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 […]
relationships
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 […]
Detox Prayer
I am weak but willingI am flawed but fluid. I am lost but listening.I am ready for you to come through the portals. From my crown to the roots of my feet, I am ready for you to enter. Here. Now. Passing through this misery,I am ready to be mindful. Let all who come with me be liberated. Let all who […]
The Bobcat
Without pride, senses controlled,born or to be born, we met as hilarious strangers, each wanting something impossible.I wanted all beings like you to be happy. You wanted no being to deceive another. For a brief moment, we were sincere.Both of us, protected against the spirits of the dead,on a darkened street, on the outskirts of the city, waiting to cross over […]
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. […]
Virgin Birth
Impregnated by the stars,the womb flower invited you, swifter than lightningyou were invoked,refreshing the entire world,a cloud releasing its rain evenly for all 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, […]