I prefer a pencil formed
from cedar timber, painted, lacquered,
imprinted with gold—
Half the Pressure, Twice the Speed—
a medium that will readily coax
from its tip
adjectives viscous as grief, bootless
as death.
A fluent guide to ease me
through hedges to a private garden,
one where you and I
plant perennials, foster new shoots
in spring, where irises open
their throats
to croon in French
when the moon turns red.
Published in Cider Press Review, Volume 25, Issue 1.
Judith Fox is a poet and fine art photographer. She’s a finalist for BLR’s Spring 2022 Poetry Prize and her poems appeared or are forthcoming in Sugar House Review, Notre Dame Review, Typehouse, The Citron Review, Off the Coast, CALYX, The Elevation Review, and elsewhere. She is the author of the award-winning photography book, I Still Do: Loving and Living with Alzheimer’s, for which she also wrote the text. Fox’s photographs are in the collections of six museums including LACMA, VMFA, and the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas, Austin.
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