One Poem by Alec Solomita

Skid

 

I still don’t know what happened

exactly.

My mind slipped

as suddenly

as some sad sack

walking ahead of you

hits a patch of black ice,

lands on his ass,

and looks around

to see who saw.

 

I woke up one autumn

morning early enough

in the chilling season

that the birds were still

celebrating being alive,

and who can blame them,

 

when a line

from The Glass Menagerie

came to me:

“I’ll rise but I won’t shine,”

and realized that not only

would I not shine,

I wouldn’t rise.

 

Instead, I wrangled

my snarled sheets

back into place

and turned over

on my side.

 

And here I remain

for the duration.

Alec Solomita is a writer and artist working in the Boston (USA) area. His fiction has appeared in the Southwest Review, The Mississippi Review, Southword Journal, and Peacock, among other publications. He was shortlisted by the Bridport Prize and Southword Journal. His poetry has appeared in Poetica, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Litbreak, Driftwood Press, Anti-Heroin Chic, The Galway Review, The Lake, and elsewhere, including several anthologies. His photographs and drawings can be found in Convivium, Fatal Flaw, Young Ravens Review, Tell-Tale Inklings, and other publications. He took the cover photo and designed the cover of his poetry chapbook, “Do Not Forsake Me,” which was published in 2017. His full-length poetry book “Hard To Be a Hero,” came out last spring.