Summer Vacation ’14 Premier

by Frank J. Tassone · 6 July 2018

A cardinal alights on a high branch of the Peach tree. Its weight bends the branch toward the thick ground cover. Robins, sparrows and jays mark their territory in the Maple canopy. Frankie and I eat breakfast on the deck, listening to iTunes alternative radio that plays through our Motorola speaker. Sunlight bathes the backyard through a break in the clouds.

Summer morning
a robin lands on the root
of the Apple tree

Echoes of memory dissipate like clouds after a storm. No tension-laced monologues predicting imminent doom. No throat-clutching dread of facing fire-or-ice teachers. No mountains of compliance work, or conniving “help,” or the emptiness of an empty room 210. Just the ease of melting into the chaise and letting the morning breeze blow over me like a tide. Just this, the first day of my summer vacation.

effortless breathing
a blue jay chasing sparrows
above the yard

photo by Joe Cox

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.