old soul.

I’m a tea drinker. I love the tea, and I love the paraphernalia — the pots, the cozies, the delicate saucers, the little silver spoons. And now I have a very special haiku teacup.

I found it on Etsy, this fantastic web site that sells only hand-made items. One day, just curious and playing around, I searched Etsy for “haiku” and there it was.

It was made by a woman named Alexis Siemons. She composes haiku and then hand writes her little poems onto the sides of teacups. She calls her business Teaspoons & Petals, and I knew right away that I had to have one. My haiku teacup reads:

leaves like paintbrushes
are coloring the water
steep it, watch and breathe

In my mind, haiku and tea are linked. I often drink tea during the evening, after dinner, when my daughter has gone to sleep and I can finally just relax. I sit in my favorite chair, think about my day, and sip my tea.

Once Kelly and I started Haiku By Two, tea time quickly turned into haiku time as that quiet hour was a space when I could actually write down my thoughts.

Now that I have my haiku tea cup, I write haiku while drinking from it.

My haiku teacup makes me feel festive and focused on haiku. No one else is allowed to use it. I sometimes think this is not very “haiku” of me, but I can’t help it. My haiku teacup is mine.

Once I started using my haiku teacup everyday, I knew that Kelly had to have one, too. But Kelly’s not a tea drinker. She is obsessed with coffee. I sent Alexis an email, asking if she could make a haiku coffee cup and she said that she could. She even said she would customize the haiku, and I thought this was the coolest thing.

I told her all about Kelly, how she is this busy writer and a world traveler, how we first met while traveling through South America. About a week later, Alexis emailed me eight different haiku she had written using what I’d told her. I picked one, she made it and shipped it to Kelly . . .

So I unexpectedly get this box in the mail. I had no idea what was inside. When I opened, it though, I was totally thrilled and completely touched.

The haiku on the side of the cup is clearly just for me. It reads:

In these brief moments
Kelly stops to sip coffee
and dreams of Peru

And you know what? Now that I have my haiku coffee cup, I do find myself sipping from it, stopping now and then, and thinking about Peru.

I think about the Peruvian journey I took with Alison, about the four-day trek we did to Machu Picchu and about how that experience forever altered my life. And then I remember that I have Alison to thank for it all as the entire trip had been her idea.

How lucky I am to have a friend like Alison! She is someone who has pushed me to be a better version of myself since I met her so many years ago.

But wait. This isn’t supposed to be a love-letter to Alison. It’s supposed to be a love-letter to my haiku coffee cup.

Maybe, though, they can be one and the same.

The point is, I love my cup. It’s a perfect size, generously proportioned, which is ideal as I’m kind of a coffee fiend.

And it’s mine all mine, as evidenced by the personalized haiku on the side.

And each time I pick it up, I’m reminded of a true friend.