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.

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The Ride Home

Father didn’t see me
when he boarded,
struggling a little
with his briefcase
up the high, damp steps
of the trolley car.

He sank into one
of the front seats,
and shifted to the window
where his head relaxed
bit by bit until
it rested on its reflection.

He likewise didn’t see
the growling, spitballing,
pack in the middle of the car —
half a dozen boys crowding
two seats, excited by the night
and the lights flashing by

and the dozen adults
they were plaguing
one or two at a time,
disrupting soft thoughts
of dinner and Johnny Carson —

snapping fingers near ears,
pretending to throw up,
singing Johnny Angel
in ugly irony

never getting too close,
just enough to worry,
unnerve, and for the
the sensitive, alarm.

I was crouched like a squirrel
in the corner of the very back seat
at an angle that made me
almost hidden from the delinquents

but seeing my father dozing
forced me to raise
my head just a bit
just in case