A LITTLE SMALLER THAN THE FINAL QUARK (paperback)

Carson Pytell is a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominated writer living outside Albany, New York, whose work has appeared widely in such venues as Adirondack Review, Rabid Oak, Sheila-Na-Gig, Backchannels, and The Heartland Review. He serves as Assistant Editor of the journal Coastal Shelf, is a columnist for As, Yet Unknown and participated in the Tupelo Press 30/30 Project in December of 2020. His first five chapbooks; “First-Year“ (Alien Buddha Press, 2020), “Trail” (Guerilla Genesis Press, 2020), “The Gold That Stays” (Cyberwit, 2021), “Sketching” (Impspired, 2021) and “Tomorrow Everyday, Yesterday Too” (Anxiety Press, 2022) are now available.

“I once judged a poetry contest where an entrant’s submission consisted of three words: I’M SO LONELY. That’s it. I didn’t select that poem, but, a decade later, I’ve forgotten the award winner, forgotten the finalists, but still remember her three words, even her bio, which let me know she was an elderly woman—and she was aching with loneliness. I appreciate the simple honestly, even if the writing itself wasn’t exactly poetic.  But maybe it was.  Carson Pytell’s 'Love Me, Love Me, Love Me, I’m a Poet' has that same simplicity, honesty, identification, and a touch of the unforgettable. With his 'Hush, don’t say it. That’s what I’m for,' I nod my head in agreement. The best poets speak for us. Carson does so here, briefly, quickly, a flash of what’s going through his mind, an apocalyptic yawp, leaving the reader, at the end, hungry for more of Pytell’s breadth.”

— Ron Riekki, author of “The Way North”

“Every poem in ‘A Little Smaller than the Final Quark’ is a multifaceted gem set in lovely filigree, and Carson Pytell is one of our finest gemsetters.”

— James Nulick, author of “Lazy Eyes”

“You can see the influence of writers and musicians like Gerald Locklin, Phil Ochs, Fred Exley, and John Fante in Carson Pytell’s work, but he is more than just that. Pytell sees the world through his own filter and decries the hypocrisy of the day. I’m moved by his take on food and education. I’m moved by the way he sees the humanity in all of us who are struggling. I’m moved by his ennui, which seems to me to be the emotion of the day. I’m moved by his passion and most of all by his poetry. This is an exceptional collection.”

— John Brantingham, author of “Life, Orange to Pear”