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 last April by Kelsay Press. He lives in Massachusetts.

Distance

I know a girl
who lives overseas
and wears a studded pin.
Her kindness astounds.

I have a neighbor
who lives next door.
When she is bent over
in the garden and I say “hi,”

she doesn’t answer.
And when I’m settling
in my motor carriage,
all I see is her fat corduroy ass.

Across the pond, my friend
writes poetry and I do to,
of a sort, and when I’m down,
she comes out of my desktop

with encouraging words,
and I feel better
than how bad I feel
when my neighbor ignores me.