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” was released by Kelsay Books in April, also available on Amazon. He lives in Massachusetts, USA.

Small Talk

Whenever my friends or family
chat about suicide there’s always a hitch—
the children. “I can’t do that to my kids.
It would destroy them.”

I never had children, and it was
because I knew, even at fourteen,
that I didn’t have the fortitude
to see them suffer the way children do.