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. His chapbook, “Do Not Forsake Me,” was published in 2017 and is still available at Finishing Line Press and Amazon. His first full-length book of poetry was published this past April by Kelsay Press. He lives in Massachusetts, USA.

Eternal Return

It’s been half a long decade
since I leaned over your last bed
and saw your soul had gone.

Long enough for family
and friends to lose interest
in my once-interesting sorrow
while my own interest reaches
a higher pitch every day.

I have vertigo. A dizziness
unseats my mind as I remember
moment after moment of your suffering.
As I soaped you in the shower,
you slipped through my hands
you slipped through my hands

You always rallied, my love,
Now why can’t I?
When words began to fail you,
your genius flared up.
A movie we’d already seen
you called “a sour one.”
Political independents
became “the lonely ones.”
And nightmares were
“horses in the night.”