Smuggs ’14 Chronicle, Day 2, July 26, 2018

by Frank J. Tassone · 4 April 2019

see Mansfield again
before taking the plunge down
the spiral pipe slide
relaxing in the hot tub
Frankie under my arm

The Cabot Factory Outlet in Waterbury offered a crowded house more than cheese samples. A pixie-cut-haired young woman from a new “Meadery” offered tastings from the fledgling enterprise’s three meads. Free mead, along with the purchase of our favorite cabot, goat cheese, Greek olives and more—a good start!

Afterward, we visit the Cider Mill Press, where we sample jams, delicious apple cider before swaying back and forth on swings while viewing the Green Mountains.

crowded shop
laughing at novelty messages
sublimely absurd
his sneakers on a sofa
his new sketch in a gallery

At Zorro’s, a blond woman tells a riddle I told—one that Frankie solved. “His mother,” he blurts out. To which the woman retorts, “Smarty pants!”

leftovers
a darkening sky above
faded siding

Photo by Alice Donovan Rouse

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.