is when you know
that shoveling the driveway
is a Catholic mass
and eating at Red Lobster
is the same as receiving
communion, that’s prayer
and meditation
a Yoga when taking a shower
is baptism and going to the movies
is Mecca
when reading the Torah
is reading the New York Times
and going for a walk in the woods
and having sex is celibacy
smoking joints and tobacco and incense
and salmon on the grill in the backyard
on Columbus Day or Veterans Day
killing deer for food and sport alike
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 and letters have appeared in USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Havana Times, South China Morning Post, The Buffalo News, and more.
See all his poems on Tea House here.
