Frank J. Tassone

Tag: haibun

  • Mystery: a Gerry Muse #TankaProse

    11/30/2019: Gerry Muse #183 (mystery) Why do you draw closer? Did the fate of your forebearers mean nothing? I offer you only hardship and ruin. Snow covered trails, rockslides, scrambles and switch-backs: Only the insane attempt such ascents. Yes, I know you want to gaze out at the summit. Savor the Vista so few see.…

  • A November with Basho, Day 23

    Author’s note: I’m afraid that my November with Basho ends today. Unfortunately, due to illness, work demands, and Thanksgiving, I could not keep up. I hope you’ve enjoyed the journey. Sora, suffering from persistent stomach ailments, was forced to return to his relatives in Nagashima in Ise Province. His parting words: sick to the bone…

  • ’14 Summer Swansong (part 3): my latest .@ImageCurve #haibun

    August 27th The water covers our ankles, and it’s still cold after a summer’s worth of sun. A few steps in, and waves crash against our knees. The undertow pulls and pulls. Frankie soon lets the riptides carry him back to the beach. surf and turf sunlight at our back We all walk east on…

  • Thanksgiving Prep ’19

    Mira and I rise from bed before seven. Twenty-one of our family will arrive for Thanksgiving by one in the afternoon. Brief–and individual–breakfasts precede the first labors. While Mira prepares and begins to cook the turkey, Frank and I bring up tables and chairs. He soon has tablecloths and plate settings in place. I review…

  • A November with Basho, Day 22

    Along the road to Yamanaka Hot Springs, Mount Shirane rose behind our backs. At the foot of a mountain to our left we found a small temple to compassionate Kannon. After the retired Emperor Kazan had made a pilgrimage to the thirty-three western temples, he enshrined an image of the bodhisattva Kannon here, naming the…

  • A November with Basho, Day 21

    At a village called Komatsu: Aptly named Komatsu Child Pine, a breeze blows over pampas and clover Here we visited Tada Shrine to see Sanemori’s helmet and a piece of his brocade armor-cloth presented to him by Lord Yoshitomo when he served the Genji clan. His helmet was no common soldier’s gear: engraved with chrysanthemums…

  • A November with Basho, Day 20

    We crossed Mount Unohana and Kurikara Valley at noon on the fifteenth day of the seventh moon and entered Kanazawa, there we took rooms at an inn with a merchant from Osaka, a Mr. Kansho, who was in town to attend memorial services for the haiku poet Issho, locally renowned for his verse and devotion…

  • #Haikai Challenge #114 (11/23/19): Thanksgiving #haiku #senryu #haibun #tanka #haiga #renga

    I trust you enjoyed frolicking with your foliage, haijin? I certainly had my fun with fallen leaves! Congratulations to last week’s contributors: Haikai Challenge Participants 1. Peter2. Deborah3. Jade Li/Lisa4. Dwight L. Roth 5. Reena Saxena6. Indira7. Tessa8. Linda Lee Lyberg 9. Jules10. Xenia Tran11. Revived Writer12. Janice Powered by… Mister Linky’s Magical Widgets. Onward!…