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 The Ekphrastic Review, Gnashing Teeth Publishing, 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.

Perseveration

Watch the bad marriage that dawdles —
presumptive adults unable to toddle
off to the exit, though both shrinks say
you won’t “grow” until you break away.

Do the rewards simply outweigh grievances?
His appalling parents trumped by their distance,
her fault-finding aced out by ardor in the dark,
his unearthly poise when she listens to P!nk,

shared fondness for green tea and medical dope,
foodism, and the lingering hope that
he’ll stop whining, and she’ll stop baiting,
that her friends won’t mock and he’ll stop hating

the joke she tells every day: “that train has sailed.”
A glance at the scales, and others see a love that’s failed.
But it’s been so long and both adore the big city,
and as they say, nothing propinks like propinquity.