I am grateful to the Eunoia Review for publishing two of my poems. One of them is quite grumpy but tangential to Scrap. That is “Goulash.” The other one, “Loss, The Word,” is even grumpier. It’s just plain grumpy as all get out.
Feel free to share this post on your social media if you relate to one of these poems.
Filed under #ScrapSalvagingFamily, Health, Literary Journals, Poetry, Publishing, Writing
A while back Zingara Poetry Review held a daily prompt challenge for a month. Then we were encouraged to submit poems written during that time for publication. I submitted this poem for the challenge JOURNAL MINING where I mined my old journals that I discovered in a suitcase. Thanks to EIC Lisa Hase-Jackson.
The gardener and I watched Hudson overnight, so I’m going to take a nap now!!!
Thanks to photographer https://unsplash.com/@mrcalvert
Filed under #poetrycommunity, Grandparenting, Literary Journals, Poetry, Publishing
I hate vampire stories, but after seeing a show on the history channel I realized one of my ancestors could have been a “vampire.” Here’s a micro based on that realization!
A True Strzyga Tale, So Forget the Movies You’ve Seen by Luanne Castle
Every once in a while I get an earworm that I can’t get out of my head. And it’s often an old song, sometimes one that I didn’t have the pleasure of hearing when it first came out.
My current earworm is 1985’s “The Highwayman” by Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings, and Johnny Cash. The song won a Grammy for songwriter Jimmy Webb in 1986. But it was written earlier and had been recorded by Webb and by Glen Campbell.
After I say my piece, I am posting a video of the song as well as the written lyrics. Two things I wanted to mention. First is that I love Willie, Kris, and Johnny. I still hold a grudge against Waylon after about forty years. Maybe longer. Maybe it was an alcohol thing (him, not me), I don’t know. But he gave a concert in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It’s been so long I can no longer be sure if he was the headliner or not. He was HORRIBLE to the audience. Just surly, churlish, and nasty.
The other thing I wanted to mention is while I love this song, I don’t get it. I understand the romantic notion of a highwayman, but he was a thief and caused a lot of grief to the victims of his crimes (speaking about it as if it were a fictional story, since that’s what it is). The other life roles/occupations are admirable. The sailor. Our world is held together by sailors. The dam builder. I’ve been to the Hoover Dam and heard how many men died building it. So I looked up the dam at Boulder. A minimum of 96 men died during construction. Heroes!!!! Martyrs!!!! And then a starship pilot or astronaut. Captain Kirk! Captain Jean-Luc Picard!
Does it have anything to do with a fine line between a villain and a hero? I don’t know!!! What do you think?
If you can’t see the following video, ugh. I will try to split the link apart and you can put it together.
***
https:
//youtu.be/aFkcAH-m9
W0?si=8x43JSpFkBZn9n5y
Here are the lyrics:
Filed under #AmWriting, Art and Music, Fairy Tales, Flash Fiction, Literary Journals, Microfiction, Writing
My mother-in-law Diana Dale Castle painted this picture of Ethel Merman. MIL used to hang out at the Broadway theatres during rehearsal time. She would research the actors’ roles and role history and sometimes ended up with a multiple image painting like this one. The painting is under glass which caused the lines in the photo. Also, the color is way off. I am wondering why color is so off in my iPhone pix.
Switch: A Magazine of Microfiction, Editor Elizabeth R. George, published the story I wrote when this painting was demanding my attention. It hangs to the left of my desk . . . . This micro story, “Ethel Merman, American Treasure, May Have Expressed Regret,” allowed me to channel my inner Ethel as it’s Ethel talking to an interviewer.
The story is the 3rd one down.
Filed under #AmWriting, #writingcommunity, Flash Fiction, Literary Journals, Publishing, Writing
Did you have a wonderful grandmother? This fiction story is based on mine.
My story “What Would Grandma Do” is up at LatinosUSA -English Edition.
https://latinosenglishedition.wordpress.com/2025/07/16/what-would-grandma-do-by-luanne-castle/
Filed under #AmWriting, #writingcommunity, Flash Fiction, Literary Journals, Publishing, Writing
Do you like fairy tales and fantasy? If so, you might like my flash story, “Magic.” Editor Juan Re Crivello just published it at LatinosUSA – English Edition.
Note: Magic is something special that is often found in fairy tales and fantasy stories. In this story, magic is “personified” as a horse.
If you want to leave a comment, please do so after the story on the journal’s site. Thank you for reading!!!!!! and I hope you like it.
You can take a horse to water by Graham Horn is licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.0
Filed under #AmWriting, #writingcommunity, Fairy Tales, Flash Fiction, Literary Journals, Publishing, Writing
Have you ever met someone like Miss Alma Milligan? My high school history teacher was the inspiration. Though she grew up in the city and was sophisticated and traveled all summer every summer, the basic nature and character of my teacher found its way into this character.
Huge thanks to Editor-in-Chief Clare MacQueen for publishing this monologue micro. Feel free to use this micro for your acting auditions, just give me credit when appropriate :).
Completely free clipart of a hen.
If you’ve been reading this blog for some time you may remember the year of cat rainbow heaven (2021). In July of that year, my daughter’s cat Isabella Rose passed. We had a close relationship because we used to babysit her at our house a lot. Perry loved to watch over her, so we called him the babysitter. When Izzie suffered a sudden and never diagnosed illness and was failing, my daughter asked me to come to the emergency vet so I could say goodbye. When I got there, the on-call vet pressured us to let him euthanize her before she coded. They never told us what was wrong. We all–but especially my daughter–still miss her a lot.
A month later we lost our sweet sweet boy Felix.
A month after that my heart completely broke with the loss of the amazing love (and nurse to all who are sick–human, cat, dog), Pear Blossom.
Pear Blossom
What a difficult year. But what followed was a worse year. Heart-rending family troubles, and the loss of Tiger Queen Princess Mimi. I wrote a hybrid poem/story/journal that is mostly nonfiction (some time elements were shifted, etc.). You could call it hybrid nonfiction/fiction. Founder and Editor of the new journal Feed the Holy, Barbara Harris Leonhard has published this piece today. I hope you cry a little, but then can smile.
Tiger on the piano
If you’re still reading you can also find three of my collages at the journal Thimble. Yay!!! You can find them all at this link. Let me know which one you like best if you have time to check them out!
You might figure that someone who revised the classic tale of Red Riding Hood in her chapbook Our Wolves might be interested in fairy tales. And I am!!! Today I have three fairy tales I’d like to share with you. The first two are new publications, and the third is personal.
This flash story, “The Floromancy of Identification,” in Panoply is in the folk tale style, but puts a new spin on things. The whole issue is wonderful, and I think you can skip around from this link to mine to other poems and stories.
The second is in the new issue of Last Stanza Poetry Journal and responds to the cover image, an illustration by Swedish artist john Bauer and in the tradition of troll literature. The idea of a changeling has long fascinated me. Definition from Oxford: “child believed to have been secretly substituted by fairies for the parents’ real child in infancy.” Trolls are also known for creating changelings by stealing human babies.
You should be able to click on the cover image below to get to Amazon.
Last Stanza Poetry Journal Issue #19: Fable
Now to the third fairy tale. The gardener and I are celebrating our FIFTIETH wedding anniversary this month. I know, wild, huh? And just like in fairy tales, we have had some real curveballs thrown at us by trolls, giants, and monsters (which are sometimes us).
But we prevailed, and here we are: fifty years out. It’s so hard to believe since I can remember all those early days so well.
The “kids” and baby grandson all took us out for a wonderful dinner and gave us a poster montage featuring the legendary (to our family) photo of the Holiday Inn where we had a dinner-dance reception (and even found some vintage postcards of the hotel). The marquee out front has our names on it. The kids love that photo, and my brother resends it to me every year!
Full disclosure: above photo is at the 42nd anniversary point . . . . But I kinda like it.
Sharon Knutson, the editor of Storyteller Poetry Review has generously re-published (most were published by other lit mags, although there might be one that is previously unpublished) some of my flash fiction stories. It’s quite a varied collection. Also, I wrote a “life history” (haha) as an introduction, and she included a photo I had forgotten I had of me getting my high school graduation gift. That hair!!!!
Filed under #amreading, #amwriting, #writingcommunity, Ekphrastic, Flash Fiction, Literary Journals
