The bending of starlightand my next breath, givenunto me as the heart is givenunto the chest. Or the summer moon is given unto the Comanchewarrior. And I have faith in you kissing me, under violets and lady’sslipper, in the wild gardens of Acadia, where dancing butterflies dare to land. George Cassidy Payne is a poet from Rochester, […]
George Cassidy Payne
Ebola
There is respectand there is that snot dripping, wrist shaking,stuttering, knees buckling, heart pounding, eyelid swelling, tears pouring, speechlessrespect. The kind I have for health workers in Liberia. They foughtthe virus when the militias fought them.They turned up when others tuned out. George Cassidy Payne is a poet from Rochester, NY. His work has been included in such publications as the Hazmat […]
I Know You Know
I accepted your apologyimplicitly, but the aftertasteof those emails stuck inbetween my teeth like a kernel of popcorn. I tried topick it out, you know I did.Yet, it remains below the crevice of the gums, a halfburied fleck of fake gold. George Cassidy Payne is a poet from Rochester, NY. His work has been included in such […]
Blue Mountain II
Anointed by the elementsyou are my blueeyed mountain jewel, my empty breeze returning togreet the lipsof a valley asleepin the sky 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 Journal. George’s blogs, essays and letters have […]
Reduced to Zero: A Personal Experiment with Fasting
35 hours inAt Wegman’s to pick up milk for the baby. A bonanza of food. Millions of calories of food. Stacks and stacks of food. Mountains of it. 36 hoursOn the way home, I stop at a red light next to the neighborhood’s new BBQ joint. I can almost taste the smoked ribs melting on […]
Have You Seen My Integrity?
It was wearing a crimson fedora and a gun metal black v neck t-shirtLast spotted down by the Batten Killunder the bridge, if you see it please call me ASAPDo not approach it. It has been known to lash out when startledIt may be alone or with an accomplice,and it sometimes acts like it is confused, but can pretend to know where it […]
We Need the Soil
because the roots are a gorgeouscatastrophe of gargling raindropsthose empty diamond shaped facescontaining the dreams of elderberriesbecause she fills earth’s basket with the black resinous warmth of grandmother’s handsbreaking the ruby white stalksof rhubarb and celery, reenactingeach contagious morningthe cherished dew of midnight’s tearsas the wild and mischievousrhythms of eternity nears 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 […]
96 Hours In
I’m no ******* Buddha,that’s for sure.Legend has it that he meditated and fasted for months at a time. After one moment he stopped.For me, a meager four days in,that feat might as well be like going to Marsin a paraglider. And my seatbelt is too tight. George Cassidy Payne is a poet from Rochester, NY. His work […]
Harvest Moon
laced with the benign clarity ofliquefying Moonlightmy Cherokee mother hung rattlesnake skins the same wayher grandmother leanedBull Nose peppers on long fat cedar beams letting go of the softflow of cares and allthat belongs to theCreator
I awoke in the belly of a poem
no one is talking about, not since I stopped believingin the power of words to give birth to my dreams. Like Jonah. Swallowed. Smellinglike krill slime sticking to thewalls of a soft, rubbery bladder,all I can see is the darkness of my ignorance. I grope aroundlike a beetle turned on its shell. spinning around the stainless floorboard.