Frank J. Tassone

Tag: haikai

  • A November with Basho, Day 7

    Crossed on the ferry at Tsukinowa to the post town of Se-no-ue to see the ruins that were Sato Shoji’s house, beyond town to the left, near the mountains. We were told to look at Saba Moor in Iizuka, and we eventually came to Maru Hill where the castle ruins lay. Seeing the main gate…

  • A November with Basho, Day 6

    A little anxious, thinking of the Shirakawa Barrier, thinking on it day by day; but calmed my mind by remembering the old poem, “somehow sending word home.” I walked through heavy green summer forests. Many a poet inscribed a few words at one of the Three Barriers–“Autumn Winds” and “Red Maple Leaves” come to mind.…

  • A November with Basho, Day 5

    At Ashino, the willow Saigyo praised, “beside the clear stream,” still grows along a path in fields of rice. A local official had offered to lead the way, and I had often wondered whether and where it remained. And now, today, that same willow: Rice-planting done, they depart–before I emerge from willow shade Our Maple…

  • A November with Basho, Day 4

    Set out to see the Murder Stone, Sessho-seki, on a borrowed horse, and the man leading it asked for a poem. “Something beautiful, please.” The horse turns his head– from across the wide plain, a cuckoo’s cry Basho, “Narrow Road to the Interior,” Translated by Sam Hamil, The Essential Basho, pg. 8-9 Another Momento Mori…

  • A November with Basho, Day 3

    On the first day of the fourth moon, climbed to visit the shrines on a mountain once called Two Wildernesses, renamed by Kukai when he dedicated the shrine. Perhaps he saw a thousand years into the future, this shrine under sacred skies, his compassion endlessly scattered through the eight directions, falling equally, peacably, on all…

  • A November with Basho, Day 2

    Very Early on the twenty-seventh morning of the third moon, under a predawn haze, transparent moon barely visible, Mount Fuji just a shadow, I set out under the cherry blossoms of Ueno and Yanaka. When would I see them again?… Spring passes and the birds cry out– tears in the eyes of fishes Sam Hamill…

  • A November with Basho, Day 1

    Poet Jane Dougherty led us on a November journey in 2017, when she hosted a W.B Yeats challenge in lieu of #NaNoWriMo. Inpired by her example, I have decided to embark on a comparable journey. This november I will post excerpts from “The Narrow Road to the Interior” (Translation by Sam Hamill) by master poet…

  • PSA: the #Haikai Challenge is still open!

    It’s not too late to get your spooky on! Share your #haikai today! #Haikai Challenge #110 (10/26/19): Halloween/Samhain #haiku #senryu #haibun #tanka #haiga #renga