The poems in this collection explore a range of themes and emotions, reflecting the remarkable diversity and complexity of the natural world, the flow of life and death, the wonders of human character and social interaction, and its impact on the environment. Some of the poems have an anguished political edge, other touch on such delicate themes as the role of salad Nicoise in nurturing a romantic relationship. Kusunoki is a teacher, and his concern for the future of young minds and spirits rings out through the collection.
Stanley Kusunoki has taught creative writing to young people through programs at The Loft, Asian American Renaissance, Intermedia Arts, and S.A.S.E., The Write Place. He was the recipient of a Loft "Asian Inroads" mentorship, and was awarded a MN State Arts board "Cultural Collaboration" grant to create, write and perform "Beringia—The Land Bridge Project" with Ojibwe performance poet Jamison Mahto at Intermedia Arts. He is the former co-host/curator of the Literary Bridges reading series at Next Chapter Booksellers in St. Paul.
Kusunoki most recently was the High Potential Coordinator at Red Oak Elementary School in Shakopee. He lives in Duluth with his wife, Claudia Daly.
"To read these poems is like wandering through different gardens with a wise teacher, who shares experiences and reflections in a delightful way. The poems till the wonders of the natural world and tell of memorials, teaching, our damaged planet, and travel. Along the way, we encounter an ornery hibiscus and a saw-whet owl that travels to the city in a cut Christmas tree. Kusunoki marvels alike at the 'Cosmic wonder/the moon exactly the right size/to blot out the disc of the sun,' and the wonder he sees in his students." — Elizabeth Weir, aurhor of High on Table Mountain and When Our World Was Whole
"Stanley Kusunoki's new collection explores the interconnectedness of nature and being human. We follow the seasons in Stanley's garden, and we also visit the garden of the schoolroom where teachers cultivate their human seeds so they can flower to their fullest potential. The collection itself is a rich garden, blooming with stories of travel, elegies that remember people lost, poems that honor ancestors and bear witness to our changing climate and places of human suffering. Throughout is an ongoing song about the joy of being alive. A highlight is the section Fresh Sightings, where Stanley gives space to poems from former students, planting here poetic seeds for the future." — Michael Kiesow Moore, author of What to Pray For and The Song Castle
"Stan Kusunoki's Natural Life reads as a 'yes/and' to anything that grows in the midst of (and despite) climate chaos, war, and late capitalism. Its relentless naming of beautiful parts of the natural world is an act of faith. The collection ranges from poems of praise to elegies for loved ones lost in the pandemic. As a whole, the collection exists inside a respite from—decidedly not a denial of—everything outside the classroom, the dinner table, the garden gate. 'I wonder at the unseasonable weather. These / seasons in chaos a test for what can grow / in a ghost prairie,' Kusunoki writes. We need poets who can stay with that wonder, in which there remains the possibility for action." — Paula Cisewski, the author most recently of Ceremonies for No Repair and The Becoming Game
