HOW IT’S SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN

The dress never fits forever,

honey. The paint of marriage,

peels or fades. Parents wilt

into wildflower. It’s true—the longer

we love, the more we lose. Tender

operas in tired bones. But still—

coastline, just-lit campfires, and, oh

that first sip of Syrah. The way the needle bows

to record. A child’s curls catching the windy

sun. Lately, I keep bumping into joy.

Like some old friend in the produce aisle.

In stretched-out yoga pants, we compare

melons for sunspots. Celebrating our wild,

delicious sweat. These days, I tell her,

I can’t get enough. Nothing is how it’s

supposed to happen. Isn’t it lucky?

I didn’t get everything. So I could have

this instead.

—Kelly Grace Thomas

FUTURE TENSE

“What I Know to Be True” published in The Adroit Journal 

“Nothing Roots” winner of the Jane Underwood Award 

“The Doctor Asks How Long Do you Bleed” published in Diode

“Steady” published in Sixth Finch

“How I Learned You” published in Diode 

“How Long Do you Bleed” published in The Shore 

Boat burned

“Small Things” published in the Rise Up Review and Best New Poets 2019

“How the Body is Passed Down published in the Los Angeles Review

Femininity as a Math Problem in an Attempt to Solve for X” published in Four Way Review

“Where No One Says Eating Disorder” published in Diode

“Boat/Body” published in Diode

Poetry Awards

“Nothing Roots” winner of the Jane Underwood Award

“And The Women Said” published in Rattle, winner of Neil Postman Award for Metaphor, nominated for 2016 Pushcart Prize

“The Polite Bird of Story” second place in the Jack Grapes Poetry Prize

“Lobsters Grow More Fertile with Age” published in Nimrod, a semifinalist for the Nimrod Awards 

“Femininity as a Math Problem in Attempt to Solve for X” finalist for the Rita Dove Poetry Award

“The Politics of Scent” published in Crab Creek Review, semi-finalist for Crab Creek Poetry Prize

“How to Eat A Mango in July” winner of the Los Angeles Poets Society Summer Contest