Poetry

Judith Fox was a freelance writer for national magazines, but started studying and writing poetry seriously when the spare text she wrote for her award-winning photography book, “I Still Do: Loving and Living with Alzheimer’s,” rekindled her life-long love of poetry. She is a finalist for BLR’s 2023 John & Eileen Allman Prize for Poetry and BLR’s spring 2022 poetry prize. Her poems appeared or are forthcoming in Rattle, Typehouse Literary Magazine, Notre Dame Review, Sugar House, The Citron Review, CALYX, Cider Press Review, Innisfree Poetry Journal, Off the Coast and elsewhere.

How it Happened

I thought I’d be at his side when he died.
Didn’t think I’d find his body,

relied on the clinician
who said his cancer will take time

to spread. But death struck my husband
with a lizard-quick tongue.

Snatched him as he was reading,
a torn theater stub tucked between pages

marking his place.
I was washing dishes a room away—a thin wall

apart—belting out songs
I’ll never sing again. Believing we had months,

thinking there was time enough
to dry a second cup.

Featured Poems

click each poem to enlarge

When
BLR, Issue 42
Finalist for Spring 2022 poetry prize

[link]

Meyer Lemons
Rappahannock Review, Issue 11.2

[link]

Changing Gears
Madison Review, Vol 52 No. 1

[link]

Shoes Painted by Van Gogh in 1888
Notre Dame Review, No. 55

[link]

Alzheimer’s Didn’t
Sugar House Review, Issue 25

[link]

The Gift
Citron Review, Fall 2022

[link]

When I Write About Us
Cider Press Review, Vol 25.1

[link]

1. Madison Review – Volume 52 No. 1 – Changing Gears – https://issuu.com/themadisonreview/docs/the_madison_review_spring_24_online_/68
2. Rappahannock Review – Issue 11.2 – Meyer Lemons – https://rappahannockreview.com/issue-11-2/contents/poetry/judith-fox/
3. Rattle – Issue #83 – How it Happened – https://www.rattle.com/how-it-happened-by-judith-fox/
4. Cider Press Review – Vol 25.1 – When I Write About Us – https://ciderpressreview.com/cpr-volume-25-1/when-i-write-about-us/
5. Calyx – Vol 34:2 – Dementia – https://www.calyxpress.org/shop/34-2/ (the poem is not printed online)
6. BLR – Issue 42 – When – https://blreview.org/table-of-contents/issue-42 – Finalist for Spring 2022 poetry prize
7. Sugar House Review – Issue 25 – Alzheimer’s Didn’t – https://www.sugarhousereview.com/copy-of-current-issue-sneak-peek-2#comp-lj0qclam1
8. Notre Dame Review – Number 55 – Shoes Painted by Van Gogh in 1888 –https://ndreview.nd.edu/assets/556417/final_press_proof_ndr_55.pdf
9. Citron Review – Fall 2022 – The Gift – https://citronreview.com/2022/09/23/the-gift/