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. His first full-length book of poetry, “Hard To Be a Hero,” was published  by Kelsay Press in 2021. Both can be found on Amazon. He’s just finished another, “Small Change.” He lives in Massachusetts.

Weighty Talk

The French find us funny.
They find us banal.
They say Americans
are the ones “who talk
about the weather.”
While they themselves
sit at cafes and discuss
Sartre and Beauvoir
Verlaine and Rimbaud,
Merleau-Ponty, Foucault,
and for old times’ sake
Montaigne and Rousseau.
They can’t stop themselves.
But what did those Lumières
know about wind chill?
Yes, here in Les États-Unis,
the practical postman says,
“It’s 21 degrees but the
‘feels like temp’ is 12.”
News you can use.