AF Thomas was a runner up in 2003 Marlboro Review's Prize in Poetry for her poem "Possible Endings " selected by Michael Ryan

Possible Endings

The worry has a form like when
red-winged blackbirds leave stalks
in your field. Those minor flashes of red,
trouble. The mayhem goes east, returns west,

stirred from morning perches by transience,
by some bird-god signal. Below breastbone,
your breath cascades into the magnum of a sigh.
You strain hot tea at the kitchen table,

recap the jam, two pieces of toast buttered
on their darker side. You shake the hall rug,
boil water for the dishpan. Body betrays,
betrays its own purpose, not to restore order,

not to clean out, as you loosen curtain ties
against sunlight. The phone rings and blackbirds
bend south. You open a blue sheet over the bare bed

AF Thomas is the recipient of several major poetry awards, including the Ann Stanford Poetry Prize and the Rella Lossy Poetry Award. Her work appears in Gulf Coast Review, Pliedes, Bellingham Review, Southern California Anthology and Laurel Review. She has an MFA in Poetry from Washington University in St Louis where she won an Academy of American Poets prize and a post-graduate teaching fellowship.

Copyright ©2003 AF Thomas