Monthly Archives: March 2023

by | March 29, 2023 · 9:23 am

Desert Mountain Landscape: #TankaTuesday

Colleen at Wordcraft poetry suggested this prompt today: to write a syllabic poem about what you see out of your window.

The gardener and I were driving on the freeway in western Arizona yesterday, and I saw something unusual: two sheep were picking their way down the mountainside out in the “middle of nowhere.” So I wrote a tanka in the car.

My tanka topic is Scene Through a Car Window:

A hawk flies above

saguaro-studded mountains

in yellow blossom

as two bighorn sheep descend,

their coronas glinting light.

green cactus plants on mountain
Photo by Justin Nealey on Pexels.com

This image at Pexels looks very similar to where I saw the sheep except that they were walking down a fairly steep mountain. And right now the brittlebush is in full bright yellow bloom. At first I thought they were goats because they were so graceful and agile amidst the shrub and rocks. But their large curved horns seem to indicate that they were bighorn sheep (although slender for bighorns).

I read another review for my Red Riding Hood chapbook Our Wolves: https://abookishwayoflife.blogspot.com/2023/03/our-wolves-by-luanne-castle.html?fbclid=IwAR0XL2jnDa_2NyGcAFdKXUCgjcWr8zJl0LWwxtuvRP17kV98y6CBZyekO2E

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by | March 24, 2023 · 5:15 am

Our Wolves Book Tour: 2 Lovely Reviews

Marie A. Bailey had written a review of Our Wolves that looks at the autobiographical nature of some of the poems. This is what I love about poetry: how it can be specific and universal, as well as open to different interpretations. Read what she has to say here: https://1writeway.wordpress.com/2023/03/23/in-the-company-of-wolves-bookreview-poetrycommunity/

The wolf dressed up as Grandma:

A bookstagrammer, Books Parlour, has posted a review of Our Wolves as well:

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by | March 21, 2023 · 12:14 pm

Not Meant for Humans: #TankaTuesday

Colleen at Wordcraft poetry suggested this prompt today: to write in response to this Monet painting of his garden in Giverny. I decided to write a haibun as I had a story to tell.

Not Meant for Humans

The walkway seems to have no beginning, and so I tiptoe through the purple and blue blossoms to reach the rough path, feeling naughty and bold but safe for its proximity to a well-painted building. I circle the garden of Iris, the rainbow herself. Round I go three times and then spy a spot of bone under the willow. The sun ray has moved, so now I can see what I have missed. Or did it just appear? I step closer, into the flowers, careful not to crush the blossoms themselves, aware I might be harming stems.  My curiosity draws me in. As I bend toward the ground, I part the plants and see a very small skeleton, as of an excruciatingly tiny human. Her shredded wings are faded with age, but once must have been the blue of Iris with yellow dots like bright and miniature suns. Perhaps she fell from the branch above when she was asleep. I understand now why the path repeats itself, an endless spinning trail, meant as it is for those with wings to fly above the garden and to rest in the shade of the well-nourished trees. Still, being human, I invite you to share in my experience.

Watch for tiny wings

hidden by goddess Iris

and her endless path.

###

I’ve been intrigued by fairies lately. And by the notion of fairy skeletons because, after all, what is left of them after they die?

As you can see from the poem, I also constantly worry over our human enjoyment of and curiosity about nature because we are such destructive creatures, even when we don’t mean to be.

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by | March 21, 2023 · 5:15 am

Two More Visits on the Our Wolves Book Tour

Deborah Brasket has written a very smart review of Our Wolves. I love how she notices the “slippery, slantwise versions” of Red Riding Hood in the book. You can find her review here (and check out her beautiful blog while you’re there): https://deborahjbrasket.com/2023/03/19/red-the-wolf-slant-wise-and-slippery/

True Book Addict has also written a loverly review of Our Wolves. http://www.truebookaddict.com/2023/03/our-wolves-by-luanne-castle-review.html The reviewer says: “I don’t think I’ve ever read a collection quite like this. I have an extensive poetry collection and I know I will be returning to this volume again and again.”

Yesterday a Bookstagrammer named Genia Blum @bookscarves shared Our Wolves with a gorgeous Hermès scarf.

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by | March 16, 2023 · 9:24 am

Another Visit on the Our Wolves Book Tour

We have another stop on the Our Wolves blog tour! A delightful book review by Anthony Avina can be found here: https://authoranthonyavinablog.com/2023/03/16/our-wolves-by-luanne-castle-review/?fbclid=IwAR3-P-XbBCjBaFroFc7rxfhvOULUEFcPVW16-vFil_aZtXOFHd7lenJeK8c

“Heartfelt, memorable, and captivating, author Luanne Castle’s “Our Wolves” is a masterful and engaging poem collection.” Anthony Avina

I love these Red Riding Hood Russian nesting dolls because Red is the largest doll and swallows up the others! And who is that littlest one?

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by | March 14, 2023 · 2:01 pm

Two Springs in Arizona: #TankaTuesday

Colleen at Wordcraft poetry suggested this prompt today: write a syllabic poem using synonyms for the words green and spring, but do not use those words themselves. I decided to use the form tanka because I am starting to really appreciate that structure.

Rather than a title, a tanka might have a topic. My topic is Arizona seasons.

March in the desert
is verdant, a vernal gem,
budtime under blue
and blossomy without freeze,
Phoenix repeats in the fall.

Vernal and budtime are both synonyms for spring. Verdant is a synonym for green.

In Arizona we tend to have two springs, meaning that some blossoming trees bloom twice a year and that we plant new annuals in both fall and spring. For this reason March and April—and October—are my favorite months in Arizona.

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by | March 13, 2023 · 5:15 am

An Award and a Review–a Good Day for Rooted and Winged

I have a little Rooted and Winged news. It’s a Book Excellence Winner in Poetry! Oh yeah, baby.

This is a nice little present to me for the work I put into the book.

Poet Carol Bachofner has posted a review of Rooted and Winged on her new Substack newsletter/blog. I hope you enjoy the review. It is the first in a series of poetry book reviews she plans to write. The second one is already up and it’s about Patricia Smith’s Unshuttered. Please consider following Carol’s newsletter as she continues to write about poetry. https://carolbach.substack.com/p/books-that-say-something-we-need?utm_source=facebook&sd=pf&fbclid=IwAR14BDVHsEnnFldy_xIVPNUKNOt0lV658jNbwn_264sDHCAEVxV9Ud3TOdk

My boy Meesker trying to keep me from reading Meg Pokrass’ micro stories or my Kindle. “ Pet me, Ma.”

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by | March 10, 2023 · 7:20 am

Poem Up at Masticadores USA

Masticadores USA has published a new poem, “Before and Again.” A big thank you to Editor Barbara Leonhard. I hope you like the poem. This one is a little heavy.

Here is the first 1 1/2 stanzas:

The we of my belief lived in a land
of easy comfort, brief and surface woundings,
even when tussled by history
that lasted a month on our portable television.
 
We swept the broken pieces into piles
Thinking our bonfires would destroy memories.

https://masticadoresusa.wordpress.com/2023/03/10/before-and-again-by-luanne-castle/

broken glasses on the ground
Photo by David Geib on Pexels.com

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by | March 9, 2023 · 6:57 am

Visit the Our Wolves Book Tour Today

Next stop on the Our Wolves blog tour, a book review, can be found here:

https://bookwormnai.wordpress.com/2023/03/09/our-wolves-by-luanne-castle/

The last book review for Our Wolves was published here: https://thebookloversboudoir.wordpress.com/2023/03/07/our-wolves-by-luanne-castle/

If you missed my interview by Deborah Kalb, here it is. I think it really shows my inspiration for writing about Red Riding Hood. http://deborahkalbbooks.blogspot.com/2023/03/q-with-luanne-castle.html

And finally if you missed the video of me reading four poems from the book here it

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by | March 7, 2023 · 12:03 pm

#Tanka Tuesday and Poetry Reading

See below for the video that goes with this fireplace photo.

Today Colleen’s prompt for #TankaTuesday involved writing a syllabic poem using a photo by https://secondwindleisure.com/about-me/ as a prompt.

I’ve been wanting to try a cherita, which is 3 stanzas–one line, two lines, three lines. So this is what I came up with.

I can hear the thunder and spray before I see it.

Then it appears before me in its many textures
of wood and stone and the glorious movement of water.

As I stand on the viewing platform overlooking all,
the mist parts from the water, rising up toward 
the blue sky, hugging me in its wet embrace.

Then I started to question if a cherita was really syllabic poetry because you don’t count the syllables, so I quickly came up with a haiku to make sure I’m covered!

powerful water
sheeting down to be as one
with its still-wild self

The publisher, Alien Buddha Press, of Our Wolves has created a YouTube playlist of authors reading from their new books. I read four poems from the chapbook. Oh, and if you do check it out, watch for when I say the most UNINTENTIONALLY FUNNIEST thing. Hint: it has to do with whether Antarctica has folk and fairy tales.

https://www.amazon.com/Our-Wolves-Luanne-Castle/dp/B0BTKNP31D/ref=sr_1_1?crid=8PAK9E03LTBV&keywords=our+wolves&qid=1677978570&sprefix=our+wo%2Caps%2C355&sr=8-1&asin=B0BTKNP31D&revisionId=&format=4&depth=1

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