After, By Juleigh Howard-Hobson

"...it is by no means certain that the ending is as happy as it seems to be"
--Jacob Bøggild & Pernille Heegaard

Now that I am turned foam, I cannot search

The bright Atlantic stars that mark the sky

Across his world and back again, for I

Cannot see anything now. Wide waves lurch

And throw me back and forth; the thrashing sea

Is green with my new self. I can not find

Those daughters of the air who were so kind

To me. The deep water pushes at me

Until long ropes of reaching sea weeds curl

And drag me under...pulling...pulling...deep.

Deep down I go, to where the ocean keeps

Sunken things far from prince's mortal worlds.

I lay waterlogged and lost; no star

Will ever shine its brilliance down this far.

Juleigh tells us: "Work of mine that is influenced by or examines European folklore and tradition has appeared in Umbrella Journal, Soundzine, Lucid Rhythms, Mezzo Cammin, Bewildering Stories, Strong Verse, Brilliant, Every Day Fiction, Hex Magazine, *newWitch* , Idunna, Odin's Gift, Megalithic Poems, Victorian Violet Journal, Return of The Raven (HorrorBound) and, my own chapbook: Sommer and Other Poems (RavensHalla Arts).

Along with other awards, I am a 2007 Million Writers Award "Notable Story" writer, and have been nominated for both the "Best of the Net" and the Pushcart Prize. As well, I edited the Arets Vakreste Boker 2004 award winning Norwegian-press literary collection Undertow. " She has other work forthcoming.