Thomas DeFreitas

Thomas DeFreitas was born in Boston, was educated at the Boston Latin School, and attended the University of Massachusetts (in Boston and in Amherst) for two years. His poems have appeared in Autumn Sky Poetry Daily, Dappled Things, Ibbetson Street, Pensive, Plainsongs, and elsewhere.

In 2018, Thomas’s poem “Chasing the Waves” was chosen by Arlington, Massachusetts Poet Laureate Cathie Desjardins to be part of the Talking Chair Project, an interactive poetry exhibit installed during National Poetry Month at the Robbins Library in Arlington. In the summer of 2019, “Detox” was chosen as an Award Poem by the editors of Plainsongs. In November 2024, "Grief" was nominated for a Pushcart Prize by the editor of Autumn Sky Poetry Daily.

Thomas’s third collection, Swift River Ballad, appeared on Labor Day weekend, 2023, under the Kelsay Books imprint. His forthcoming poembook, Walking Between the Raindrops, will be published by Kelsay in 2025.

Resident of Arlington, MA since 2010, Thomas is a contributing member of the Academy of American Poets, and retains active membership in the New England Poetry Club, Boston’s Black Seed Writers, and Arlington’s Bee Hive Poets.