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.

A Summer’s Tale

First off, I know things are different now
among the sexes and genders, as well
as the way young people court,
if “courting” is the right word.
I’m not sure, being quite a bit older
but I get the impression that the
old saying “fuck like bunnies,”
where apparently any rabbit will do
has become the new reality.
I’m sure jealousy is still around,
of course, if hidden.

My old friend King Leontes was dedicated
to monogamy to the point where
he kind of went off-kilter.
On seeing his wife, Hermione, having a friendly
chat with his guest King Polixenes,
he clearly misunderstood the innocence
of their affectionate conversation:

“ . . . to be paddling palms and pinching fingers,
As now they are, and making practiced smiles
As in a looking glass, and then to sigh, as ’twere
The mort o’ th’ deer—O, that is entertainment
My bosom likes not, nor my brows.”

Which is exactly how I felt (in somewhat
different words) when I saw my Tracy
laughing so hard at a joke of Josh’s
that she fell to the grass in his back yard.