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George Cassidy Payne

George Cassidy Payne is an independent writer, domestic violence counselor, and adjunct instructor in the humanities at Finger Lakes Community College.

George's blogs, essays, letters, poems, and photographs have been published in a wide variety of national and international outlets such as USA Today, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, The Buffalo News, Albany Times-Union, Syracuse Post Standard, Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, The Toronto Star, The Minority Reporter, Chronogram Journal, Ovi Magazine, CounterPunch, Moria Poetry Journal, Ampersand Literary Review, Adirondack Daily Enterprise, and more.

George's first book of poetry, A Time Before Teachers, is available at Amazon.com.

Poetry: Atammayata

January 15, 2022 by George Cassidy Payne Leave a Comment

Atammayata

Birth and death, love and hate, the burnt scent
of cloves on fingers and campfire on jeans,
nothing is attached for long.
In the butter-soft leather light of purple fog,
a royal procession of swans announces themselves.

Not made of that, the lake is restless for now

Read More Poems From the New York Almanack HERE.

Filed Under: Arts Tagged With: Poetry

Poetry: Opal

January 1, 2022 by George Cassidy Payne Leave a Comment

Opal

Come to the surface,
O dear stone, the time
to appreciate each other
is nearly over.

Read More Poems From the New York Almanack HERE.

Filed Under: Arts Tagged With: art, Poetry

Poetry: Barn’s Burned Down

December 18, 2021 by George Cassidy Payne Leave a Comment

Barn’s Burned Down

Now I see the moon,
in this burning heap of cinder block and timber,

this cataclysm, this crush,
this dense mass of silent consciousness,

I see you, my beloved, your wide
deep sapphire eyes.

The period we have to appreciate
each other is nearly over.

Read More Poems From the New York Almanack HERE.

Filed Under: Arts Tagged With: art, Poetry

Poetry: Transmigration

December 11, 2021 by George Cassidy Payne Leave a Comment

Transmigration

When we rediscover the way to shed
our bodies, to become exoskeleton,

molten from the nymph stage, reborn,
boundless in reality, radiant, aflame,

differences are just words,
the arrow and the aim become one.

Read More Poems From the New York Almanack HERE.

Filed Under: Arts Tagged With: art, Poetry

Poetry: Son of Man

December 4, 2021 by George Cassidy Payne Leave a Comment

Son of Man

I am the one
who does not flinch
at the thought of
being eaten alive
with nowhere to hide
like the cry of a
whale dying on the
other side of the world

Read More Poems From the New York Almanack HERE.

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Arts Tagged With: art, Poetry

Poetry: Samsara

November 27, 2021 by George Cassidy Payne Leave a Comment

Samsara

Bestowing only
impressions of sorrow,

in the butter soft leather light
of new fog,

a royal procession of swans
announce themselves.

Birth and death.
Nothing is attached for long.

Read More Poems From the New York Almanack HERE.

Filed Under: Arts Tagged With: art, Poetry

Poetry: A Separation

November 13, 2021 by George Cassidy Payne Leave a Comment

A Separation

Peering into
the shoe polish black
emptiness of stars,

from the last plank
of an old seaside dock, the man
never felt so alone and so sure.

Having learned at last
what it means to be comfortable
on a lazy Sunday afternoon,

the ocean is restless.

Read More Poems From the New York Almanack HERE.

Filed Under: Arts Tagged With: art, Poetry

Poetry: The Bobcat

October 23, 2021 by George Cassidy Payne Leave a Comment

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

Read More Poems From the New York Almanack HERE.

Filed Under: Arts Tagged With: art, Bobcats, Poetry

Poetry: Leaving the Tunnel

October 9, 2021 by George Cassidy Payne 1 Comment

Leaving the Tunnel

Nothing we see is color
Cezanne said that
but no one believed him

All we really see is light

The mineral-laden earth
with its zillions of herbal
veins and carnivorous flowers

mere pinpoints of light

reverberations of molecular light
adorned with ornaments
of human bones

Read More Poems From the New York Almanack HERE.

Filed Under: Arts Tagged With: art, Poetry

Poetry: What You Cannot Help Naming

September 25, 2021 by George Cassidy Payne Leave a Comment

What You Cannot Help Naming

Hiking with children, in a nature park at noon,
the world is sparkling and synth-laden.

Without trying, the sacred ibis of thought is upon them,
as their fingerprints singe burn marks of poetry in the bark of trees.

To them, pine needles are hairbrushes for unicorns.

Read More Poems From the New York Almanack HERE.

Filed Under: Arts Tagged With: art, Poetry

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