Frank J. Tassone

Tag: haibun

  • 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!…

  • ’14 Summer Swansong (part 2): my latest @ImageCurve #haibun

    August 25th The car rattles up the first hill, reaches the top, then ever so slowly passes over it. Wheels thunder on iron rails, while screams arise from passengers, as it rushes down. Mira shakes as she reaches a beach adjoining the coaster. Throughout the rest of our visit to Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom,…

  • November Mourning: a #tankaprose

    11/13/19: November Song It’s a seasonal sensation, an ever-repeating que. All Saint’s Day follows Halloween, and that kaleidescope of Autumn foliage falls. Election day follows, and the winds pick up. Veterans day comes, and the leaves pile up. By the Weekend before Thanksgiving, bare maples, Birches and oaks stand over their piles and piles of…

  • A November with Basho, Day 19

    After several days, clouds gathering over the North Road, we left Sakata reluctantly, aching at the thought of a hundred thirty miles to the provincial capital of Kaga. We crossed the Nezu Barrier into Echigo Province, and from there went on to Ichiburi Barrier in Etchu, restating our resolve all along the way. Through nine…

  • A November with Basho, Day 18

    Sitting in the temple chamber with the blinds raised, we saw the whole lagoon, Mount Chokai holding up the heavens inverted on the water. To the west the road leads to the Muyamuya Baarrier; to the east it cuarves along a bank toward Akita; to the north, the sea comes in on tide flats at…