Primitive Religion

Like you, I amjust seekingan experienceof being alive. Stirred, smoothed,and thickened, freshas a rosemary sprig, my primitive religion feels strained througha sieve on topof a cooled caramel base. 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 […]

Sirius or Capella

Fresh mint is nothingbut clusters of stars,and a screwed top jarmeasures the limit ofman’s contemplation. Just slice the goat’scheese and a singlegalaxy has divided. Decorate the regionof the sky with berries,and blend all the confusion which still exists. Gently fold into thesweetcorn theemissions generated,the mango mixtureof brilliant vindication. George Cassidy Payne is a poet from […]

There is a Hush

There is a hushfrom the beginningof time, where youcan hear yourselfblink. It’s calledimmortality. The rumbling timbers. Those extinct tracks.  There is a hush, it is the sound of the desert parsleywithering and thewhimpers of hawksand eagles careeningtowards the earthrise. There is a hush, sunk into the chasms,bringing a curse thatcan never be lifted. George Cassidy Payne is a poet from […]

Grace Peak

Down where fingershold a windscourged turbulence,lurid and buriedin the fractures, your mountain graceblisters like iron smelted, and the mosaic of youreyes light all over.Wrapped in cold teardrops,below the grit of exiled scents, at your peak I feel astronomical, like Asimov’s balloons risingthrough a diaphanous fog. George Cassidy Payne is a poet from Rochester, NY. His work has been included in […]

Something Rather Than Nothing

Before slavery,oceans swept awayshadowsof sand pyramids. Before peace,there was just volcanicash on the seabeds- the color of Confederategray, like the eyes of a lost husky. Before the masters of war,there were border walls madeof barren clouds, ribbed and lifeless- above a million stillborn valleys. George Cassidy Payne is a poet from Rochester, NY. His work […]

After the Flowers

Into the hush a motherneeds when she strokesthe soft temples of her infantson, outside the dewdropsemerge once more. After theflowers are gone, on a blanketof peat moss, feeding the frogsand snakes, they emerge,hurtling toward the starvedemptiness of another daybreak. George Cassidy Payne is a poet from Rochester, NY. His work has been included in such publications as the Hazmat Review, […]

Tea by the Batten Kill

Rinsing away theworld, from a widow’speak above the Batten Kill, with a cup of rose tips, everything burned leavesthe fragrance of her dried lips,like old questions interrupted. 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, […]