The Sacred

is when you knowthat shoveling the drivewayis a Catholic massand eating at Red Lobster is the same as receiving communion, that’s prayerand meditationa Yoga when taking a shower is baptism and going to the moviesis Mecca when reading the Torah is reading the New York Timesand going for a walk in the woods and having sex is celibacysmoking joints and tobacco and incenseand salmon on the grill in the backyard on Columbus Day or Veterans Daykilling deer for food and sport alike […]

Seven Haiku

winter morning —daylight arriveswithout a story snow plungesfrom tower block ledgeslike falling bodies duckling left behindpaddles to catch upwith mother and siblings children playing in ruins of millme 40 summers agowalking by today young woman pushing prambruise beneath her eyemorning rain zazen together, one breath4000 miles butno distance between us winter street —dog turd on […]

Journals

Journal #3Survival is nature’s morality. Life on its own is valueless. We give it value.We make it worthsomething,and say it’s so. Like your Aunt’sfavorite pearls or your Uncle’sgolden watch. We are the treefalling with no onethere to hear it crash. 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 […]

NO

Frost on the ground,Condensation on the window.Maybe something brittlebroke along the way; I’ve learned there’s no such thingAs a perfect triangleAnd now there doesn’t seemThat much to say. Between seasons,Colours indistinct,Painted life in shadesNot quite of grey, No stone to be castBetween guilt and innocence,And now there doesn’t seemThat much to say. Water on the […]

To Leave Something Behind

is our first religion our most primeval ritual to be remembered by those who have beennearly forgotten is the holiest experience  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 […]

I Exist

I am garbagewhite trasha categoryother than my skin I am wastedall of the timewith the passing of the centuriesa fruitfly intriguedby love 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 […]

A Time of Survival

Carried in handwoven Amish wicker baskets  from the root cellarlike pickled garlicsealed in mason jars with yellow Ginghamfabric toppersthe world needs poems. 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, […]

Awe Is…

JehovahZeusJahRaOsirisAllahJesusGodYahwehThe GoddessIsisMardukAdonisPenelopeIndraJupiterMarsQuetzalcoatlThorOrpheusGaiaApolloAhura MazdaBrahmaBuddhaBachusIo 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 Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Havana Times, South China Morning Post, The Buffalo News, and […]

Cyberspace

had a way of telling us we could never have it better in this light, in your liver, the future became unusually gentle a machine deitya bronze mirrora moment of medicine and voices and teachings and sentience upon the trillions of piles of earth.  George Cassidy Payne is a poet from Rochester, NY. His work has been included in such publications as the Hazmat […]