Frank J. Tassone

Tag: haibun

  • ’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…

  • PSA (11/20/19)

    Where was I yesterday, you ask? Why only four posts the day before? Funny story, really: It started with a sore throat. I had wrestled with some random bug that left me with a post-nasal drip. I woke up Monday dizzy, fatigued, and in full-blown head cold syndrome. After resting most of the day, I…

  • A November with Basho, Day 17

    After all the breathtaking views of rivers and mountains, lands and seas, after everything we’d seen, thoughts of seeing Kisakata’s famous bay still made my heart begin to race. Twenty miles north of Sakata Harbor, as we walked the sandy shore beneath mountains where sea winds wander, a storm came up at dusk and covered…

  • A November with Basho, Day 16

    After leaving Haguro, we came to the castle town of Tsuru-ga-oka…and were greated by the samurai Nagayama Shigeyuki. We composed a round of haiku, bid farewell, and started by boat down the Mogami, bound for Sakata Harbor… From Hot Sea Mountain southward to Windy Beach the evening cools Basho, “The Narrow Road to the Interior,”…

  • ’14 Summer Swansong (part 1): my latest @ImageCurve #haibun

    More than a week has passed. Out of a two-month summer vacation, two days remain. Impressions: last bitter taste of morning coffee cicada song August 23rd We take the mandatory photo at the Statue of Liberty. An overcast sky hangs above her torch. We’ve put on long-sleeves. Frankie is happier racing on the ledge—until we…