Overview

"In the poems of his new book, Thomas A. Thomas delicately reconstructs moments from a shared life altered by the gradual dissolution caused by Alzheimer's. Through lyrical verses, Thomas navigates the landscape of memory, where physical intimacy melds with present longing, blurring the lines of what was and what is. Nature, a silent witness to their journey, becomes a companion in Thomas's, echoing their story- from the tender touch of picking berries to the profound significance of ""the month apples begin to blush at the thought of falling."" My Heart Is Not Asleep delineates a world where pain and beauty converge, where love endures. This book is a powerful affirmation of humanity and courage. -Dzvinia Orlowsky, author of Bad Harvest This is a lush creation of song and scar, of vulnerability and emotional honesty. In Thomas A. Thomas's debut collection, My Heart Is Not Asleep, the natural and human worlds mingle in accessible and poignant ways. Brimming with meditations on the self and other, humanity and the natural world, these vibrant poems remain grounded in a universal familiarity that opens us up to something greater. -John Sibley Williams, author of The Drowning House What a blessing this book is: poems earned from the threshold of love and loss, attuned to music, drenched in gorgeous imagery, and with the steady cadence of a voice willing to stay with pain and revelation. The offering of these poems, which is a true kind of gift and medicine, is one born of a courage, to return to a heart that is not asleep, that is again and again awake and open to the ravishing heartbreak of the slow loss of a beloved, and to the persistent beauty of fog and the Salish sea, of the scrape of seal whiskers on the bottom of a kayak, of huckleberry and cedar fronds and ferns, where ""bright silent, urgent light rushes to touch it all."" Thomas reminds us that grief and beauty are inexorable, and that patient attunement and intimacy with beauty is a path that can carry us through. -Anne Haven McDonnell, author of Breath on a Coal Thomas Thomas's tender poems of love and grief are beautiful and powerful, sometimes overwhelming the reader with their unabashed emotion: ""I know, I know, I know everything loved is to be lost / and scattered; and yet the daily lesson drums / in the blood beneath my skin."" Thomas's well-crafted poems lament the shortness of life while celebrating memory's power to keep the past alive. -Michael Simms, author of Strange Meadowlark What a poignant pleasure it is to read My Heart Is Not Asleep, bittersweet as many of Thomas's subjects are. I felt like I was kayaking with the poet, walking the beach with him, taking in all the natural wonders that offer him consolation on a daily basis. Thomas has captured the anguish of ambiguous loss- the endless ebbing that is dementia-but he has also captured the intimate connection that is still there for so long; and that love that never ends. -Ann Hedreen, author of Her Beautiful Brain"

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Reviews

"In the poems of his new book, Thomas A. Thomas delicately reconstructs moments from a shared life altered by the gradual dissolution caused by Alzheimer's. Through lyrical verses, Thomas navigates the landscape of memory, where physical intimacy melds with present longing, blurring the lines of what was and what is. Nature, a silent witness to their journey, becomes a companion in Thomas's, echoing their story- from the tender touch of picking berries to the profound significance of ""the month apples begin to blush at the thought of falling."" My Heart Is Not Asleep delineates a world where pain and beauty converge, where love endures. This book is a powerful affirmation of humanity and courage. -Dzvinia Orlowsky, author of Bad Harvest This is a lush creation of song and scar, of vulnerability and emotional honesty. In Thomas A. Thomas's debut collection, My Heart Is Not Asleep, the natural and human worlds mingle in accessible and poignant ways. Brimming with meditations on the self and other, humanity and the natural world, these vibrant poems remain grounded in a universal familiarity that opens us up to something greater. -John Sibley Williams, author of The Drowning House What a blessing this book is: poems earned from the threshold of love and loss, attuned to music, drenched in gorgeous imagery, and with the steady cadence of a voice willing to stay with pain and revelation. The offering of these poems, which is a true kind of gift and medicine, is one born of a courage, to return to a heart that is not asleep, that is again and again awake and open to the ravishing heartbreak of the slow loss of a beloved, and to the persistent beauty of fog and the Salish sea, of the scrape of seal whiskers on the bottom of a kayak, of huckleberry and cedar fronds and ferns, where ""bright silent, urgent light rushes to touch it all."" Thomas reminds us that grief and beauty are inexorable, and that patient attunement and intimacy with beauty is a path that can carry us through. -Anne Haven McDonnell, author of Breath on a Coal Thomas Thomas's tender poems of love and grief are beautiful and powerful, sometimes overwhelming the reader with their unabashed emotion: ""I know, I know, I know everything loved is to be lost / and scattered; and yet the daily lesson drums / in the blood beneath my skin."" Thomas's well-crafted poems lament the shortness of life while celebrating memory's power to keep the past alive. -Michael Simms, author of Strange Meadowlark What a poignant pleasure it is to read My Heart Is Not Asleep, bittersweet as many of Thomas's subjects are. I felt like I was kayaking with the poet, walking the beach with him, taking in all the natural wonders that offer him consolation on a daily basis. Thomas has captured the anguish of ambiguous loss- the endless ebbing that is dementia-but he has also captured the intimate connection that is still there for so long; and that love that never ends. -Ann Hedreen, author of Her Beautiful Brain"

Author Information

"Thomas A. Thomas, born in Illinois to a medical doctor mother and a ballet dancer father, spent a lot of time off by himself in the woods, prairies, and fields, day and night, in all seasons. Thomas found his way to the University of Michigan, where he studied with Donald Hall, and Gregory Orr, and workshopped some poems with Robert Bly. He won Minor and Major Hopwood Awards in Poetry, and his poem ""Approaching Here"" was choreographed and performed at UM. After a couple of years of madness in New York City, he found his way to the Pacific Northwest, where he has made his home for over 40 years. He is now delighted to be a Board Member for the Olympia Poetry Network, and to be active in numerous online poetry and photography groups. His works appear in print and online, including video recordings, most recently in Gyroscope Review, Blue Heron Review, Cirque Journal, Vox Populi Sphere, The Banyan Review. org, and FemAsiaMagazine.com, as well as anthologies in English and in translation to Spanish, Serbian, and Bengali. He has been nominated for both Best of the Net and The Pushcart Prize.This collection of poems regards his experience of caring for his wife for over a decade, up to the present time, as she gradually succumbs to extreme early onset Alzheimer's disease. Visit Thomas online at https: //linktr.ee/thomasathomas"

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