A Moment of Vocational Repentance

by Frank J. Tassone · 22 November 2018

a yellow reading armchair in a brightly lit living room

Mira calls us to dinner. I rise from the chaise, still wrestling with the enjoyment of a summer day—reading, writing, being with family—while acknowledging the coming of another September.

And the stressful year it will bring.

But as I recall the past harsh year, I face the hidden aversion that overshadows my career. I accept it. Rising from the heart of my intuition, like a whisper, is a single inspiration: Your students need your voice.

I believe, and sit down to dinner, the plaguing ambivalence resolved. For now.

sudden sunlight
A juicy first bite
of sautéed shrimp

Photo by Tim Wright

Frank J. Tassone

Frank J. Tassone lives in New York City's "back yard" with his wife and son. He fell in love with writing after he wrote his first short story at age 12 and his first poem in high school. He began writing haiku and haibun seriously in the 2000s. His haikai poetry has appeared in Failed Haiku, Cattails, Haibun Today, Contemporary Haibun Online, Contemporary Haibun, The Haiku Foundation and Haiku Society of America member anthologies. He is a contributing poet for the online literary journal Image Curve, and a performance poet with Rockland Poets. When he's not writing, Frank works as a special education high school teacher in the Bronx. When he's not working or writing, he enjoys time with his family, meditation, hiking, practicing tai chi and geeking out to Star Wars, Marvel Cinema and any other Sci-Fi/Fantasy film and TV worth seeing.