A Haiku Path:
The Haiku Society of America 1968–1988
A Haiku Path: The Haiku Society of America 1968–1988 edited by the Haiku Society of America Twentieth Anniversary Book Committee. Haiku Society of America, Inc., 1994, xiv + 402 pages, paperback, 7 by 10 inches. $27.95 plus postage (inquire) from Raffael de Gruttola, HSA Treasurer, 4 Marshall Road, Natick, Massachusetts 01760 [address no longer correct]. After much anticipation, this long-awaited history/anthology of the Haiku Society of America’s first twenty years is now available. Dedicated to cofounder Harold G. Henderson (a photograph of Henderson is included), A Haiku Path chronicles the HSA’s rich and varied history since the group’s beginnings in 1968. This large-sized book offers dozens of essays, either new or culled from the pages of Frogpond or elsewhere, engaging discussions from early HSA meetings, many reminiscences, and hundreds of poems. Topics include definitions of haiku, discussions of punctuation, sound, and nature in haiku, renga, Jack Kerouac, African-American haiku, and much more. Especially enjoyable are interviews with or reminiscences of Harold G. Henderson, and early haiku pioneers Foster Jewell, Raymond Roseliep, and Nick Virgilio. In addition to dozens of essays, the book’s third section offers all the winning poems from HSA’s many contests over the years (to 1988), and selections from books winning the HSA’s Merit Book Awards. In this way, A Haiku Path serves as a monumental chronicle of haiku in English. Contributions from California poets include Garry Gay’s cover photograph, Tom Tico’s recollections of and correspondence with Harold G. Henderson, and an afterword by Michael Dylan Welch [who also did all layout, design, and copyediting]. A Haiku Path is vital reading for anyone interested in haiku and its coming of age in North America. This essential book offers much of great import to poets, scholars, and anyone else interested in the art and craft of haiku. (If you donated to the HSA’s twentieth anniversary book fund, you should be receiving your copy soon. Otherwise, be sure to order a copy today.)
An additional note, first published in Woodnotes #23, Winter 1994, page 48:
A Haiku Path: The Haiku Society of America 1968–1988 edited by the Haiku Society of America Twentieth Anniversary Book Committee. Haiku Society of America, Inc., 1994, xiv + 402 pages, paperback, 7 by 10 inches. $21.95 postpaid for HSA members; $27.95 postpaid for nonmembers. Add $2.00 for postage outside the United States. Please send checks (payable to the “Haiku Society of America”) to Doris Heitmeyer, Secretary, Haiku Society of America, 315 E. 88th Street, Apt. 1F, #42, New York, New York 10128 [address no longer correct]. If you are also interested in joining the Haiku Society of America, dues for 1995 are $20.00, and include four issues of Frogpond, four issues of the HSA Newsletter, and other incidental mailings.