Love is the absolute The unsurpassable The final dissolution Without destination May I be the lover The honey in all your senses The softness of the goddess May your heart open broadly Without anything to hold back Just pure deliverance May we see our eyes mirroringPure songs humming And the fragrance of fire Burning Clouding the […]
Promise of Spring
My snow dirtied mind, squandered with rain and dirt,is ready.These ancient trails call my nameand I am ready.To be alone in a temple of deep space, my cardinal ears are ready.Where there is no religion but God and sun and land and the scent of boiled arrowroot,gathering on my neck and chest,I am ready.I am ready. George Cassidy Payne is a poet from Rochester, […]
Buddhist Humor: The Early Canon
There is a common misconception that Buddhism encourages people to adopt an austere attitude, and the fact that many Buddhists have a deep sense of humor is not widely known. Of course, comedy is subjective and what I call a joke may not appear as such to the general reader. In fact, my sense of humor has […]
Sewn by Mom
Below the diamond shaped cloudsof a Tug Hill sunset, lying next to hisdog, with soft fingers asleep inside two heart shaped patches, where the moon barely creeps in and hissweet olive black eyes said goodnightonce or twice already. You probably kissed my forehead and looked at mewith that look you will never see yourself. George Cassidy Payne is […]
Encounter on the Moose River
Startled by steps –that New Balancebounce – loud asBoeing jets glidingthrough the metallicclouds of a perfectaloneness, a blueheron hides betweentwo teal wings, foldingand glittering, holdingits eyelids near theflowing stillness of ariver, bare and abundant. George Cassidy Payne is a poet from Rochester, NY. His work has been included in such publications as the Hazmat Review, Moria Poetry […]
Whispering
Under a dying Sycamorea soft handsimply rises on my chestbringing something closeto comfortso lonely and satisfied. 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 […]
A Buddhist Response to the Coronavirus Pandemic
Recently on the PBS News Hour, David Brooks called COVID-19 a national stress test for how well and long we can maintain our collective faith in institutions and each other. Indeed, the coronavirus has shaken the very foundations of society as we all know it. But to call it a stress test is, given what […]
His Shaman Eyes
felt heavy as slabs ofsandstone,like the pyramids. But only after he offeredprayers tothe unearthed,cleansed bythe drumming,a cold thunder on the dry mouthof an Illinois Prarie. 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 USA […]
A Good Friend Is Always Nearby in Spirit
Master Jingzong (English translation by Foyi, edited by Fojin) A good friend is always nearby in spirit even though far away in distance. Loneliness is part of the human experience. Hence the saying, “How hard it is to find a true friend!” Once two people become true friends, they will feel close to each other […]
Bio-graph
The mind is rustlingclothes, sound shadowsand deadening echoes. The feel of her proximityand the wall when a blindman is walking too close. Like black panthers, all of usfind our way by vibrations, when the night gets too dark.And in the morning, the mind isa patch of parsley green moss onthe white flesh of birch trees. The ones my daughter […]