Marianne Kunkel

Night Lightning

Bio: Marianne Kunkel is the author of Hillary, Made Up (Stephen F. Austin State University Press) and The Laughing Game (Finishing Line Press), two anthologies, and many poems, including one in Best American Poetry 2025. She holds an MFA in poetry from University of Florida and Ph.D. in English from University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she was Prairie Schooner managing editor. Currently she is Associate Professor of English at Johnson County Community College in the Kansas City, Missouri, metro. You can read more about her at her website, mariannekunkel.com, and see all her poem and pie creations at @asliceofpoetry.

Statement:  I knew when I watched “Night Lightning” that my poem shouldn’t interfere or try to compete with the video; its visuals and sound effects are mesmerizing, and I love how the lightning adds spikes of brightness while the sky gradually changes color. When I listened to Hillel Reiner’s haunting music along with the video, I admired how the music complemented the video, again, not competing but adding sound in between bursts of thunder and mimicking the noise of rain through instruments. I was so in awe of all that Vecchi accomplished through video, and all that Reiner accomplished through music, that I approached my poem as adding another artistic layer, that of language—calling attention to how we label and distinguish lightning and thunder through words. 

I studied literary theory in college, specifically Claude Levi-Strauss’ concept of the signifier and signified, Jacques Derrida’s theory of deconstruction, and Judith Butler’s notion of performativity. All three examine the power and pitfalls of meaning-making through language, and I’ve always loved thinking about the interplay of word and meaning--how babies born in spring may meet winter first through a book and later outside their door, and how words for nature influence our relationship with nature. This is the first poem I’ve written that openly tests those theories, initially attempting to close the gap between two words and then expanding their reach as far as possible. I hope my poem “Lightning&Thunder” brings language to this scene in a way that helps readers consider the conceptual, emotional, and psychological impact of our names for a night storm.