Four Days After Smuggs

by Frank J. Tassone · 19 September 2019

type writer remington with green potted plants

Monday. The Orthodontist’s examination room exhibits college banners. Including Binghamton University—SUNY Binghamton—my Alma Mater.

mirror to his mouth a view of his overbite

Tuesday. The images from Guardians of the Galaxy float off a three-story screen. They’re so close that we can touch them. Even the flying ships and fighting aliens.

IMAX premier the darkened theater before showtime

Wednesday. A group of women play scrabble on the 4-top in the first “room” of Panera Bread. A handful of others mingle in the back. None of them are here for the “Shut Up and Write—Bergen County.” I found out after that the group has no host—and no writers.

unpacking my bag the closed laptop remains so

Thursday. Lynn and I talk almost an hour. I find out that she meditates, writes haiku. She’s excited about my writing. When I hang up, I savor the warmth inside.

our shared symbol a file of haiku remembered.

Photo by Shelby Miller

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.