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, Amethyst, and elsewhere as well as in several anthologies. 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. His first full-length poetry book, “Hard To Be a Hero” will be released early in 2022. He lives in Massachusetts, USA.

Questions

If there were a way
to burrow out,
what shining light
would I see?
If I could squeeze
my shoulders tight
and scrape through
the tapering tunnel
towards the dimmest glow,
would it grow in size
and brightness; would
I burst into the lit world?
Or is the weight too much,
the furrows too narrow?
And if so, could I at least catch
a glimpse of the luminosity outside of me?