River Of Lost & Found.

One day the river will stop flowing.
I will be there to witness it.
I will stand on the bank of the river,
knee deep in the crabgrass, and watch the water
swirl slowly down, down, down, to the last
bit of water, until there is nothing,
nothing left anywhere.

One day, I will see the river, and it will
not be a river any longer.
The fish will be all gone, eaten or starved;
their skeletons littering the ground like
a graveyard,

and the bottom of the river will be a dried
bed.
Pigs will sleep in it. Beavers will move
in it, up, down, or across, and they will
sit and stare, their tongues hanging out
of their slacked mouths.

One day the river will stop flowing-
One day I will no longer be here,
one day my memories will fade,
and I will sit and think of things that are
lost.

THE FIELD OF QUIET.

the field of quiet is a withered rose
in a mesh of field (s) a mystery wrapped
in shroud when clouds shiver in an arc

and fade glistening like a glass (pass)
movement is/

Winding Down the Hours.

A black woman stands on broken rocks.
She wonders what time it is. She does not know.
Her mind sees deep within herself, the sunlight
That falls on the ground, she forces herself to move
Forward.

Time is never still.
Lost worlds and lost words, I protect myself from the tick-tock
Of the clock. A black woman walks outside to get the mail;
A pickup truck rumbles by, sounding like firecrackers.

Who’s to say what we will see, today and tomorrow?
Who’s to say what we will know, one minute from the next?
The ticking of the clock is all we have-it sounds like motors
Running, it sounds like clocks ticking.

A black woman stands on broken rocks.
A pickup truck rumbles by, sounding like firecrackers.
The clock ticks in the kitchen.

We Prosper.

When we prosper, we prosper from here to somewhere
else,
without a shadow of closure, a ring of doubt.
It surrounds us, envelopes us in wisdom we cannot
quite catch-the wisdom of wanting something that is beyond
your reach,
the wisdom that comes with the knowledge of it.

We await each day, thinking as it comes,
questioning the realm of this or that, trying to figure out
who we were before.
Even if I had told you before, you would not have listened,
you would have thought it was not a good idea.

I told you it would end up like this, you ignoring me
my entire life, me trying to find my way through the void,
the darkness, the endlessness of a dark room.

I am not Sylvia Plath. I am not a sick fiend, nor a liar,
just a woman who is trying to be who I am.
It is hard. The walking is hard, the fighting is hard,
harder than you can imagine, especially when no one knows
it’s you, when everyone fears you are missing.

I am not missing. I am at home, watching the days go by,
looking at the world outside a window that does not
belong to me. It belongs to a book. A strand of knowledge.
And your reflection.

In the Winter.

Like open doorways, I mix and mingle, I drive soiled tears
Through linen sheets. Peace is not with me; a heart is not open,
I quietly rekindle my tears, the heartache beats steady.
I wish I could bring myself out of this stupor, but nothing
Will relinquish this pain that is held on me, when my heart beats
Steadily, the thrum thrum of my heart. Who am I.
Shadows are thrown on open doorways; daylight moves in through
The open window, where a flower has fallen on a cold moaning
Of wind. This life is not forbidden, this love is not forbidden,
Nor is my heart, it beats like shadows and rivers,
Words are tossed into open wounds.
Clouds move and shift;
Secrets plummet into the world like warbled voices,
Caught in an updraft of makeshift promise. I do not know how
To say this, do not know how to speak the words that claw
Inside my chest, to say the things that must be spoken.
There is only the window, and the flower on the sill-
The darkness that thrums, and a cold winter chill.

Novel update.

I finished "Wizard's Alchemy" and turned it in to Baen. Now I am writing a new one, called "The Horn of Neverwhen." I am also working on the sequel to "Wizard's Alchemy," and it is called "Forge of Magic." I like it so far.

Update.

I have not updated in awhile.

I have been looking for jobs in North Carolina.

Was rejected by The New Yorker.

My fantasy novel is at 87000 words right now.

I bought the kindle.

writing update.

I should update.

I now live in North Carolina.

I'm waiting for Samhain Publishing to re-open submissions so I can send them my novel "Into the Dark."

I won runner's up in a literary agent contest, and just entered a Best First Line Contest on an author's web site. If I win anything I will let you know.

Rejection slip....again.

Got a rejection today from "2 River Review." How many times have I been rejected by them? Five times? Six times? Ten times? I have no idea. At least the Editor said "He enjoyed my poetry." That's a plus, I suppose.

haven't updated in months.

I'm sorry I have not updated in awhile. I mostly use livejournal and myspace now, because all my friends use that too. Let's see, what's new? So far I have gotten accepted in several other different magazines, including "Whispering Spirits," "Dark Animus," and "The Houston Literary Review." I am querying literary agents about my YA horror novel, "Into the Dark." Zebra Books is currently looking at the first three chapters of the manuscript.

In other news, I won third place in a short story contest at "Static Movement." (www.staticmovementonline.com), and I published a book through lulu.com. Go here: www.lulu.com/apryl_fox

that's all for now!

an update, of sorts.

I have not updated my blog since November.
Forgive me, forgive me, for I have been busy-
first there was Thanksgiving, with
turkey and cranberry sauce,
then there was
Christmas, with presents and the cold.
Now it is nearing the end of January, and I am
sitting at my computer,
wondering where
the time went, wondering what I should
do now.
Oh yes. Edit my story for the contest,
work on the sequel to my
novel. These are the things I need
to be doing.

update-finally!!!

I am sorry I have not updated in like a month. I moved to North Carolina at the end of July, and I have not been able to get online much.

Well, let's see, what has been happening? "Dark Animus" accepted two of my poems for publication. It is an Australian horror magazine. I get a free contributor's copy.

I have been writing my YA horror novel for the last week, and have managed to write 23,000 words. My goal is to reach 40,000 words, I hope I can make it. I would be satisfied with 27,000 words if I could not think of anything else to write. I usually write the story until I can't think of anything else to add to it.

I am going to have a poem published here soon: www.alittlepoetry.com

Today I heard back from a publisher called Lemon Shark Press, they said they are accepting manuscripts of regional literary fiction, but I don't think any of my manuscripts fit that description. However, they have published poetry books, maybe I can convince them to look at mine. It would be better than going with an e-publisher, that's for sure.

moving

Mom found a house in NC and they're flying back today *sigh.*

Then we're going to be moving in two weeks. :(

under strange and distant stars

My entire family is moving down South. My brother already moved to VA; my aunt is in FL; my sister is moving to FL; and my mom, stepdad, and I are moving to NC. I am not a fan of moving, because I have a feeling that there are some people I might never see again if I move. Sometimes I stay in touch with people, and then they get too busy to contact me, or it gets too expensive. Perhaps I will have a better way of life in NC, but I would miss MI because I was born here, and everything I know is here. I like traveling, but home is always the best place to be-under familiar stars.

I tried to get a job here so I could stay, but MI is slowly going downhill, especially where I live. I will especially miss my friend, Try.

jim baen died!

Not much to update. I am still waiting to hear back from some publishers.

Recently, I had a birthday, too, on June 28th. Also found out that Jim Baen died on my bday, he is the publisher of Baen Books, which is where I sent my fantasy novel.

poetry

by the way, does anyone know of any good poetry publishers? thanks.

new poems published.

Go here to read my newest poems:


http://yasouonline.tripod.com/id59.html

writing juice

If you are a writer, please submit your work here: www.writingjuice.com they publish poetry, stories, and articles.

thanks!

apryl

speculative poetry

I rewrote the article for "Writing Juice" twice, all I have to do is type it up on the computer. It's fun to write articles but I like to write things that I already know about-it was a writing article, but the Editor wanted me to write something about writing groups and I had a hard time figuring out what to write. I have never joined a writing group, around here they only have writing groups for teens or for older people.

Anyway here's a new poem:



How to Grow a Kingdom (24 lines)

I've got to have the
chance to exercise my right
to look out of windows &
see the world for what it is:
shaded and dark
a night without stars
and the ruined portrait
by Leonardo da Vinci leaning precariously against the wall
it will fall
if you touch it
don't let it fa
l
l

life puzzles me but there
are still flowers,

there are purposes to why im here
the lingering smell of coffee
reaches my nostrils
those fresh beans magic beans that ive hidden
in my pocket
hoping to plant them to
grow a kingdom.


(I'll still post that book review sometime this week.)

strange horizons

"Strange Horizons" published my poem. If you want to read it go here: www.strangehorizons.com

AND they paid me twenty dollars. Whoot!!

Apryl