My contributions to the now-defunct MagnaPoets Japanese Form group weblog (under the proprietorship of the enviably multi-talented Aurora Antonovic, editor of the MagnaPoets Journal) were too numerous and too enjoyable to risk losing them as the Journal goes through changes. So, I’ve decided to collect many of them here at f/k/a for future reference. Most of the posts were haiga, but there were also many single haiku and senryu, along with an occasional sequence of poems. Included are dozens of “Nostalgia Haiga” incorporating photos taken by my mother (Mama G.) over half a century ago. [update: I did not finish this project, but am glad to have salvaged quite a few of the haiga.]
The photos in the haiga below were taken by my lawyer brother Art Giacalone, or by my mother Connie M. Giacalone, a/k/a Mama G (plus one by Yu Chang and one by myself). They are presented in reverse-chronological order.
February 11, 2008:
a broken heart carved
on the frozen pond —
fish bucket emptyphoto & poem: David Giacalone; poem published at Simply Haiku (Haiku Section, vol. 6 no. 3, Fall 2008)
January 30, 2008
sunset stroll –
searching snowbanks
for butterfliesphoto: Yu Chang; poem: David Giacalone (in mem Arthur P. Giacalone, see post)
June 27, 2007
lull in the parade
small hands reach
for the same balloon
– orig. version of poem in a haiga, 45th WHA Haiga Contest (May 2007)
– above haiga, with poem slightly revised (thanks AA), at MagnaPoetsJF (June 1, 2007)
May 25, 20007
Memorial Day
fireworks
and fireflies
– Forest Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo, NY
May 22, 2007
POEM: DAVID GIACALONE
PHOTO: ARTHUR GIACALONE
May 17, 2007
POEM: DAVID GIACALONE
orig. pub. in different form Roadrunner Journal V:4
PHOTO: MAMA G.
May 16, 2007
POEM: AURORA ANTONOVIC
PHOTO: MAMA G.
May 13, 2007
[Mama G. and the boys, 1950]
POEM: DAVID GIACALONE
PHOTO: UNKNOWN
May 10, 2007
POEM: DAVID GIACALONE
PHOTO: ARTHUR GIACALONE
May 9, 2007
POEM: DAVID GIACALONE
PHOTO: MAMA G (1952)
May 6, 2007
POEM: DAVID GIACALONE
PHOTO: MAMA G
May 4, 2007
LETCHWORTH STATE PARK, NY [”Grand Canyon of the East”]
Poem: DAVID GIACALONE
Photo: ARTHUR GIACALONE
May 2, 2007
the lawn crunches
Spring’s first bocce match
postponed.
poem: DAVID GIACALONE
photo: ARTHUR GIACALONEORIG. PUB. Simply Haiku 5:1 (Spring 2007)
May 1, 2007
alone at dusk
footsteps approach
from behindpoem: DAVID GIACALONE
photo: ARTHUR GIACALONEORIG. pub. in color WHA Haiga Contest #44 (April 2007)
April 28, 2007
grandma’s roses
still standing
bocce balls back in their sackpoem: DAVID GIACALONE
photo: MAMA G.(contrast with prior sunday afternoon haiga)
April 26, 2007
lipstick on his
coffee mug –
steam risingphoto: ARTHUR GIACALONE
poem: DAVID GIACALONE
April 25, 2007
light show
behind eyelids –
free admissionpoem: DAVID GIACALONE
photo: ARTHUR GIACALONE
April 24, 2007
the lifeboat
suddenly too small –
his guilty facepoem: David Giacalone
photo: Mama G.
April 22, 2007
round and round with you
dancing
on thin icepoem: David Giacalone (discussion)
photo: Arthur Giacalone (orig.photo)
April 20, 2007
another
another
horeseless carriage
we doff our hatspoem: DAVID GIACALONE
photo: MAMA G.
April 18, 2007
first date
sneaking a peek
at the full moonpoem: DAVID GIACALONE
photo: ARTHUR GIACALONE
April 15, 2007
tax deadline
we count dependents
and contributionspoem: DAVID GIACALONE
photo: MAMA G.
April 12, 2007
boundary issues?
double-occupancy
womb.
.
.
.
.
poem: DAVID GIACALONE
photo: MAMA. G.
April 11, 2007
April 7, 2007
sunday afternoon –
after braciole
a little boccepoem: DAVID GIACALONE
photo: MAMA G.
April 4, 2007
easter snow
the egg hunt
lasts a little longerpoem: david giacalone
photo: arthur giacalone
April 2, 2007
rain on
my bald spot –
recalling dry-scalp Aprils. . . . . david giacalone
photo: MAMA G.(1970)
April 1, 2007
MangiaPoets –
you cut and
i’ll choosepoem: DAVID GIACALONE
photo: MAMA G.
March 31, 2007
spring in the air . . .
santa brings grandpa’a
last baseball glovepoem: DAVID GIACALONE
photo: MAMA G.– see/hear npr on Baseball Haiku –
March 30, 2007
Spring arrives –
peeps melting
on the dashboardpoem: DAVID GIACALONE, orig. pub Simply Haiku (Winter 2005)
photo: MAMA G.
March 29, 2007
Palm Sunday
we polish off
the Easter candypoem: David Giacalone
photo: Mama G.