Book of the Week: High Fashion: Haiku by Adjei Agyei-Baah With Photographs by Jerome Berglund

This chapbook is a collaboration between the poet Adjei Agyei-Baah and photographer Jerome Berglund.

Adjei is the primary author of the four Haikupedia articles about African haiku. He is the co-founder of Africa Haiku Network and The Mamba (Africa’s premiere haiku journal). He teaches English and Literature at the University of Ghana’s School of Continuing and Distance Education.

Jerome graduated from the cinema-television production program at the University of Southern California. He has devoted much of his career working in television and photography and his work has been featured in many prominent journals.

In the Introduction, Jerome writes about the photographs in the book – “These poems within do not describe the photos with which they are paired and are in no way meant to besmirch, malign, or scandalize the wonderful talent whose images I am elated to share with you here. World renowned haiku poet Adjei Agyei-Baah suggested this project as an opportunity to exhibit some of my favorite fine art fashion photographs from a portfolio of work encompassing nearly two decades of amateur dabbling. Agyei-Baah provided his provocative, tempestuous verses as a jumping off point, challenging me to search my archives for striking images which might complement, vibe to, contrast, or in different ways interestingly pair with his fascinating poetic material.”

Sample haiku from the book include:

wedding photoshoot –
the bridesmaid
winks at me

The Milky Way…
getting lost in the navel
of a model

Capturing
fashion moments…
my camera clicks
behind time

evening rain
the prostitute’s fire
dying out

You can read the entire book in the THF Digital Library and please share your favorite poem from the book with us.

Do you have a chapbook published in 2018 or earlier that you would like featured as a Book of the Week? Contact us for details. Haiku featured in the Book of the Week Archive are selected by THF Digital Librarian Dan Campbell and are used with permission.