Cammy Thomas
—
Not Feel
I don’t want to feel it
even looking down at her
one day old
not feel it
my fear is a scorpion
biting inside
this tiny perfect
creature I grew
it’s too much
like floating in Walden Pond
on my back at night
watched by the North Star
this tiny girl
who’ll live her appointed time
and no more
each time I saw her move
beneath the surface of my belly
my own salamander
I thought don’t make her a person
no that would be unbearable
like basalt stars
like trout in a clear river
rocks with fossils in them
a city breathing at first light
like everything lovely
her grunts as she nursed
her eyelashes
faint blue shadows at her temples
Cammy Thomas’s collection, Tremors, received 2022 Poetry Honors from the Mass Book Awards. Her first book, Cathedral of Wish, received the Norma Farber First Book Award from the Poetry Society of America. A fellowship from the Ragdale Foundation helped her complete her collection, Inscriptions. Her poem, “Far Past War,” was set to music by her sister, composer Augusta Read Thomas, and premiered with the Cathedral Choral Society in Washington DC in 2022. She teaches literature to adults, and lives in Bolton, Massachusetts. For more information, please visit www.cammythomas.com
© Bear Review 2025
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Site Design + Build
October Associates
