Travel," says the book to the reader, "travel your mind with me. I'll be your companion finding a new way to appreciate the reading of short poetry adequate to the spiritual challenges of our time." From the early western translations of what was once imported from China and Japan, to the attempt of blending it with our own poetry 
traditions, this anthology is a step one likes to give a lot of attention. And, with the intense help of introductions by co-authors Lucien Stryk and Kevin Bailey, the acorn book of contemporary haiku seems to ask the reader some pressing questions. After telling us the historical developments of the Asian influences in Europe since the 1880s, Kevin Bailey goes on to point to Art Nouveau and Jugendstil art styles, to explain how the messages worked their roads deep into the different arts of Europe and later over to North America. It was long over-due to see a British and an American editor together to take their chance to enlarge the picture and influence of contemporary haiku. Kevin Bailey wrote, chapter 4:
" A Strange and Happy Meeting
There will always be the haiku purists. The haiku is a traditional poetic form native to Japan, and there it should and will be preserved. But when haiku and other Japanese verse forms have been mauled, digested, and regurgitated by their own poets, and cast out of polite and innocent national isolation to be preyed upon by Imagism, Symbolism, Minimalism, and hundred and one other cultural influences, the beast we're left with has had to adapt to survive. It is notable that many non-Japanese haiku magazines try to protect the haiku like some endangered animal, by giving it only a little literary space in which to roam free of the predatory attentions of mainstream poetry. This is done quite appropriately in its native land, fused as it is with Zen philosophy and culture, but it is an insult to the nature of literary evolution not to allow the form to mutate and hybridize within whatever cultural habitat it has become established."
As one strolls slowly along with all of the hundred and forty poets from twenty-five countries presented here, aren't there many of the short lines in this anthology clearly pointing in a new direction, leaving much of the dependency to the former term haiku behind them? Why don't we consider joining the bigger literary scene, which for long has integrated the form without using a Japanese term for it? This new anthology shows that western writers know how to blend the old haiku techniques with the 
poetical spirits of our short and longer western poetry forms. Our language, and here English language poetry, is by no means a toy in the hands of foreign rulers. In fact, it is one of our cultural forms of survival. The authors and the publishers of the acorn book of contemporary haiku paved the way and moved the poetry of this short form closer to mainstream poetry. With a twinkle in one eye I would like to add one more thought. Today, physicists, chemists, biologists and other scientists discover structure-building processes of self-organizing biological principles. DNS 
seems especially well working for the development of nano structures. One 
would like to state, that in poetry the writers are also "engineering down" the structures of language. Then, similarly with what we learned from mother nature and of what the scientists with their findings are reminding us, we're "engineering up" letters, syllables, and words building an artistically formed new whole, the poem. There is a bell ringing: Are the energies created by poets are soon going to get
company by scientifically developed processes? If the processes themselves will at least partly become compatible, in which way will the results differ? Are you, the reader of the acorn book of contemporary haiku  tempted to find new criteria for reading and writing short poetry? With a beautiful cover design, layout and typesetting, the publishers of the acorn book company produced a book that is a joy to look at, and they offered it for a price that is very reasonable. The over four hundred poems are neither organized alphabetically nor seasonal. But thanks to Lucien Stryk and Kevin Bailey, there is indeed a spiritual concept for the book that feels very adequate to old and new western thinking. To go ahead with a poetical principle, here are some examples taken from the book, necessarily a selection by the limitations of a reviewer, blended together. Can you imagine what kind of surprises you yourself will find holding the anthology in your hands?
Review first published in LYNX 16:1 at AHApoetry.com

I like to collect Bailey School Kids Books and they are good.That one wasn't the worst one but wasn't the best. But the authors did a good job.

The author traveled along the fortified border that used to divide East and Western Europe. The most detailed descriptions are those of the separation of Germany including Berlin. There are several conversations and trips with border patrol officials. There are no photographs.

This book is nicely devided into sections pertaining the different fish families. Information is given on general husbandry, feeding and also breeding. It covers the most commonly available fishes. Another nice feature for the beginning hobbyist of this book is (IMHO) the fact that it consistently gives you the scientific name followed by the common name. The informative text is lined with nice pictures. I can recommend this book to anyone who is starting out in the hobby. For the more advanced hobbyist it is a "nice thing to have" (if you are like me are always expanding your fish library :-)) but does not add much to the information you probably already have in other publications. The main reason I bought it is because it is the first publication I found that contained a picture of Hypancistrus zebra eventhough the information about this fish is minimal at best and didn't teach me anything I didn't already know.

This text is a timely and insightful work. The authors give a good overview of the major assessment instruments used in Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education. Procedural guidelines, cultural validity and family concerns are also discussed. I found that the book is a great reference tool to go back to when questions arise! I would recommend this book to anyone working in the field of Special Education.

This is another fine collection of Beetle Bailey strips that is sure to please any fan.

This is a comprehensive work. As I medical student I found this very useful. Especially the different size text for different subject matter. The surgery techniques are explained lucidly and its very easy to understand the whole text.

This is an excellectent selection of Beetle Bailey strips from the early 1970s. The highlight is when creator Mort Walker "desegregated" the strip by adding the first black character, the flamboyant Lt. Flap. Any fan of the strip will greatly enjoy this selection.

This book contains daily strips from June 22, 1990 to November 13, 1990. This is the typical small Jove paperback which is done for this series. Mort Walker introduces a new character to the strip in the form of Corporal Yo. This is an American soldier of Japanese decent. He's not a very funny character and many will find that the jokes with him are very topical and don't carry well today. Other than that, the rest of the humor is pretty good. Fans of Beetle Bailey should go ahead and add this to their collection if they can find it.

"Take Ten" is a good collection of older Beetle Bailey cartoons for those who love the strip.