Bells
written by: Carson Pytell
Wrestling crotchety cathexes,
the objects of which are himself,
constancy and ripe ultimacy,
the carillonneur walks to work.
Solitary in morning’s hush,
just his chipping steps and breath
beat their best against it,
nightingales’ screech.
Reveille, he’s concluded, for it is
now stark and morbidly monotonous,
will be culled today for a new song,
one to be rung loudly as possible.
Bless the carillon, the tool,
pray for the old ringer, the man
who climbs slowly now up the belfry,
hell-bent on beating the birds.
Carson Pytell is a poet living in a small town outside Albany, NY. His work has appeared in numerous venues online and is currently available or forthcoming in print from such publications as Vita Brevis Press, The Virginia Normal, NoD Magazine, Blue Moon Lit & Art Review, Spank the Carp, Crack the Spine, Futures Trading, Down in the Dirt Magazine, Gideon Poetry Review, and Children, Churches & Daddies, among others. His debut collection, First-Year (Alien Buddha Press, 2020), is available on Amazon, and his second, Trails (Guerrilla Genesis Press, 2020), is in the works. When he isn't writing, reading, sleeping or picking the blues, Carson enjoys silent and foreign film, documentaries on fellow writers, the music of Townes Van Zandt, the art of Odilon Redon and the politics of absolutely no one.
