Ben Frazier · Children’s author & poet

Stories, poems, and a little imagination.

Rhyming picture books and narrative poems about slowing down and looking closely at the world.

Meet Ben See the books →
A boy kneels at a distance with a camera while two giraffes splash at a waterhole at sunset.
From Leave Only Footprints
Portrait of Ben Frazier, wearing dark-rimmed glasses.
Ben Frazier, Maine

Chapter one

From the flight line to the picture book

“Twenty years in aerospace taught me to move fast. I’m learning how to slow down and look.”

Ben Frazier is an aspiring writer of rhyming children’s books and narrative poetry. He spent ten years in the Air Force as an aircraft mechanic, traveling all over the world in a high-paced environment, then moved to SpaceX, where he worked on the early Falcon program and later on Starship production and engineering.

“I’m in a role now where I have a little bit of time to slow down. The first thing I finished was a children’s book about appreciating nature without leaving a mark on it. I didn’t notice the symmetry until someone pointed it out to me.”

Poetry has been the avenue that helps him find his voice. He tries to write something new every day; when he doesn’t, he goes back and edits something old.

  1. 10 years

    U.S. Air Force

    Aircraft mechanic, all over the world.

  2. Then

    SpaceX

    Early Falcon, then Starship production and engineering.

  3. Now

    Writing every day

    One book at the printer, twenty more on the bench.

Chapter two

Picture books by Ben Frazier

A boy sits on a fallen log at sunset reviewing photographs, surrounded by vignettes of the animals he met.
Sent to print

Leave Only Footprints

William travels the world with a camera and a backpack — a woodpile full of mice, pandas in a bamboo forest, gorillas in the Congo, giraffes at a Serengeti waterhole — and learns to watch animals closely without disturbing a single one of them. Take the picture, leave the place as you found it.

“A memorable adventure! And we didn’t leave a trace Taking only pictures Helps protect nature’s space.”
A boy looks at an orange Corvette at the front of a row of sports cars. A boy stands beside a purple Pontiac GTO with its hood scoops gleaming.
Final edit

A Day at the Car Show

A morning walking the rows at a community car show: muscle cars, a Corvette that looks fast standing still, three-wheeled motorcycles, and at least one vehicle nobody can agree on. Written, with illustrations complete.

“A speedy racing Corvette.”

More from the books

A boy with a blue backpack stands on a mountain trail looking out over lakes and distant peaks.
Leave Only Footprints: the opening spread
A boy walks away down a wooded trail toward a sunset over a lake.
Leave Only Footprints: the line the book is named for
A boy shrugs at a blue Chevrolet El Camino, half car and half pickup truck.
A Day at the Car Show: “Middle is where we’re stuck.”
A boy points at a blue three-wheeled Can-Am Spyder parked among motorcycles.
A Day at the Car Show: “Still considered a bike.”
A boy bends down to look under a lowered black Mercedes-Benz with chrome wheels.
A Day at the Car Show: “Not much room for friends.”

Chapter three

The Bridge

A narrative poem by Ben Frazier. A traveler comes to a river, an old wooden bridge, and a decision that will not wait. What happens on the crossing is harder to explain than what happens after it. Fifty-four stanzas; these are the first six.

  1. 1

    As I walk down the trail A tree of notice to my left Underfoot, rugged and worn The colors take your breath

  2. 2

    The gravels are long gone And the leaves will soon follow Almost blending into the forest Swallowed up by nature’s hollow

  3. 3

    I come across a river And an old wooden way The boulders cause eddies Rapid waters on display

  4. 4

    Maybe ten yards across Not short for this aging bridge I look again at the rushing current And once more from on the ridge

  5. 5

    A natural fork in the road Follow the river or stay the path But the river looks angry This decision can’t be rash

  6. 6

    I see the bridge looks weak And any crossing could be the last The beams are crumbling, runners rotted The once reliable, a thing of the past

A second part is fully written and in final edit. The traveler returns to the river, this time intending to go through the water rather than over it.

Chapter four

Everything on the bench

21 works as of October 2026. The 10 below are finished or being written now; the rest are still finding their shape.

4

Poems

Three finished, one in final edit

9

Picture books

One at the printer, four underway, four ideas

4

Novels

One in progress, three still taking shape

4

Short fiction

A concept, an idea, one on hold, an exercise

Also in the notebook

Can I Pet That Dog? · From My Bedroom to the Universe · How Small Is Small? · Sports Book for William · The Retreat · The Edit · Apocalypse Soon? · The Skeptical Caveman · The Universe Collection · The Bridge — Prose Adaptation · Plumber / New Species Story

11 more at earlier stages.