THE MOST BONES
Tonight I walk in an orchard
of low gods.
Prayers rot just beyond
fingertip preach.
I climb the trees bowheaded
in hush. I sweat silent
Scripturewant.
I want this body
to do what history oathed.
After the bloodwork,
I church my voice.
I altar my lips.
Force faith to be the only alphabet
I vowel.
Lately every please
I pocket
has lungs
tinier than mine.
STORM WARNING
She told me: pain needs a witness
knowing, once or twice, the fruit of me
has been peeled.
Under this dress: eggs and arms.
A one-eyed doll: births
and breaks.
I live under shell cracked sky
sleep with undecided bones.
Female: a storm I first noticed
in the clouds.
It has taken all
of me
to rain
this hard.
_________________________________________
Kelly Grace Thomas is the winner of the 2017 Neil Postman Award for Metaphor from Rattle and a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee. Kelly was also a 2016 Fellow for the Kenyon Review Young Writers Workshop. Kelly’s poems have appeared or are forthcoming in: Nashville Review, The Boiler, Sixth Finch, Muzzle, Rattle, PANK and more. Kelly’s chapbook, Zersetzung, was a finalist for the 2017 Lorien Prize from Thoughtcrime Press. Kelly works to bring poetry to underserved youth as the Manager of Education and Pedagogy for Get Lit-Words Ignite. She lives in Los Angeles and is working on her debut novel Only 10,001. For more of her work, visit www.kellygracethomas.com
