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 […]

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 […]

What You Cannot Help Naming

Hiking with children, in a nature park at noon,     the world is sparkling and synth-laden.  Without trying, the sacred ibis of thought is upon them,      as their fingerprints singe burn marks of poetry in the bark of trees.To them, pine needles are hairbrushes for unicorns.   George Cassidy Payne is a poet from Rochester, NY. His work has been included in such publications […]