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 Country Other

There is the sky.
There is the earth.
There are homes
under the sky
upon the earth
within which we heat up
Progresso soups.

There is a twinge
a kind of spritz
a kind of sizzle
in the center of me that
flickers up to my throat
in silent ripples like heat
lightning and subsides
at about the cocktail hour.

I have cradle cap
a kind of seborrhea.
I apply Ketoconazole
three times a week
as directed.
It doesn’t seem to be working.
My doctor is sick of me.

Lewy bodies swirl
or do they swirl?
I don’t think so.
They “form” and they
block normal synaptical
activity as I understand it.

My wife has
clumps of protein strewn
like landmines
across her previously
adroit brain. Now she asks
for Sudoku for Dummies,
Will Shortz’s Easiest Sudoku
having become too difficult.

One might’ve thought there was
pathos enough in the world
under the sky
upon the earth.

There will be time
to get dinner on the table
if I can get the rice going
now. So don’t talk to me
for just a few minutes
then we can relax
me and you
for our happy hour.