Timepieces: Haiku Week at-a-Glance 1993

First published in Woodnotes #16, Spring 1993, page 30–31. See also Timepieces 1994 and Timepieces 1995.

Timepieces: Haiku Week At-a-Glance 1993, edited by David Priebe. Cloverleaf Books, 1993, 116 pages, spiral-bound paperback, 6 by 8½ inches, $12.00 postpaid from the editor at Haiku Headlines, 1347 West 71st Street, Los Angeles, California, 90044-2505 [address no longer correct]. Contains 365 haiku and senryu by 87 poets, including contest prize winners chosen by James W. Hackett, arranged in a cycle for the year 1993. While the premise for this book is that all poems are supposedly 5-7-5, skeptics of the “traditional” form should be pleasantly surprised by the quality of many haiku in this collection. More amazing is the fact that the editor reports that more than 600 copies is a wonderful idea, and Priebe’s arrangement is entirely successful. The book’s of this book have already been sold. Arranging 365 poems though the days of the year printing, however, could be better. But given the sweep of this book’s poems, and the many surprises they contain, the somewhat steep cost of $12.00 should remain only a small barrier. A sample by Helen J. Sherry:

the old man watches

wisteria petals fall . . .

his thinning gray hair