Kelly Grace Thomas

How Long Do You Bleed?

Erase the statistics, the doctor’s sigh, the warnings
of eggs and expiration. Let go of the promises you made.

How you thumb grief like a stone. Smoothed by loss,
weighted enough to remind you of what you did not

carry. Say infertility three times in the mirror.
Accept what the world refused

to gift. Talk about it, until you don’t. Listen
to those said you never know, who promised this ache

would come true. Give back the advice, the mantras,
the supplements. It is hope that hurts the most.

Decide when to stop carrying. Stand at the mouth
of the sea. Give back this stone.

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Kelly Grace Thomas is an ocean-obsessed Aries from Jersey. She is a self-taught poet, editor, educator and author. Kelly is the winner of the 2020 Jane Underwood Poetry Prize and 2017 Neil Postman Award for Metaphor from Rattle, 2018 finalist for the Rita Dove Poetry Award and multiple pushcart prize nominee. Her first full-length collection, Boat Burned, released with YesYes Books in January 2020. Kelly’s poems have appeared or are forthcoming in: Best New Poets 2019, Los Angeles Review, Redivider, Muzzle, Sixth Finch and more. Kelly is the Director of Education for Get Lit and the co-author of Words Ignite. She lives in the Bay Area with her husband Omid. www.kellygracethomas.com