Meltdown

by Frank J. Tassone · 9 November 2017

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Haibun

I’m administering a Level I Vocational Assessment to Ana, when Julian bursts into the room.

He throws something that misses Myru and hits the metal cabinet housing our class’ books and folders. He drops into a worn desk. His fists repeatedly pound the surface, before opening and clasping the back of his head.

Then he howls.

I rush to his side and take a knee. Coax him to breathe. Victor A.—our AP of security—appears just behind him and asks if he’s all right.

I get Julian up and outside. “We’re good,” I reply to Victor.

We walk a lap around the school, and Julian explains his outburst. He’s failing Algebra. He’s terrified of what his mom will say.

He can’t stand it, but he won’t let it go.

afternoon sunlight
in his counselor’s office
rapid eye movement

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Photo by Cel Lisboa on Unsplash

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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.