Laurie Kuntz - Two Poems
Pulling Out at Fifty-Two
Kaleidoscope
____________________________________________
Pulling Out at Fifty-Two
Pulling out at Fifty-Two
You have always been careful--
a man of few promises,
fearing the spoken word,
its eggshell thin power.
I am drawn to a moment of sweetness,
the edge of a glimmering sword defending
the waning grin of my body,
but really it is the brine I desire,
as it has been for all the life we have fused together--
a careful life,
that brings us, every night, to this bed,
your weight splinters over mine
the dark sauntering down,
a thief, in my body’s house
snatching the fine cutlery
before the true owner returns.
I want you to pull me close
with the same abandon
at which you tug at crabgrass,
forever spreading in our yard.
And when I feel your tightening I whisper,
I am old now; it is safe.
But afraid of what we still may be able to create,
You pull out,
then moan.
Kaleidoscope
For Michelle
In anyone’s hand,
Prismed sky shadows,
Flecked silver,
spin a world of mottled hues.
Turning the cylinder up to light
Glitter, sliver, pearl, and shell--
Every purple oblong shape,
The rainbow’s enigma--
Shattered mirror of the heart,
Our gashed lives
Break, then fall
Into symmetry,
Where all that splinters is beautiful.
* Read Laurie's interview in our winter, 2003 issue
Laurie Kuntz worked in a Vietnamese refugee camp in the Philippines for over a decade. Currently, she is an associate professor of English at the Univ. of Maryland's Asian Campus in Misawa, Japan. She holds an MFA from Vermont College. She is the winner of the 1999 Texas Review Chapbook Contest and her chapbook, Simple Gestures is published by Texas Review Press (2000). Edwin Mellen Press published her poetry collection, Somewhere in the Telling in 1999. Blue Light Press published her chapbook, Women at the Onsen, in 2003. Three of her poems have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She is the author of two English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) books, The New Arrival, BKS. 1 &2 (Prentice-Hall, 1982, 1992). She is the editor of the University of Maryland's Asian Division's literary magazine, Blue Muse and a contributing editor to Hunger Mountain Magazine. She won first prize in the AMERICA'S REVIEW political poetry contest. She is listed in Glimmer Train' s "Top 25 Poets" in their 2002 Poetry Competition. She was a finalist in Blue Light Press’s poetry competition in 2002. She is a 2003 finalist in the Emily Dickinson Contest sponsored by Universities West publishers. She holds an honorable mention in the Sheila-Na- Gig Featured Poet's Prize and in the Atlanta Review's International Poetry Competition. She was a finalist in The Nation\Discovery Contest, 1992 and 1997 and in The Sow's Ear Poetry Contest, 1992 and has won honorable mentions in the John Foster West Poetry Competition, The Wildwood Poetry Contest, Negative Capability Poetry Contest, Amelia Poetry Contest and Chester H. Jones National Poetry Contest. Her full-length book manuscript has been a finalist in the Journal Poetry Award, Ohio Univ. Press, the Larry Levis Poetry Book Competition sponsored by the Four Way Book Publishers, the Cleveland State Univ. Poetry Competition and the Brittingham Competition. Her poetry has been published in THE BLOOMSBURY REVIEW,THE MACGUFFIN, THE LOUISVILLE REVIEW, THE CHARLOTTE POETRY REVIEW, THE ROANOKE REVIEW, THE SOUTHERN REVIEW, THE ELEVENTH MUSE, POETRY MISCELLANY, THE NEW VIRGINIA REVIEW, CROSSCURRENTS, THE SOUTH FLORIDA REVIEW, THE SUN, THE CONTEMPORARY REVIEW and other magazines. She read her poetry at the Poetry Reading Series at the University of Evansville in March 2000. A one act play, "The Poet Speaks," honoring her work as a poet was performed in Japan for Women's History Month in 2002. She lives in northern Japan with her son and husband.
