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 kind
of 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 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 appeared in the USA Today, Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, the Havana Times, the South China Morning Post, the Buffalo News, and more.