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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: Radiation from the Big Bang

May 30, 2020 by George Cassidy Payne Leave a Comment

Radiation from the Big Bang

Dear Gramps,
we never knew who
pulled the trigger. [Read more…] about Poetry: Radiation from the Big Bang

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Arts, Nature Tagged With: nature, Poetry

Poetry: The Promise of the Earth

May 23, 2020 by George Cassidy Payne Leave a Comment

The Promise of the Earth

my brain is ready for the spring
medicine of the Adirondacks-that
fragrance of grace in her naked fingers,
holding a quiet sun, with a hush. My
heart is ready. My legs and tendons
are ready. On the snow dirtied with mud
like the tips of mink fur, my feet are
ready. The wisdom of these ancestral
trails call me to be alone in a temple of
deep space, and my soul is ready. Where
there is no religion but God and water and
land and shadows and the scent of charred
balsam and arrowroot. A warm breath on
my neck, and the entire history of the earth
promised in a poem, I am ready. I am ready.

Read More Poems From The New York Almanack HERE.

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

Poetry: I Believe In

May 9, 2020 by George Cassidy Payne 1 Comment

I Believe In

The bending of starlight
and my next breath, given
unto me as the heart is given
unto the chest. Or the summer
moon is given unto the Mohawk
warrior. And I have faith in you,
kissing me, under Creeping Snowberry,
in the wild gardens of Keene Valley,
where dancing dragonflies dare to land.

Read More Poems From The New York Almanack HERE.

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Arts, Capital-Saratoga, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: Poetry

Poetry: After Meditating On My Front Porch

April 18, 2020 by George Cassidy Payne Leave a Comment

After Meditating On My Front Porch

I again realize that mindfulness is noticing
stillness, how the ink [Read more…] about Poetry: After Meditating On My Front Porch

Filed Under: Arts Tagged With: Poetry

Poetry: The Life Waiting for Us (For Joseph Campbell)

April 4, 2020 by George Cassidy Payne 1 Comment

The Life Waiting for Us
(For Joseph Campbell)

You are not living unless you
have at least one crisis before
breakfast. The crisis of adventure.

The crisis of receiving supernatural aid.
The crisis of not receiving it.
The crisis of meeting with the Goddess

and being spit on. Or being embraced like
a child. The crisis of faith that is not knowing
how much faith is enough, and when

faith becomes its own form of doubt. The crisis
of atonement with the Father. The crisis of returning
home again and again and again, until every person

knows that you left in the first place. The crisis of
not having a home to leave. The crisis of justice ringing
in your ear. The crisis of death on your footstep.

The crisis of losing the people in your life
that make it worth living. The crisis of the times and
the crisis of the past. The crisis of the storm brewing

even when it has already faded into the history books
of bored students. The crisis of boredom! The life we’ve
planned and the life waiting for us.

Read More Poems From The New York Almanack HERE.

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

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