We are part of a family treethat is more than a metaphor.The birds feed off our limbs. And besides, this illness called the Future cannotremain hidden for long.Perhaps more than an enemy, we are something less than that as well. Everything presented to us, we can not seem to find. Everythinggiven to us, we can not seem to hold.Yet selected by the […]
George Cassidy Payne
Unconscious of the Changes
Alone and ignored,rolled up like a napkinin a French bistro, zonedout to the blithe, unconditionedair, measuring the breathsof a caving fly, dripping rain, in a word. For in the tent the world losessome of its power. Rising through a web. Is it a Black Widow’s?Beauty above. Beauty below. With everythingout of my breath, holding onto what we have. […]
Like Bees Lost From the Hive
We grew this way, we are this kind of species. The water we bathe in is part of the infinite sky.We grew this way, we are thiskind of species. Always threateningthe precious. We grew this way, we are thiskind of species. Voyaging from eggto babe. Stalked. Drifting. Like beeslost from the hive. George Cassidy Payne is a poet […]
Discovering the Pain of the World by Accident
Are we not a little like the horsesthat drove theRoman chariots? Strangling themselvesthe harder they pull. Or more like iron bladesgrinding the grain,discovering the pain ofthe world by accident. 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 […]
What the Mind Describes
Like a thrown out first draft in a book, the young do not need to belong. They just do or don’t.And the dreams of the young are keptin mildewed cardboard boxes full of meritbadges and plastic trophies from Little League. Egg shell colored. They screech like a leaking faucet.The young are young because they do not think about being young. It […]
More Than an Enemy
More than an enemy, we are that as well.A netherworld of suffering. A hole through the chest,big enough to stick a fist through. We grew this way; we are this kindof species. Under construction. Disembodied. Rising. Like jumbled chunks of sea ice. Becalmed by the ocean.An oracle or ordinary friends, all leaving my world like perfect strangers. George Cassidy Payne is a […]
The Earth Which Preceded Us
From australianmuseum.net.au Insects are on your family tree. Ladybug ancestors and crustacean offspring.A family tree is years of hesitation. From microbes to plants. A chain ofinnumerable mutations. Flatworms andsponges following the design of turtle arms. We are part of a family tree that is more thana metaphor. The birds feed off our limbs. The Cycads and Conifers spread in every direction.Damp, […]
When Everything First Began to Begin
The future is extinction, or has thatalready been said before? The drinking water is filtered with toxic rain and thetemples are draped in missed opportunities. There is a war in the future. There is a war over the future. A molten core bursting forth,it will not stop once you flip the channel. No, this illness called the future cannot remainhidden for […]
The Spiral Staircases of Corinth
When I look up at you,I feel like the glass shieldaround the flames of a candlestick chandelier, as your tears fall like drops of frozen crystal.When I hold you, I feel setlike a carved mahogany tablewith pink and creme coloredcarnations as the centerpiece.When we trust each other, our lovefeels driven by the winds, and the wheels of […]
All About Owls
This is a poem, as promised,all about owls. Hamlet wrote toOphelia, appealing to the same stars as owls do when they stripaway the tall grass, looking forthe present finality of vermin. This is a poem about owls. Neither theoretical or astronomical. It is about 1,000 million years ago,when the ancestors of the owls flewwithout a compass or North Pole-A […]