Horror & Dark Fantasy

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Poetry

Julia, Forever

by Eugie Foster

Published in May 2021 (Issue 104) | 200 words
© 2021 by the Estate of Eugie Foster.

I’m very grateful to share this poem from Eugie Foster, and wish I could have worked with her in person. Thanks so much to Alex Hofelich for connecting Nightmare to this dark little treasure.

—WNW

Sleepless midnight, in the cold
I found a glass to peer through.
Burnt, I shiver as I behold
Julia.

Your eyes like claret wine
And your arms molten silver.
Candle trembling, about to die
I quiver.

Your father guards you, jealous, mad
He does not see my merit.
Since I could not buy your hand,
I stole it.

Painted lips wrought harlot lies
With a virgin’s wide-eyed wonder.
Crucified between your alabaster thighs,
I thundered.

You cannot leave me, though you tried to run
Death will make you true.
Your hair swept the garden grounds,
Where I buried you.

You shamble to me every night
Damp earth enfolds my member.
You do love me, my eternal wife
My Julia, forever.

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Eugie Foster

Eugie Foster was an American short fiction writer, columnist, and editor. Her stories were published in magazines and anthologies including Fantasy Magazine, Realms of Fantasy, Orson Scott Card’s InterGalactic Medicine Show, and Interzone. She won the 2009 Nebula Award for her story “Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast” and was nominated for multiple other Nebula, BSFA, and Hugo Awards.

Eugie Foster died on September 27th, 2014 of respiratory failure related to Lymphoma at Emory University in Atlanta. Her story, “When It Ends, He Catches Her,” published the day before her death, was nominated for the 2015 Nebula Award.

In her memory, the Eugie Foster Memorial Award for Short Fiction (or Eugie Award) celebrates the best in innovative fiction. This annual award is presented at Dragon Con, the nation’s largest fan-run convention. The Eugie Award honors stories that are irreplaceable, that inspire, enlighten, and entertain. It looks for stories that are beautiful, thoughtful, and passionate, and change us and the field. The recipient is a story that is unique and will become essential to speculative fiction readers.