Redemption

Life, the iredeemer.
No wonder there’s a God, not unlike there’s hate
and always a dollar in St. Anthony’s change for a cigarette
from the Pakistani or Indian bodega kept up by a family
who kneels just the same to different names, and praises
the canonized coin in their jars writ with wishes
that God won’t stop depositing dimes or spare quarters
for some beatific order: smoke, family, like love.
What cans to be had.

Carson Pytell is a writer living outside Albany, NY whose work has appeared in numerous venues online and in print, including Artifact Nouveau, The Virginia Normal, NoD Magazine, Rabid Oak and Bluepepper, among others. He serves on the editorial board of the journal Coastal Shelf, and his short collection, First-Year (Alien Buddha Press, 2020) and chapbook, Trail (Guerrilla Genesis Press, 2020) are now available. In December 2020 he is slated to participate in the Tupelo Press 30/30 Project.