Frank J. Tassone

Tag: haibun

  • Junteenth: a Journey

    An impeccably-dressed General Lee presented his sword to a slovenly-uniformed General Grant on April 9th of 1865. The army of Virginia, the great hope of the Confederacy, surrendered. The United States Civil War officially ended on May 13th of the same year. What could that mean for Black slaves in and around Galveston, Texas? Their…

  • Domestic Memory

    An apple tree with a shorn trunk, making for a convenient step. The climbs up to it’s largest branch, and the hours spent imagining adventures. childhood dreams… all those eternal summer days The boxes filled with books, toys, and sentimentals. A new bedroom to call my own. childhood nightmares… the calm before storm The mudroom,…

  • Another Arnold

    Were you ever who you claimed to be? betrayed stares your empty smile moving past just another burnt bridge left behind Day 15 of

  • Performative Perfection

    Poet after poet takes the stage. Each poem, alive in the unique telling of its writer, their cadances conveying their singular vitality. Our heartfelt applause for each one thunders in the cavernous Prudential Hall. Ah, how long until I can partake of all four days of the Dodge Poetry Festival? firelight a blind bard singing…

  • A Jaded View

    With all due respect, Doctor Williams, is it as simple as you say? Honestly, in my humble opinion, it’s more like: depending on  a beat-up  oldsmobile it’s flawed  gas-gauge reading full, while empty Of course, you do you… white chickens pecking the last of the feed neglected beside them a red wheelbarrow A satire of…

  • Prose to Haiku: a Meta-haibunic Dialogue

    I wonder at your brevity. So direct, and to the point. Short, then long, then short: always bending those two images into something new. But couldn’t you just elaborate a little more? Wouldn’t our readers benefit more from a Tik Tok than a snapshot? Look, I know you pride yourself on being the shortest form,…

  • Whose Line is it, Anyway?

    “… is a doormat with an attitude!” It’s one of her many copyrighted expressions. Yes, I live with a master of one-liners. The Bride is the Emma Bombeck of our generation–if I ever convince her to publish a weekly column. She’s also famous for this one (said the night of an Easter Vigil mass): “Skip…

  • Transient Serenade

    Barely past dawn on that wine-dark sea, I heard the sea shanty of distant sailors, on a ship I could not see… “Shiver me timbers this sea breeze so cold!” On, on, pull the line on “Will I see a rich port before I get old?” Give me a hand, and pull the line on…