Imagine the quiet
after the asteroid or ice age
where an entire species stopped
calling back. Each valley starved
of stampede, ghosted by
genus. Melody of breath,
stopped. The Age of Reptiles.
Gone. Scientists says that crocs
swallow stones to stay submerged
longer. To dive deeper. But survival
has its price. Crocodiles weep
when devouring their prey, an involuntary
reaction. We call them crocodile tears.
Say cold blooded. But maybe the body
remorses what the mind tries to sink.
Maybe each cell cries, carries
its questions, unanswered,
like tiny mountains
rumbling inside.
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