Frank J. Tassone

Tag: haibun

  • #Haikai Challenge #28 (4/7/18): first [cherry] blossoms (hatsu hana)…#haiku #senryu #haibun #tanka #haiga #renga

      The Spring and Winter continue to dual in the Northeastern United States, haijin! Snow fell Thursday morning and melted away by Thursday afternoon. Nevertheless, the cold fights a rearguard action against the march of warmth.   Congratulations to last week’s contributors:   Haikai Challenge Participants  1. Jane Dougherty 2. Jules 3. Xenia Tran 4.…

  • A Vernal bow

      The first daffodil of the season bows its blossom like a subject before her sovereign.   sunlight through clouds how long until cherry blossoms   For Carpe Diem #1402 Daffodils (one-bun)          

  • Song of Boudica

      Why, Romans? You came to my home while my husband burned and declared yourselves my master. When I dared to disagree, you flogged me in my own courtyard and raped my daughters. Why?   I ask you, instead: why do you dare to ask?   tears that will not dry a murder of crows…

  • #Freestyle Friday (4/6/18): a little “Tai Chi Practice” courtesy of .@ImageCurve

    Tai Chi Practice     “White Crane Spreads its Wings” Sunlight rippling off the Ramapo River Deep breath in. During commencement, I raise soft, rounded arms. They ascend, roll and descend. Deep breath out. As I pivot and “roll the ball.” Empty, fill. Breathe in, breathe out. Brush knee left. Then the rest of the…

  • A Natural History of My Holy Places

    Photo by Matt Cannon on Unsplash   The enclosed portch of our basement apartment in a three-family house. A tricycle turned upside-down. The hum of its spinning wheels, opening me…    shimmering sunlight across a rippling lake   The wooded path opens to a green hill with memorial stones. A paved road passes a waterfall, its roar reminding…

  • #Throwdown Thursday (4/5/18): Losing Grandma…my latest #haibun on .@ImageCurve

    Losing Grandma     I don’t remember Grandma’s death. The only flash of memory is a snippet of conversation, and a flash of grief and concern on Mom’s face. My most clear memory of Grandma: she would squeeze my cheeks between her index and middle fingers and then twist. Simultaneously, her Calabrais face in mine,…

  • “Call me…”

    Photo by Yianni Tzan on Unsplash   Never mind my name. Our true names have power, and why would I willingly offer anyone such power over me? This is what you can call me.   Daybreak … silence broken by songbirds   Call me Bard. Hear the verses I recite. See the sweeping plains razed by the west…

  • #Publication Alert: Hoeing Grief appears in Cattails!

    Pleased that my haibun Hoeing Grief appears in Cattails, April 2018!   Hoeing Grief   By Frank J. Tassone, USA   Dad places Robert on one part of our terrace garden and me, on the other. This way we can’t accidentally hurt each other. Robert rakes while I tear at the ground with a hoe.…