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. His poetry has appeared in The Ekphrastic Review, Gnashing Teeth Publishing, The Galway Review, Bold + Italic, Litbreak, Subterranean Blue Poetry, The Blue Nib, Red Dirt Forum, and elsewhere. He was longlisted for the erbacce-prize 2020. His chapbook, “Do Not Forsake Me,” was published in 2017 and is still available at Finishing Line Press and Amazon. He lives in Massachusetts, USA.

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A Fig in Winter

So if you wish for your son or friend when it is not allowed to you, you must know that you are wishing for a fig in winter.
                                               Epictetus

 

“When it is not allowed to you”
The truest phrase about your absence:
To see you again is simply not permitted,
not even in the gorgeous rage of your dying.