PRISM is thrilled to share the powerful poem, “Winning” by Kayla Czaga from our Summer 2023 issue: 61.4, available for purchase now. “Winning” explores the meaning of the word through stunning vignettes of a man’s life as seen from the perspective of his child. It’s colourful, transportive, and grounded in an aching sense of realism.
Winning
One summer, my father and I ate
through dozens of boxes of popsicles
so that he could construct a catapult
for a town competition. Our mouths went blue,
orange, purple, red with his hunger to win.
He loved that brief epoch you could peel
the plastic out of bottle caps and get something
instantly. Packing our pantry with flats of pop
he didn’t like, he often had Better Luck
Next Time. On holidays, he booked hotels
attached to casinos, disappeared for so long
after dinner I fell asleep with the TV.
When I woke up, he’d be on the second bed,
watching Sportsnet. He rolled up the rims.
Filled out entry forms at grocery stores
for everyone in the family. A magician
at hockey games—from his pockets he pulled
endless handkerchiefs of fifty-fifty tickets.
I could count on my Christmas stocking
to be stuffed full of Scratch ’N Wins.
Thursday nights were for Texas Hold ’Em.
After he died, I found a stack of Lotto Max
half an inch thick. Posthumously he won
seventeen dollars and a free play.
Otherwise his wallet was empty.
Kayla Czaga is the author of For Your Safety Please Hold On (Nightwood Editions, 2014) and Dunk Tank (House of Anansi, 2019). Her writing has been nominated for the Governor General’s Award for poetry and The Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize. She lives with her wife in Victoria, BC.