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, The Galway Review, Bold + Italic, Litbreak, 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.

Failure To Thrive

It doesn’t take an observant eye
to see that rather than rotating
the world is twisting
into a mangled, multicolored sheet.

As an infant, she did well,
surprisingly well, and
our inventive and cruel species
came out on top,
evolving all the way from

trepanning to chemo
in little more than
seven thousand years.
But now, I dunno,
the stars flicker pale.

The music is bending
into some sort
of cruel coda.
Breezes have ceased
and at long last, it seems,
we inherit the wind.