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’s working on another. He lives in Massachusetts.

Advice

My good-hearted friends – there are such things,
tell me it’s time to taste from another dish,
“You’re still viable” (nice word that!) “Relish
your new latitude, let freedom ring,”
adding with a careful smile. “Just a fling,
a little slam, bang, thank you, ma’am, might hush
your long grief, chill it a bit, some new flesh,
you know, the taste of a sweet young thing.”
But, love, my sorrow rings like a tower bell
and rather than ease the din, time seems
determined to raise it to a deafening knell,
your absence resounding like when you came
sudden into my life and made me fall
like a star through space to hear your name.