First Thoughts – Jim Kacian’s Haiku Primer 
What’s 84 pages long, with over 31,000 words, from one of the leading names in the world of English-language haiku? Hint: It’s informative and inspired, and was previewed in monthly installments here at f/k/a from December 2003 through January 2005. That’s right, it’s “First Thoughts — A Haiku Primer,” by Jim Kacian – award-winning haiku poet, editor, educator and publisher, as well as f/k/a‘s very first Honored Guest Poet and emissary to the haijin community.
— And it’s now back at f/k/a and available again for free 24/7! —
It‘s been gone too long. We were honored to preview Jim’s Primer in the early days of f/k/a, and excited to be able to share it with readers around the world. When announcing our haiku coup, we said:
Here’s the chance to painlessly learn from a master the delights of haiku — what it is, its history and future, and how to become a skilled reader and author of the genre.
It was indeed disappointing to take the Primer down in November 2006, in anticipation of Jim putting on the finishing touches and making it available at his Red Moon Press website. (We’ve since had many visitors, via Google and Yahoo, looking for the Primer, who were also disappointed.) But, Jim is legendarily busy, with many projects, hobbies, responsibilities, and friends. As a result, the final version of First Thoughts doesn’t yet exist, with no imminent release day. So, we asked for — and Jim graciously granted — permission to re-post the 2005 draft of his Haiku Primer at this website, for the duration of its incubation.
The f/k/a Gang wanted to do something special for 08/08/08. Since we’re not getting married, nor heading to the Olympics, and we’ve got a tiny budget, re-posting First Thoughts is about as special as it’s ever going to get at this home of haiku lovers and writers. The eight is the symbol for prosperity and infinity, and we’re feeling infinitely prosperous thanks to Jim’s ongoing generosity. Please take this opportunity to share and learn from Jim Kacian’s love relationship with haiku.
Here are a pair of poems we first posted in May 2004, when this weblog moved haiku from its Sidebar to center stage:
cemetery
the sharp edges
of the new names
a letter from a prisoner–
the wide spaces
between words. . . by Jim Kacian – from pegging the wind: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2002 (Red Moon Press; Jim Kacian, Ed.)
