haikai

Presence: A #Haibun (4/26/2021): Day 26 of #NationalPoetryMonth

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Photo by Olya Kobruseva on Pexels.com

Fresh crabapple leaves flutter. The mantle clock tick-tocks, tick-tocks. Frank’s voice carries from beyond his closed door. I walk to the couch, grab a pillow, and return to my seat at the dining room table. The Syracuse windchimes sound off.

A roar soft as a sated lion: the new windchimes ring out. Branches sway like stadium fans performing “the wave,” as both sets harmonize. Clear sky, a deckrail aglow in reflected light, and yet these temepsts!

I ignored moments like these when I let the strife of dashed expectations overwhelm me. I brooded, with a clenched gut and knotted shoulders, over many disastrous tomorrows that never came. I regretted, with a lumped throat and sore heart, over many desolate yesterdays that weren’t.

Not today. Now, I savor these dull, arthritic aches, and the woosh of wind. I relish the ticking clock and muffled conversations from the office below. I delight in being startled by drooping dogwood blossoms, the neighbors’ blooming violets and overly thin golden retriever, the aftertaste of sweet potatoe tortilla chips.

Just this.

sudden warmth

atop the light fixture

robin’s nest

I’m hosting #HaibunMonday over at dVerse Poets’ Pub today. We are writing about the present moment. Come join us!

Categories: haikai, haiku community

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Published by Frank J. Tassone

Husband, Father, Writer, Teacher. American Haijin. Because Haikai matters!

44 replies »

  3. I love the use of sound in your haibun, Frank: the clock, Frank’s voice, the windchimes, all of which transport me to the scene; I also like the shift to feelings: the clenched gut, knotted shoulders, lumped throat and sore heart, and the way you bring them all together in the final paragraph – and then end on an ‘aftertaste of sweet potato tortilla chips’!

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  4. I love the notion that “Frank’s voice” somehow puts you in the third person, listening to yourself beg, cajole or pontificate. Your piece is a fine illustration of your prompt request.

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  5. Nice one, the sounds the sights oh and the relishof sweet potato. Yougotme with this one, iam completely absorbed

    Happy Monday
    Much💛love

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  15. Pingback: Why Would I? | A Dalectable Life

  16. I really like this line,
    ” I delight in being startled by drooping dogwood blossoms, the neighbors’ blooming violets and overly thin golden retriever, the aftertaste of sweet potato tortilla chips.”
    This makes me smile. It sounds like joy in the small things.
    Thanks for the prompt.
    Ali

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  17. At my age, I shouldn’t find peace and calm in the tick of a clock, but I do. My old clocks need rewinding daily, the way I feel often – needing to be rewound in the morning. Your haibun is very relatable.

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  23. your descriptions took my breath away, Frank. The images here pop out from words to clear images: I delight in being startled by drooping dogwood blossoms, the neighbors’ blooming violets and overly thin golden retriever, the aftertaste of sweet potatoe tortilla chips.

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