MAKING LOVE
by George Payne
Making Love
the way a
starving coyote
needs the Moon
crimson &
skeletal
your hands
were needed
Simple
hands
rising
on the
chest
your jeans
kicked off
the bed
you were
needed
chrome ion
plated
stainless with
a leather strap
at the edge
of the pillow
stuck between
the hours
in the
amber of now
a vaporous
sweet olive
black night
My Griefs Lie
My griefs lie to me like a
Poker player down to their last hand
Or a poacher caught without a license.
They tell me what I want to hear, how it’s
Not my fault, and it will be better next time.
That feeling of losing something priceless.
A gold watch left in a jewelry box, hand carved
By Pap, when he still made things,
Before it happened. It’s not useful to talk about.
That’s the way grief is. Useless, impossible to utter.
Lost in its own self replication.
Tears, too. But the tears shed
The way a drunk dry heaves vodka.
Have You Seen My Integrity?
It was wearing a cucumber green
fedora and a gun metal black
v neck t-shirt
Last spotted down by the Batten Kill
under the bridge, if you see it
please call me ASAP
Do not approach it.
It has been known to
lash out when startled
It may be alone or
with an accomplice,
and it sometimes acts like it
is confused, but can pretend
to know where it wants
to go.
Do not be fooled.
Call the police if
I cannot be reached
Where Deer Sleep
My three-year-old son
wondered where deer sleep
so I walked him there. Stepping
into a realm that is not reserved
for fathers and sons, we found
a ritual that has nothing to do
with us. That altar where a
slumberous sky ascends towards
the apex of the Earth, and
a feeling of trespassing arrives
if not for me than for him. A child
cannot touch the mystery without
stepping into it. Existing together
as they may. Masking the
eyes with all that must
be hidden
About the Author:
George Cassidy Payne is a poet from Rochester, New York (U.S.). His work has been included in such publications as the Hazmat Review, Allegro Poetry Journal, MORIA Poetry Journal, Chronogram Magazine, Bohemian Renaissance, Tea House, the Mindful Word, Ampersand Literary Review, Amethyst Review,The Echo World, Talker of the Town, Pulsar, The Angle at St. John Fisher College and several others. George’s blogs, essays and letters have appeared in Rolling Stone, The Atlantic, USA Today. the Toronto Star, The Havana Times, Nonviolence Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, the South China Morning Post, The Buffalo News, Rochester City Newspaper and more.