be wounded with her be empty and homelesswith herbe a light among her trees the turquoise darknessat 3:20 amencounter her be exquisite with herponder her like the longpour of a Guinness at an Irish pub on a slow nighttake a measure of hercrystal beauty her stained-glass beauty awake in her stomachheal with herbend with her have faith in her next breath dare to land with […]
nature
Rise
where there is no religion but God and moon and landand sea and the gathering of otherswho are ready for you to believe. 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 […]
Stormy Night
There is a loneliness to hail dropson a tin-roofed cabin.The woods and flowers and secrets ofmountains are lonely.So are the trails, ponds, and bridges; the vanished sources looking for a beginning.Dripping drops a million years in the making. Falling asleep in the wounded soil of dreams. George Cassidy Payne is a poet from Rochester, NY. His work has been included in […]
my favorite cage
is made of porcelain white bars, surroundedby ringlets of fire, red hot and orangeas daisies consumed bythe summer sun. Those cornerless bars, alive and fierceas fractals, daring me to eclipse my freedom. 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. […]
Boulder, Colorado
Is the wry grin an old hippy makeswhen hiding a handfulof magic mushrooms. Or the way strangers feel innocentand accomplished at the summit. Nowhere but down to go from there. Sucking the jeweled teeth of the Flatirons like kids. 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 […]
How to Treat Water
Store in a copper basin with tulips or rose petals, under a salt lamp. Pray over and be kind to it. Play Mozart andChopin for it.Let it know youas a friend, and always, alwayssay thank you. 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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
After Breathing
I notice.Everything. How the inkon my paperhas more thanone color of blackand feels delicate as silk. The hard plastic wheels of a stroller scraping the gravel. Like crackling embers,the stillness of a solitary pineneedle sighing in the breeze.An eternal thing, like bloodflowing for its own sake. That spring taskof bringing life again. Or the neighbor’s Calico […]
The Call
comes when you are waitingfor the shower and disinfection,and when you reach the bottom of the sinkwithout clothes, shoes, or even hair. The call comes when you are baptized with a number. The numbers told everything.For they told the world, in particular, how yourefused to let yourself live without its sorrow.A blessing that comes when you refuse […]