Plumbing the depths of everyday encounters, from a little bird to a grieving woman
relationships
Right Speech, Part Two
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 […]
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, […]
Looking Out From Stony Island
Carve out my tongueI will taste your wind Slice off my earsI will hear your waves Gouge out my eyesI will see your red sun setting Tear off my fingertips I will touch your stones For I do not need the presence of your solemn grandeur as it perishes along a silent lakeshore In the ashes of our ancestors inside […]
Late Summer
The spell is over. The orgy is over. We get what we want, then time runs out. We who were born by phallus and wand pass on. Like summer flowers thriving in the untended edges of the yard. 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 […]
In Essence
Poetry does not bring me peace. Or if it does,it is the peace of a baby sleeping, only to be woken by a nightmare.Poetry does not bring me relaxation. Or if it does,it is the relaxation of a perch eating a frog underneath a rolling country brook.Poetry does not bring me reconciliation. Or if it […]
The Disbanding of an Assumption
doubting you would, under the Ford Street Bridge at dawn, you kissed me, as a trumpet vine grabs onto every available surface, on arbors, fences, telephone poles, and trees, you wrapped your tendrils into my yellow throat and made the world feel closer than it ever has before.Unmediated by the veil of what we think we know, I kissed you back, and together we became unfamiliar, like finding new oceans. George Cassidy Payne is a poet from Rochester, NY. His work has been included […]