Natalie Frazier

Time Scrubber

by Natalie Frazier

the last 45 minutes of my brother’s life are carefully stored
at chicagocopa.org
in the case portal
you can access his life

police reports
warrants
arrest history
when I want to hear him I click on the video
and fast forward to about 0:40:45
i listen for his screams
fast forward
rewind
distort

with the time scrubber tool I can change that day
how long he begged them to kill him
how fast the officer told him no one was going to die that day

but i stop
before the bullets
they always sound the same


Natalie Frazier is a working class artist and community member from the west side of Chicago. Frazier’s short poem is dedicated to their brother who was murdered by SWAT.