The political-punditry devil who lurks within the heart of the f/k/a Gang has been dying to write about the presidential nomination process, despite our continuing “no politics” pledge.
To resist the old Temptor within, we’ve needed a project that would fully occupy our idle minds and hands during the run-up to Super Tuesday and its aftermath all this past week (see CNN Election 2008). As a result, dagosan has finally tackled a task that — despite the occasional request by a fevered (and sometimes really cute) fan — has been repeatedly pushed from the top of our To-Do list: bringing the published haiku of David Giacalone together on one webpage. Thus, after avoiding the devil’s workshop trap (while treading lightly on the sinful thin ice of pride and self-aggrandizement), we are pleased to announce the compilation and posting of:
“the published haiku of david giacalone (2005 – 2007)” 
As noted on the compilation page, my haiku and senryu were first accepted for publication in haiku journals in early 2005. Here are the first two:
alone —
hugging
warm laundry
new paperback —
the sun sets
without me
– from The Heron’s Nest (March 2005)
The page is for the one or two kind souls interested in following my progress in this poetic genre — but not interested enough to click all of the links in my dagosan haikai archives, much less searching the back pages of f/k/a, or my personal poetry weblogs (dagosan’s haiku diary and simply senryu) or group weblogs such as Magnapoets Japanese Form. I’ve brought together each of the poems which were selected by journal or anthology editors for publication in 2005 through 2007, and presented them, in chronological order of their appearance, with hyperlinks provided to all of the pieces available online.
Going through my one-breath poems again has been both encouraging and humbling. (Made even more humbling, as I uploaded the page, by the release this afternoon of the annual The Heron’s Nest Readers Choice Awards, Vol. IX, 2007, which honors some of the true super-stars of modern English-language haiku, and will be featured here at f/k/a tomorrow; and by the recent launch of young Collin Barber’s haiku weblog, which features his impressive collection of published work). My batch of about 90 haiku and senryu is big enough to feel good about, without being too large to handle on one page of a weblog.
The process of reviewing my earliest poems, and deciding to shine a spotlight on them, caused a few thoughts I’d like to share:
- I wish I hadn’t stopped my self-imposed obligation to write at least one poem a day “good enough to post at my weblog without being too embarrassed.” That discipline produced many more poems worth submitting to journals than my current haphazard approach to penning poems. As with my academic and legal careers, like my Cartoon Buddy Calvin, I need deadlines to be productive. On the other hand, I’m not possessed by the constant need to submit poems to journals and contests, and I’m glad that there is no inner fear that I must publish or perish as a haiku poet.
- Experience and evolving tastes and preferences (see, e.g., my essay on “tell-ems“), makes me want to edit a bunch of them, but I’m satisfied with learning from my own mistakes.
- Many thanks to all the haiku poets living and dead who have inspired, instructed, and encouraged me (especially our f/k/a Honored Guest Poets). And thanks to readers of this weblog, and a handful of kith and kin, who have let me share my enthusiasm for haiku, and even caught the fever from me.
I do not believe that a poem has to be accepted by leading haiku journals or publications, to be valuable or successful. But, a little validation from a respected editor can still brighten the day of all us aspiring haikai writers. I hope at least a few of the poems in my “published oeuvre” win your approval, too.