The Family Album, by Harold Balazs

Executive-class surrealist illustrated clothbound book limited to 526 copies, 500 numbered and signed by the artist. ISBN 978-1-938928-01-7. 8.5 by 9 inches. 66 un-numbered pages. Published by I-Beam Books. Distributed by Spineless Books. No DJ, no cover art, just pure book.

While the precise circumstances surrounding the origins of The Family Album have been forgotten—Harold has speculated that perhaps the drawings were completed during a period of convalescence, when “heavier” work with metal or concrete was not possible—the desire to reproduce the album for wider distribution has been long-standing. It took Rosemary Balazs’ suggestion that I be commissioned to write some haiku captions to accompany the drawings to finally transform that desire into the book you are reading right now. Thanks, Rose.

Strictly speaking, the captions are not true haiku, since they follow none of the content rules that govern that form. Instead, it would be more accurate to say that the captions are short poems that borrow the haiku stanza: three lines with syllable counts of 5, 7, 5 respectively, for a total of 17 syllables per caption. Given that the captions drew inspiration from Harold’s drawings, they shall hereafter be referred to as “haroldku.”

While composing these haroldku my mantra was: WWEGD? i.e., What Would Edward Gorey Do?—Dirk Stratton, 6-15-2005