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.

In My Life

As you age you learn
what it’s like to age,
a process that’s
surprising, despite
your being prepared
somewhere inside.

I won’t list the symptoms.
Sore feet, trick knee,
altered vision, a loss of
your lifelong physical
attractiveness to others
fading away to “Sir.”
Why am I in this room?
Where is the toothpaste?
Where are my teeth?
Are the Beatles boring?

But what you’re not ready for
is death. Your own you are.
You’ve been thinking about
that for years, fearfully
or wistfully.

“Friends forever!” turn out
not to be so. They fall as slowly
as that last teetering bowling pin
topples into the gutter.
Or briskly as their heart says
“Fare ye well” and drops them like a stone.

Lovers and friends, enemies,
neighbors, siblings,
simply are no longer, leaving you
with a whitened memory
and an awkward heart.