The Visit
You slip through the maze of my life softly
as ashes
Smell my freshly ground Lavazza
Sit across from me always early to each
day’s party
Getting my mail, I imagine a card from you
Mixed in with catalogs and pleas for money
Words of encouragement like you used to
send
Buoying me up to help avert another crash
I walk through my neighborhood rife with
impatiens, hostas,
lilies of the valley, know you are deadheading
the pink petunias
I spot a cardinal and know it is you come
to join me
This sign of God whose chirps I recognize
as your affectionate words
Evening brings you in your slippers
A wraith in a loose nightdress attune to the
evening song
The day a drink empty but for shadows
Your wishes for me sprawled in perfect
Penmanship upon the patient night
Marc Frazier
Marc
Frazier has published three full-length poetry collections available at online
booksellers and his fourth is due out March 2023. He has published poetry in
well over a hundred literary journals and is listed in Poets &
Writers Directory of Writers. He has appeared in The Spoon
River Poetry Review, ACM, The Gay and Lesbian Review, Slant,
Permafrost, Plainsongs, Ascent, The Tampa Review and Poet Lore to
name a few. He was included in New Poetry from the Midwest (New
American Press). Marc, the recipient of an Illinois Arts Council Award for
poetry, has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and a “best of the net.” He is
grateful for all the editors who had faith in his work, especially those who
offered some last-minute fine tuning. He is also grateful for the many years he
workshopped writing with NewTown Writers, the longest continuously running gay
workshop and publishing venue in the nation. Marc, a Chicago-area, LGBTQ
writer, is active on social media, particularly on his Marc Frazier Author page
on Facebook and @marcfrazier45 on Twitter.