Hi! I’m Kelly
I’m a poet, writer, educator, and an ocean-obsessed Aries from Jersey. I’m the author of Future Tense (forthcoming from Alice James Books, 2026) and Boat Burned (YesYes Books, 2020). I’m also the winner of the Jane Underwood Poetry Prize and the Neil Postman Award for Metaphor. My poems have appeared in: The Adroit Journal, Best New Poets, 32 Poems, Los Angeles Review, Sixth Finch, and elsewhere. I’ve received fellowships from the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing and Kenyon Review Young Writers’ Workshop.
I work as a curriculum consultant for Get Lit-Words Ignite and other nonprofits. I’m the co-author of the Literary Riot booksVoices in Verse: Poetry, Identity and Ethnic Studies; Stanzas of America: Celebrating BIPOC Poetry; andWords Ignite: Explore, Write and Perform Classic and Spoken Word Poetry, which are currently taught in the Los Angeles Unified School District. My sister, Kat Thomas, and I won Best Feature Length Screenplay at the Portland Comedy Film Festival for their romantic comedy Magic Little Pills. I live in Benicia, California, and I’m currently working on my first Young Adult novel.
I’m also a poetry coach and have helped hundreds of clients achieve their writing goals, whether that is establishing creative habits, publishing in top literary journals, or being accepted into their dream MFA program.
reviews
The Rumpus | Boat Burned urges us to get out of the water and let our rage become a storm. The last lines of the collection are a message for all of us who feel weighted down by this country: “They can’t sink us / if we name ourselves / sea.”
Tupelo Quarterly | These poems pass like soft pastries and worn beach glass between the teeth asking the reader to consider their own emotional cravings. “Women,” she admonishes, “keep / this world bloomdizzy. / Teach these teeth / to tender. We are swollen / with tomorrow. It’s time to holy / one another instead.”
Rhino | Thomas’s book is essentially a book of love and resilience, of reclaiming the vessel of the body with all of its perceived flaws and accepting the kind of love (both from self and others) that will varnish the hull, repair the leaks, call the vessel worthy, name it beautiful.
Cultural Weekly | Every poem in this collection matters. Every poem is a hook that both attaches us to our thoughts while simultaneously freeing our thinking. Thomas’s poems will both hold and sustain you.
LunaLuna Magazine | Sax wrote, “In this remarkable inaugural collection, Kelly Grace Thomas reminds us water is where we are from, water is what we are made of, and water is where we’ll return.” That’s enough to convince me.
INTERVIEWS
Four Way Review | “I had to learn Algebra Two, but no one taught me self love.” Kelly talks about self-love, womanhood and digging deep to find the hurt.
American Literary Review | I Have Always Been a Water Women
PANK: The Poetics of the Body | Julia Kolchinsky Dasbach interviews Kelly about writing, water, womanhood and much, much more.
Verse of April | Kelly discusses what poetry means to her and the authors that inspire her.
21 Questions with Rob McLennan | “When your army has crossed the border, you should burn your boats…” For Thomas, the borders of which she refers are that of the body and female agency, as her poems examine her physical and emotional self against trauma, toxic cultural expectations and body dysphoria.
Podcasts
Poking Around | Poets and comedians discuss Kelly’s poem “For Those Who Have Been Waiting” and how it connects to confidence and Timothée Chalamet and a bunch of ideas for creatives in the active pursuit of their dreams.
Transitional Love | Kelly discusses her creative process, sharing work on social media, and her reaction to how people interpret her work.
Rattlecast | Rattle editor Tim Green talks to Kelly about metaphor, how she came to poetry, and what’s next.
Poetry Saloncast | Kelly discusses mining for metaphors and how she uses them, not just in one poem, but as a way to hold an entire collection together.
If It’s Not One Thing It’s Your Mother | Kelly discusses her body image, how it is passed down through the generations, and what we're teaching our kids about it, especially in our silent moments.