Right speech is a difficult thing to put into practice, which means that every day presents me with opportunities to hone this skill in my day job. I am regularly advocating on behalf of elderly individuals in nursing homes, and I have learned many lessons about Right Speech firsthand… Be Discerning The most useful lesson […]
human relations
Right Speech, Part One
Ever since I came across Buddhism in my early twenties, I have been fascinated with the concept of right speech. As part of my exploration into the subject, I have studied multiple sutras that focus on this aspect of the noble eightfold path—I have also taken contemporary communication courses that are founded in Buddhist concepts, […]
Born Again
Work out everyday. No excuses. Do it. Morning or evening. Doesn’t matter. Just do it. Stop making excuses. Write. At least an hour a day. Just do it. Stop being sorry for yourself. Just write. Meditate. Every day. Find the time. Breathing or whatever. Just meditate. Stop telling yourself you don’t have time. That’s a lie. You […]
The Wall (For Roger Waters)
I loved you, the way jewels are left unclaimed on the ocean floor. I loved you forevermore, and I knew all along that such a place does not exist. I loved you, the way a pike devours a frog when it is not watching, you know how fast they can get out of the way. […]
Sri Yantra
Just as water will flow througha well-worn riverbed, even beyond and after death,I go to that place of memory between our legs, holdingthe sacred vessel with my lips, a holy mass we recite by rubbing,by binding, by applying our Tantric perfumesto the wound and by eating the unfolding body baked with sago,the astral body weaving […]
At First Sight
The hour I walked through your temple door,I came and knelt before your table. Thirsty and tired after a long journey,you asked me what I needed and poured water.I had no answer for your beauty. So I loved you without explanation. George Cassidy Payne is a poet from Rochester, NY. His work has been included […]
Service, to sip, Sunset Boulevard
I saw her again last night—the old raving woman with the girlish pigtails, trailing bin bags behind her that were visibly overflowing with knickknacks. This time, instead of yelling at me, she targeted my dog. “You evil man,” she told him, “I know what you did!” Her eyes didn’t leave him, even when he started […]
I Miss You
everywhere, in the hairs on my head and of my body. In my nails, teeth, skin, flesh, sinews, bones, marrow, kidneys, heart, liver, diaphragm, spleen, lungs, stomach, bowels, mesentery, and excrement. I miss you. Your absence floats in my bile, my phlegm, my pus, blood, sweat, lymph, tears and saliva. I miss you. In the oil of my joints. […]
The Birth of the Sacred Mirrors (for Alex Grey)
Birds settle on a tree for a while,and then go their separate ways again.There is no separate way apart from you.When I breathe, I can taste your breath,ablaze with an all consuming fire.When my heart aches,there is nothing you will not understand.Many have died in this house, but not you. Overtaken by this thing which men […]
I will not be the last man to tell you
your smile,contaminated with purity,contains the sun, moon, and starsIf I were a patriarch, I would order incenseto be burned before it. 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, […]