Marc Frazier
Summer 2025 | Poetry
Without Me
though the whole story is not whole,
how much we still know
though what I do is not me,
it is what you will think is me
though I may reveal some wisdom,
a stupid crowd exists inside
the sweaty cistern, rapeseed betokening summer
the music beat on, you know, it was June
something will grow here without me—
thunder, sage, a white violet
it has already happened I tell myself,
a balm for the fear of death
though danger never passes,
blood speaking every language consoles
each moment—a dead star,
but also a bridge to awareness
I fear love will not move me
in any sure direction
but I calm, with my own beauty,
shuffling my hooves in the stall
a woodpile, snow flurries betokening winter
the music beat on, you know, it was November
each season begs the question:
am I someone else entirely and I’m the last to know?
Marc Frazier has published in over a hundred forty journals. A recipient of an Illinois Arts Council Award for poetry, he has also been nominated for two Pushcart Prizes and two “Best of the Nets.” His four books are available online. His latest poetry book If It Comes To That recently won Silver in the Florida Writers Association Royal Palm Literary Awards contest. He has published a great deal of flash fiction, essays, and memoir pieces. Marc, an LGBTQ author, can be found on his website www.marcfrazierwrites.com.