Alec Solomita’s fiction has appeared in the Southwest Review, The Mississippi Review, Southword Journal, and The Drum (audio), among other publications. He was shortlisted by the Bridport Prize and Southword Journal, and named a finalist by the Noctua Review. His poetry has appeared (or is forthcoming) in Anti-Heroin Chic, FourXFour, The Galway Review, Bold + Italic, The Blue Nib, Red Dirt Forum, and elsewhere. His chapbook, “Do Not Forsake Me,” was published in 2017 and is still available on Amazon. He lives in Massachusetts, USA.

Advice to Poets

Write a lot of poetry.
Write it sitting in a tree
unless you’re over sixty,
then write in a hammock
unless you tend to fall asleep
when reclining, then get up
and go inside and sit down
in front of a thinking machine;
see if it thinks up anything
to write. If it doesn’t, and
it probably won’t, write
something like this and
you’ll feel like you’ve
got a start, then just follow
the beating of your heart.