I Was Born by Alec Solomita

I was born into my father’s fancies

and my mother’s raking sorrow,

and the blending of the two

became, out of a strange sort

of permutation, a likely story.

It was akin to those early scientists

and their efforts to turn base metal into gold,

but in this case it worked; the quiet,

raging grief of an eighteen-year-old refugee,

the gentle, other-worldly innocence

of an ex-soldier created some sort

of alchemy.

And the young family

glowed like new gold as I grew from

a zygote to a toddler to a running child.

But the tides came in and out and time

waited for nought, and the gold

turned out to be pyrite.

And we all turned out to be fools.

And we learned the world was real.

And we gathered the world was ugly.

And we tasted that people were cunning.

And we saw a sister wither.

And we saw a father fired.

And we saw a mother sicken.

And I was forced

to read Whitman.

And all was lost.

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Alec Solomita’s stories and poems have appeared in many publications, including The Adirondack Review, The Southwest Review, The Galway Review, MockingHeart Review, The Blue Nib, Bold+Italic, Anti-Heroin Chic, and The Lake. He was shortlisted by the Bridport Prize and Southword Journal and longlisted by the Over The Edge New Writer Contest 2019. He was named a finalist by the Noctua Review. His poetry chapbook, “Do Not Forsake Me,” was published in 2017. He lives in Massachusetts.