Alec Solomita’s fiction has appeared in Peacock Journal, 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, The New Criterion, The Galway Review, Bold + Italic, Litbreak, 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, “Glass Flowers.” He lives in Massachusetts.

Ostracism

Twenty-five hundred years from now,
archaeologists will likely uncover
in a long-forgotten landfill
pottery shards with my name
on each one, Ἀλέξανδρος,

Ostraca they were called
twenty-five hundred years ago,
broken pieces of pottery
used as ballots when Athenians
voted not to elect but to reject
a citizen they feared or simply
no longer liked much.

The latter suits my own shunning,
of the past few years, a coarse,
brutal affair in a coarse, brutal age,
where disputing a way
of thinking no longer spurs
argument, but disgust and fear
and even the loss of a half-century
of steadfast love and care.

As certain ancient Greeks will attest,
suffering banishment from your
native city feels as sharp and raw
as the jagged edges of kiln-fired clay.