Highwayman by Peter Carellini

As I cruise through Paramus and up into

The great fall foliage of the Empire border -

I ask myself: is this it?

Can a Sleepy’s, Price Chopper, and Chipotle

be worth the blood?

Is this why the tribes were slaughtered?

Even Mussolini bore an aesthetic!

Three dollar gas and packaged, processed enchiladas -

Away from grace and growth, no children left to run,

No creatures left to graze

But this is not mere fascism, this quiet,

drab extinction event -

Did we blight the coral all for ten percent off on

New Balance shoes?

Am I killing my Arab brethren for

A highway under a highway next to a Firestone?

When I caffeinate myself, when I stop and see

my fellow kings and queens of the strip -

Perhaps it would have been preferable

to have been killed and made eternal in Gaia

than to trudge on and eat, choke,

cruising endlessly through the tri state

and waiting to die outside of a Subway.

Peter Carellini is a writer, actor, and filmmaker based in NYC. His short play, Vermin, just debuted as part of the New York Theater Festival lineup to positive audience reception. His writing and visual art has been featured in publications such as Kelp Journal, Mythos Magazine, Travel + Leisure, and Bruxelles Art Vue. He is currently a Pushcart Prize nominee for 2026.