Stillness

Mindfulness is noticing
stillness, how the ink 

on my paper has more than 
one color of black and feels

fluid as silk. It’s noticing the 
stillness of a solitary pine needle 

pulsing in the sighing wind. And
the acrobatic foraging of a squirrel 

jumping from limb to limb with
unhesitating spontaneity.

It’s the neighbor’s Calico slouching,
preying, lifting each paw as a ninja

would around a corner, while above
the houses, X-rays of naked oak

branches-like billions of neurons- 
scatter across a misty film of clouds. 

Mindfulness is noticing stillness, all
the things I need to do now.

George Cassidy Payne is a poet from Rochester, NY. His work has been included in such publications as the Hazmat ReviewMoria Poetry JournalChronogram JournalAmpersand Literary ReviewThe Angle at St. John Fisher College, and 3:16 Journal. George’s blogs, essays and letters have appeared in USA TodayThe Wall Street JournalThe AtlanticHavana TimesSouth China Morning PostThe Buffalo News, and more. 

See all his poems on Tea House here.

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