New Poetry by Laurie Kuntz

 

Wishes for English 101 Students

- After Lucille Clifton's poem, "Wishes For Sons"                                                                       

I wish them blank stares, thirty-five at a time,

I wish them the shuffle of bored feet,

fragments, run-ons, and the inconsistencies

of verbs looking for agreement.

I wish them doodles and dropped eyelids,

then the dream of standing naked

in a filled to capacity auditorium,

their lecture notes containing the wisdom of a fig leaf.

I wish them red-ink stains on fingertips,

folders of ungraded papers on Friday night,

later, lost folders of graded papers on Monday morning.

And when they deem themselves ready to graduate,

I wish them the course that they forgot to take.

- © Laurie Kuntz 2023

Laurie Kuntz  has published two poetry collections (The Moon Over My Mother’s House, Finishing Line Press and Somewhere in the Telling, Mellen Press), and three chapbooks (Talking Me Off The Roof, Kelsay Books, Simple Gestures, Texas Review Press and Women at the Onsen, Blue Light Press).   She has been nominated for three Pushcart Prizes and one Best of the Net. Her chapbooks, Simple Gestures, won the Texas Review Poetry Chapbook Contest, and Women at the Onsen won the Blue Light Press Chapbook Contest. Currently residing in Florida, everyday offers an opportunity for a much needed political poem. Otherwise,  happily retired, she lives in an endless summer state of mind. Visit her at:  https://lauriekuntz.myportfolio.com/home-