Frank J. Tassone

Tag: haibun

  • Arising: a #quadrille #haibun

    Sprawled in the mud. A night’s broken sleep. A day’s pressing demands. The cicadas cackle anyway. Leaves still rustle in a passing breeze. Life goes on. Everyone riding dragons gets thrown. The true riders get back up. cool evening a place to make a stand for dVerse Poets’ Quadrille 133, hosted by Lisa. The Pub…

  • Augustal Exhortion: a #haibun

    Why should the eighth month not bear my name? Did I not bring peace to the Empire? Is not my reign the inauguration of the Pax Romana? Did I not expand our territory while maintaining the peace? Oh, but some of you cry, “Republic!” Others whisper, “Tyrant!” Is it the Republic you desire? Would that…

  • Heart Smile Flow: a #TankaProse

    The flow of conversation with a friend seen for the third time in three weekends. How easily we weave between topics, while our wives and sons engage in their own. The flow of our steps as we stride our neighborhood streets. How we talk like the best friends we are ten days after our 21st…

  • Watercourse Wayfaring: a #Quadrille #haibun

    A kayak on a placid river. A leaf afloat on a babbling brook. A rock smoothed over years by a rushing stream. A twig carried away in a creek. Let running water have its course. It will anyway. flowing in and out the tide De Jackson host’s #Quadrille #132 over at dVerse, where we stream…

  • Story-whispering: a #haibun

    There is a story. It eludes my grasp. When I work to shape it’s contours, it soars beyond me. birdsongs the rival for territory continues There is a story. It teases and hints at being told. When I reach for its structure, it crouches back into shadows. traffic drone another cicada sounds off There is…

  • A Night of Mid-90’s Nostalgia: a #quadrille #haibun

    An unsentimental, staccato trumpet sounds out from a coffee bar jukebox. The click of que-ball against stripe joins the ominous rhythm accompanying the melody line. A milk steamer hisses: a gurgled, high-pitch screech drops in tone. A murmering audience gathers for an Open Mic. Welcome to Caffeine Jones… “Bitches Brew” a sip of cappuccino before…

  • Hortus Trinitatis

    Lush flora, bathing Eden’s morning air in a delicate aromal song. Dafodils, rhododendrums, a kaleidescope of perennials and annuals: a blissful variety tantalizing sight and smell alike! And yet amidst perfection, an offered temptation to take what is not given. A temptation yielded to, with that all too familiar sense of entitlement, that pride, urging…

  • DC/Shenandoah ’21 Travel Notes, Day 4 (7/6/21)

    A simple breakfast in the unit, overlooking the Blue Ridge Mountains. After orienting ourselves to Shenandoah National Park’s map, we decide on a short out-and-back hike close to the nearest entrance to the park. Frank takes the wheel again, and we race down Rt. 33 East toward the Swift Run Gap entrance. $30 for a…