Vincent Frontero

Winter Break

For now, we are neither ourselves
nor anyone else. 

Beyond the bar’s faded sign, my friends are singing
and drinking as if ten years haven’t passed. 

My parents too seem less aware.
Happier, yes. 

My students ask how to sound believable.
I barely noticed the battering
waves during this walk along the beach. 

I am less sad, yes. 

Not quite magic, important
the deer eating clovers
tonight under the overpass.

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Vincent Frontero (he/him) is a poet, teacher and translator. He is currently an Instructor of English at the University of South Carolina-Sumter. His poems and translations can be found or are forthcoming in the Georgia Review, The Cincinnati Review MiCRo Series, Los Angeles Review, The Tusculum Review and elsewhere. He received his MFA in Creative Writing from West Virginia University.