Frank J. Tassone

Tag: haibun

  • 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.…

  • Coffee-making Mayhem…#npm2018 #NaPoWriMo #GloPoWriMo #senryu #haibun

      “Did you pour water?” As gasping sounds emerge from the coffee maker…   “Why wouldn’t I?” a quick check of the machine anyway…   Reveals a coffee-maker filled with coffee.   But not water.   “Fool of a man! Less poetry, more coffee-making!” As a hastily-added caraf of water pours into a thirsty machine!…

  • First Easter After Dad: an .@ImageCurve #haibun…#napowrimo2018 #npm

    First Easter after Dad       Chocolate-centered pastries; strawberry shortcake; sliced pineapple, melon and cantaloupe: all on platters spread across the row of tables. A pitcher of homemade red wine sits near empty glasses. Mira and her sisters rest on the sofas in the adjoining living room. My brothers-in-law linger at the dining room…

  • #Haikai Challenge #27 (3/31/18): White Lily or Azalea (tsutsuji) #haiku #senryu #haibun #tanka #haiga #renga

    courtesy of  Walsingham | National Shrine of Our Lady at Walsingham     Spring continues to emerge, Haijin! The growing warmth of the season has melted all but the most stubborn patches of snow. Here’s to those of you that joined in the spirit of transformation of this season by sharing in last week’s challenge, Triduum.…

  • #Freestyle Friday (3/30/18): a flashback to “Empty Signs on a Sacred Day #haibun #npm17 #napowrimo2017”

    Originally posted on Frank J. Tassone: I see the sun and wonder why. A clear blue sky doesn’t suit Good Friday. Where are the black clouds? Where is the imminent sense of a universe screaming? Robins, sparrows and cardinals mark their territory in song. A distant dogwood has the audacity to bloom. Meanwhile, inside the house,…