I don’t know why I became an atheist, Yet some days I can tastethe divine. It sits still in mymouth, as a pair of crouchingeyelids in the tall, midday grass. 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, […]
The Blankness of Being
(Inspired by the Zen masters of China) Consciousnessis too free Like the stars in outer space and the severed head of Kalisweeping away dust forever making death howlknowing that we do not want to be in church Like being buried alive in the same place where we beganas if we had never existed at all. George Cassidy […]
I’m a Surrealist
I’m a surrealist. So what. Surreal is dependent onthe real. To know that itmakes sense, in order toshow that it doesn’t. Doesthat make sense? Do youmake sense? Does this makesense? Why do you want tomake sense? David Byrne saidstop making sense. But that means it made sense to beginwith. Did it? Who are you to say?What sense […]
Prajnaparamita in Tibetan Buddhist Art
Yellow Prajnaparamita with four hands Prajnaparamita (Tib. sherab kyi pharol tu chinpa), the Mahayana goddess of wisdom, appears in the Perfection of Wisdom sutras as a fundamental deity in Tibetan Buddhism. In Tibet, she is known as Sherchinma or Yum Chenmo, the “Great Mother.”
Sarnath
Disembodied from thebleeding virus of breakingnews, you taught. In the Deer Park at Sarnath,to see clearly in muddy watersand to partner with illness, no longer treated like a rumorthat may or may not be true.
Does ET Have a Soul?
What would happen to ourunderstanding of humannessif we knew that we are not alone? And does ET have a soul? Parallel worlds and alternate realities.An abundance of creatures on earth; there could also be other beings,even intelligent ones, that were createdby God. Brothers and sisters both. George Cassidy Payne is a poet from Rochester, NY. His work has been […]
How a Philosopher Looks at a Glass of Water
Some people are halfglass full types.Others see the glass as half empty. I’m the kind of person who wants toknow why there is water in the glass,and why there are glasses that can holdwater. Why is there even water at all? George Cassidy Payne is a poet from Rochester, NY. His work has been included […]
America the Beautiful
In Charlottesville they worechinstrap bombs that turnedout to be nothing but dust and stone. In Sacramento, thrown like rag dolls,the flies evolved long, sucking mouths; in eternal darkness, reaching, if pushed,for the voice command in your throat. In St. Louis, the bodies leave no footprintson the land, and the nesting cliffs becomebattlegrounds, as they always […]
Reflections on Greta Thunberg and Climate Change
I’ve been an environmentalist for as I can remember. I was 9 years old scolding my parents for not turning off all the lights in the house to save electricity. When I was 12, I used to walk the railroad tracks near my house; picking up scrap metal that fell from the trains, and taking […]
An Offering
It’s 6:30 pm, on a SeptemberSunday, too late to be calledsummer and the clouds are suddenly transformed into bands of energy, like a vulva, and the sky gods begin to birth,cinematically slow, an egg of fire,oozing from the space thatseparates the temporary fromendless beauty. A long time ago, people- not sodifferent than you and I- awaited this hour, as […]