I loved you, the way jewels are left unclaimed on the ocean floor. I loved you forevermore, and I knew all along that such a place does not exist. I loved you, the way a pike devours a frog when it is not watching, you know how fast they can get out of the way. […]
Author: Teahouse
In Essence
Poetry does not bring me peace. Or if it does,it is the peace of a baby sleeping, only to be woken by a nightmare.Poetry does not bring me relaxation. Or if it does,it is the relaxation of a perch eating a frog underneath a rolling country brook.Poetry does not bring me reconciliation. Or if it […]
In a milestone for Buddhist film, “Carving the Divine” is coming to Raindance
It is no secret that the film industry is going through an accelerated evolution. What should always remain at the core of the debate, however, is quality content. I find it very heartening that Yujiro Seki’s Carving the Divine, one of the most original Buddhist-themed films to have come out in recent years, will be […]
Robes: An Invitation to Connect
Most Zen monks in the west only wear their robes for ceremonial purposes. But I’ve found that when I’m on my way to or from the zendo and wearing my robes, strangers in the street will approach me, wanting to talk. It’s not usually that they’re interested in Buddhism, it’s that they’re lonely and feel […]
The Disbanding of an Assumption
doubting you would, under the Ford Street Bridge at dawn, you kissed me, as a trumpet vine grabs onto every available surface, on arbors, fences, telephone poles, and trees, you wrapped your tendrils into my yellow throat and made the world feel closer than it ever has before.Unmediated by the veil of what we think we know, I kissed you back, and together we became unfamiliar, like finding new oceans. George Cassidy Payne is a poet from Rochester, NY. His work has been included […]
Detox Prayer
I am weak but willingI am flawed but fluid. I am lost but listening.I am ready for you to come through the portals. From my crown to the roots of my feet, I am ready for you to enter. Here. Now. Passing through this misery,I am ready to be mindful. Let all who come with me be liberated. Let all who […]
A Bond
As lemongrass holds the river’s first shimmer of morning light, you possessme. Drifting in the marsh, my fingertips dipping in the water, like a luminous blue god, you have become an idea that I can no longer doubt without proving my devotion. Yes,you hold me, you hold me, you hold me as wood holds the frame of a house, or as iron […]
Sri Yantra
Just as water will flow througha well-worn riverbed, even beyond and after death,I go to that place of memory between our legs, holdingthe sacred vessel with my lips, a holy mass we recite by rubbing,by binding, by applying our Tantric perfumesto the wound and by eating the unfolding body baked with sago,the astral body weaving […]
At First Sight
The hour I walked through your temple door,I came and knelt before your table. Thirsty and tired after a long journey,you asked me what I needed and poured water.I had no answer for your beauty. So I loved you without explanation. George Cassidy Payne is a poet from Rochester, NY. His work has been included […]
A Midnight Oracle
Spread on the seagrass, curved as fishing knives, the cards of my past arrive unexpectedly, three swords piercing the heart, the only organ that won’t bleed to death, while the sleepy moon turns its encrusted eyes from molten tears falling on the gray, blushingcheeks of a corpse. I am no knight, but no one said I was. I am no devil either, although some declare […]