Cafe Haiku by Zenbu Nometa and Jeffrey Goldsmith

An American photographer and a Japanese poet met in a New York City café. The culmination of that meeting is the book Cafe Haiku, a collection of photographs and haiku poetry with a café/coffee theme. The photographs are vivid black and white scenes of the elements of a café; from the laptop taping techs to the cigarette waving philosophers to the jars of stirring sticks and display cases of pastries. The poetry ranges from whimsical to romantic, with some contemplation in between.

I read this brief collection while sipping an Americano (with half-n-half) at the café around the corner from my house. Unfortunately, the noise of conversations around me in the crowded space did not allow for much contemplation. My attention was drawn to the more whimsical poems and pictures. Particularly one photograph of a tin labeled Cinnamon resting on a marbled table top. The haiku that accompanied the picture expressed the complexity of modern café accoutrements:

How did the bark of
trees end up in can we
sprinkle on milk foam?

This book will be comfortable on both a coffee table or a bookshelf in a café.