Haikus from my countertops | Jean-Marie Gourio

"Haikus are small Japanese poems, in three verses, very light, ephemeral, which capture the moment in a few words.

In the thirty years that I have been browsing the cafes for the Brèves de comptoir, I have found that there is in these ephemeral discussions of bars a poetic form twin to Japanese haiku.

Impregnated with this little music, I wrote these few 'counter haikus', followed by short texts, "Summer at the counter", "Thoughts in a hurry", "Dreams of counter".

I liked the idea of this light little book. Concise too, like these Japanese poems. Ephemeral like them.

A little lucky book that we would offer ourselves. That we would lend ourselves. Who would hang out on the tables of cafes, those of living rooms. On the benches. In the sun. And also in the morning mist, stuffed in the hollow of the pocket, in the rain. In the crowd of the subway.

A little book friend. »

J.-M. Gourio