September 7, 2025

Kelly Grace Thomas

John Doe is a passionate poet whose work explores the depths of human emotion and experience.

Kelly Grace Thomas, poet, writer, and coach, is the author of Future Tense (forthcoming from Alice James Books, 2026) and Boat Burned (YesYes Books, 2020). She is the winner of the Jane Underwood Poetry Prize and the Neil Postman Award for Metaphor. Kelly’s poems have appeared or are forthcoming in: The Sun, The Adroit Journal, 32 Poems, Los Angeles Review, Sixth Finch, and elsewhere. Kelly helps poets create intentional habits, rapidly improve craft, and finally write the poems only they can write through her Substack, The Poetry Coach. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Randolph College.

Maybe the trick is believing enough

to  keep   opening—doors,   prayers,

avocados,  arms,  and  elevators.  To

keep  pushing  the  loud  button  of

want,  until   the  future  becomes a

dance floor beneath your feet.

I’m writing to myself, but I’m also writing to whoever needs my words most. It is always my hope to offer poetry as even the smallest comfort, as honest company—the way it’s always been for me.