I think I know why I like this piece so much. It’s what I strive for in everything I do. It disrupts everyone. From Generation Z to those still living from the Greatest Generation, this one has something to unnerve and destabilize everyone’s sense of moral justice. No quarter. Almost no social or political allegiance whatsoever. […]
George Cassidy Payne
My Turn
When it was my turnto go inI sat cross-leggedby the ventilatorand told my buddygoodbye.I could have cried but he deserved morethan that. He deservedwhat carries no weight. Time. Before the lungs fillwith river water, and the dream oozes away from fingers like the texture of drowning lotus petals no longercaught between the rocks. George Cassidy Payne is a poet from Rochester, NY. […]
Everything Is Invented
with words, including the age of rocksand trees and picked strawberries andparticles of sand, all those ideas falling apart between the lips and fingers and toes. George Cassidy Payne is a poet from Rochester, NY. His work has been included in such publications as the Hazmat Review, Moria Poetry Journal, Chronogram Journal, Ampersand Literary Review, The Angle at St. John Fisher College, […]
How To Fall Out of Love
If we are lucky, it is like an ant on thesidewalks of Times Square. This memory. This oval shaped, solid, durable, now fixed, singular, squishy, ripping sounding, earthy tasting, leathery,months-long, crimson-colored, knuckle sized thing. George Cassidy Payne is a poet from Rochester, NY. His work has been included in such publications as the Hazmat Review, Moria Poetry Journal, Chronogram Journal, Ampersand […]
Boulder, Colorado
Is the wry grin an old hippy makeswhen hiding a handfulof magic mushrooms. Or the way strangers feel innocentand accomplished at the summit. Nowhere but down to go from there. Sucking the jeweled teeth of the Flatirons like kids. George Cassidy Payne is a poet from Rochester, NY. His work has been included in such publications as the Hazmat Review, Moria Poetry Journal, Chronogram Journal, Ampersand Literary […]
A Drowning
No one could save himonce he was lodged beneath the rapids.No one could breathe for himonce he was hauled onto the rocks. Weeks passed and the trips to the hospital became pilgrimages.We were just teenagers. Too arrogant to admit that it could have been any one of us. When it was my turn to go in, I […]
All You Need Is Love
More coveted than gold from lead is her belly laughwhile chased around the kitchen floorMore magical than wine from milkis the wise mischief in her smilewhen held, before bed with a fragile stillnessThe master alchemists of Chinawould do no better. George Cassidy Payne is a poet from Rochester, NY. His work has been included in such publications as the Hazmat Review, Moria Poetry Journal, Chronogram Journal, Ampersand Literary Review, The Angle at St. John Fisher College, and 3:16 […]
When Film Took More Than Time
I found this pictureof myself when Iwas less than a year old-September 1981 – in my mother’s arms, wading near a beach on the American side of the St. Lawrence River.She held me by my pits with a smile good enough to getmy father’s attention. George Cassidy Payne is a poet from Rochester, NY. His work has been included in […]
Genocide is at the top
The worst of the worst. Followed by murder and arson and lynching and rape and terrorism and vandalism and discrimination and scapegoating and name-calling and jokes and rumors and biases and insensitivity and a person hung with grief. George Cassidy Payne is a poet from Rochester, NY. His work has been included in such publications as the Hazmat Review, Moria Poetry […]
How to Treat Water
Store in a copper basin with tulips or rose petals, under a salt lamp. Pray over and be kind to it. Play Mozart andChopin for it.Let it know youas a friend, and always, alwayssay thank you. George Cassidy Payne is a poet from Rochester, NY. His work has been included in such publications as the Hazmat Review, Moria Poetry Journal, Chronogram Journal, Ampersand Literary Review, The Angle at St. John […]