{"product_id":"future-tense-paperback","title":"Future Tense - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eKelly Grace Thomas\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReckoning with infertility, adoption, and love under pressure, Kelly Grace Thomas's \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eFuture Tense \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eis a searing memoir-in-verse about a woman's fight to become a mother while losing her own. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eThomas spends three years trying for a child who never arrives. As she struggles with infertility, her mother is dying of Stage IV uterine cancer, and the desire for a child turns urgent--a countdown. As her mother's health deteriorates, time narrows, pressure builds, and the clock refuses to slow. As her marriage strains and the world remakes itself without her, Thomas refuses to give up. The fertility clinic is the coldest place on earth; still, she keeps going--through years of medical gaslighting, IVF consults, mounting debt, and backhanded blame--finally welcoming her daughter through adoption just months before her mother's death. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eIntimate and unflinching, \u003cem\u003eFuture Tense \u003c\/em\u003einterrogates the intertwined joys and griefs of womanhood and motherhood--and how biology can sometimes turn against us. Thomas approaches illness and loss with clarity and care, writing with a generosity that welcomes readers in. Despite their brevity, these poems refuse despair, finding meaning and connection even in the hardest seasons of life.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eKelly Grace Thomas\u003c\/strong\u003e is a poet, writer, coach, and ocean-obsessed Aries from Jersey. She is the author of \u003cem\u003eFuture Tense\u003c\/em\u003e (forthcoming from Alice James Books, 2026) and \u003cem\u003eBoat Burned\u003c\/em\u003e (YesYes Books, 2020). She has won the Jane Underwood Poetry Prize and the Neil Postman Award for Metaphor. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in \u003cem\u003eThe Sun\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eThe Adroit Journal\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003e32 Poems\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eLos Angeles Review\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eSixth Finch\u003c\/em\u003e, and elsewhere. Kelly has received fellowships from the Martha's Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing and the Kenyon Review Young Writers' Workshop. She is also co-author of poetry curricula, including \u003cem\u003eVoices in Verse: Poetry, Identity, and Ethnic Studies\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eStanzas of America: Celebrating BIPOC Poetry\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eWords Ignite: Explore, Write, and Perform Classic and Spoken Word Poetry\u003c\/em\u003e (Get Lit), which are currently taught in the Los Angeles Unified School District. She was a Blackburn Fellow at Randolph College, where she earned her MFA. Kelly lives in Benicia, California, where she is working on her debut novel and coaching writers online.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 100\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.3 x 9.9 x 6.9 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e October 13, 2026\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46400254443655,"sku":"9781967149049","price":19.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0601\/2623\/2711\/files\/BNsOVY4myi9781967149049.webp?v=1793587848","url":"https:\/\/booksby.splitshops.com\/products\/future-tense-paperback","provider":"Books by splitShops","version":"1.0","type":"link"}