In October I discovered that my flash story “Incident at Shady Acres” was first runner up in the Julia Peterkin Literary Awards sponsored by South 85 Journal. Now the issue has been published with the winning story and the runners up.
I hope you like this ecofiction story. Pretty pleased with this one. https://www.south85journal.com/winter-2023/incident-at-shady-acres-by-luanne-castle/
Here’s an adobe preview image of a haboob.
Filed under #amwriting, #writingcommunity, Arizona, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Literary Journals, Publishing, Writing, Writing contest
This is the 2nd week of the Heavy Snow (December 7 – 20) season for Colleen Chesebro’s #TankaTuesday challenge based on the 24 Japanese seasons.
The challenge this week is to write three kimos, which are an Israeli form of haiku. Colleen suggested three kigo phrases to use in the three. A kimo has 10, 7, 6 lines and is fairly static. Here are the kigo phrases:
Here are my kimos:
almost at the end of a painful year
buying a new calendar
brings me hope for healing
***
remembering his proposal to her
on the twelfth of December
winter jubilation
***
on my mother’s floor they gather around
to celebrate together
trimming the Christmas tree
The first poem is obvious. This has been a pretty bad year on a global scale.
The second poem is about my daughter and SIL’s engagement several years ago. It was on December 12. Then they married in the courthouse on March 12 during Covid and had a big wedding on February 12 almost two years ago. As Colleen points out in her #tankatuesday post, this is the 12th season. We are also in the 12th month by our calendar. Notice that I turned the kigo “winter desolation” around, making it “winter jubilation.” I wanted to write about daughter’s love of twelve and didn’t want it negative.
The third poem is about my mother’s retirement community.
On Sunday, the journal Roi Fainéant Press and its EIC Tiffany M. Storrs published my new Remedios Varo-inspired tiny story, Mimesis. This one is just as weird as the others, and it does have a cat as an important character. https://www.roifaineantpress.com/post/mimesis-by-luanne-castle?fbclid=IwAR0J2DQ4KmcmG_l1Iw8te2MYMXtAw6ydZfm11MEr68lrlFXVBZIJgVMv0Wk
This is the 1st week of the Heavy Snow (December 7 – 20) season for Colleen Chesebro’s #TankaTuesday challenge based on the 24 Japanese seasons.
I wrote a chōka and followed it (as is the custom) with a short poem called an envoy. I included a senryu, which is like a haiku but about human foibles, not nature. We are supposed to find all the kigo we can in the above painting, but I took it as a very loose guide.
anticipation
the sky more shaded, nuanced
a hawk soars above
what lies in store before end
of year and new times
preparing for Hanukkah
lighting the darkness
winter birds fly overhead
taking our troubles with them
*
Hanukkah candles
are lit in the darkest month
to lead a new path
I focused on Hanukkah because it starts tonight and lasts for eight days. The kigo words/phrases that I used are anticipation, hawk, preparing, Hanukkah, lighting the darkness, winter birds. The photo image I chose was something I see on my walk everyday, the mighty Arizona saguaro. I think they look similar to giant menorahs.
If you remember my bad knees poem from last month, I am excited to tell you that it was in the top ten read poems on One Art in November. Yay!!!! https://oneartpoetry.com/2023/12/01/one-arts-top-10-most-read-poets-of-november-2023/
Filed under #amwriting, #bloggingcommunity, #poetrycommunity, #TankaTuesday, Arizona, Poetry, Syllabic Poetry, Writing
This is the 2nd week of the Light Snow season for Colleen Chesebro’s #TankaTuesday challenge based on the 24 Japanese seasons.
Colleen gave us our kigo phrases for this week, as well as the poetic form. We were to write three dodoitsu, a form of Japanese poetry, following a 7-7-7-5 syllable count pattern.
###
afternoons lose light sooner
coyotes prowl for dinner
gloom collects in my kitchen
early winter dusk
###
chilly north winds do not blow
we balance in luxury
no longer hot, but not cool
air gentle to touch
###
though today’s weather is fair
tomorrow will be chilly
and then we’ll be grateful for
warmth around the hearth
###
Care December will be starting day after tomorrow at Everything Art. Every year, Kasia who runs EA offers this free self-care and intuitive art “course.” Every day we get a video with art prompt and self-care tip as well as a brief nature experience. The only thing she asks is that we donate what we can to Action Against Hunger.
In preparation for the Care December experience, I made myself a little junk journal with a pretty cover. For the journal, I used a New York Life brochure. The staples didn’t hold so I bound it with a shoe lace. The cover is denim from an old pair of jeans, plaid fabric from a dress Grandma made for me when I was twelve, and an applique I had for my daughter’s wedding junk journal that I did not use. I wish the colors came out truer in the photo, but it’s this early winter daylight, I guess. The applique and lace are the same hunter green. The greens in the plaid are rich. And the denim is a true dark denim blue. So this image is a dud, clearly.
Each page is prepped for usage with gesso or collage.
Filed under #amwriting, #bloggingcommunity, #poetrycommunity, #TankaTuesday, Poetry, Syllabic Poetry, Writing
This is the 1st week of the Light Snow (November 22 – December 6) Shosetsu 小雪 Northern Hemisphere & Fine Weather: Shoman 小満 Southern Hemisphere season for Colleen Chesebro’s #TankaTuesday challenge based on the 24 Japanese seasons.
For a kigo word I chose turkey because even though we have spectacular summery weather right now, it is Thanksgiving week–even in Arizona! I decided to try a new to me form, tanka prose. I hope I did it right.
###
Grateful for Our Blessings
Once again our family will meet for Thanksgiving amidst the beautiful Phoenix weather. How grateful I am that we can be together. There will be ten plus one this time. The “plus one” will be brought by DIL and son . . . and is due in two months (or so).
under bluest skies
with bare arms and cheeks sunkissed
we come together
kids bring turkey and gravy
we offer fixins with love
Filed under #amwriting, #bloggingcommunity, #poetrycommunity, #TankaTuesday, Poetry, Syllabic Poetry, Writing
Our Wolves, my Red Riding Hood poetry chapbook, was reviewed by fantasy and science fiction writer D. (Diana) Wallace Peach for her October Book Reviews: https://mythsofthemirror.com/2023/10/31/october-book-reviews-2/. I love her review. She says, “these are thoughtful and provocative poems that I found stirring, raw, and deeply insightful. They’re also beautifully written with gorgeous but accessible language, providing glimmers into the lives and stories of girls everywhere.”
Diana posted the review on Amazon where it is keeping company with another new and fabulous review by writer Wilma Kahn: https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R31IC9DU4DZING/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B0BTKNP31D. The ending of her review is so cool: “Love the poetry. Embrace the shock.”
It feels so rewarding to have readers take the time to write reviews for my books. Makes me happy.
On the same subject of poetry, I read a hilarious article in The Onion, a master of satire. It’s the funniEST if you know that most poets make nothing from their books as the costs of promotion in both money and time outweigh the royalties. https://www.theonion.com/sellout-poet-made-over-150-in-2023-alone-1851012377
For #TankaTuesday, Colleen Chesebro challenged poets to write three tankas using specific kigo as either first lines or pivot lines.
#1: “the first month with sleet”
#2: “late winter garden”
#3: “blanket by the fire”
Here are mine. It took a little weirdness since we still have gorgeous weather in Arizona.
the first month with sleet
and a howling, freezing wind
first weeks of snowfalls
that melt even as they touch
the earth not yet full-frozen
*
outside I linger
among the curling petals
late winter garden
a place for thoughts of the past
a place for wishes to come
*
in Arizona
we look ahead to winter
blanket by the fire
both cuddling with the kitties
will it come or will fall stay
###
I also wrote a tanka about the contrast of our Arizona weather and my family’s Michigan weather.
[Beginning of Winter in Arizona versus Michigan]
A fall breeze upset
my skirt on my daily walk.
Lone sign of winter.
My brother in Michigan
raked fallen leaves for hours.
###
My kigo is fallen leaves and fall breeze (instead of autumn wind).
Jen Michalski, Managing and Founding Editor of JMWW Journal, has published my poem, “Edna Pontellier Needed a Bagpiper.” Edna Pontellier is the protagonist of the novel The Awakening. I don’t think you need to have read the book to understand the poem or Edna’s “fascination” with the water.
If you’re so inclined, comments may be left on the site.
In case you’re wondering, yes, I’ve experienced a bagpiper on the shore, as well as many other wonderful places. I used to think I was a reincarnated Scottish person because of my love of the pipes. But it might have started with ballet classes. My ballet teacher also taught Scottish Highland dancing (which I wanted to take SO BADLY but my mother said no), so I was used to hearing the pipes at the studio and at performances.
You really have to be paying attention to see the beginning of winter in Phoenix. It is a little cooler, but it is still as warm as a Michigan summer. The sky is still bright blue. Our flowers are brilliant, and the sun shining through the leaves of the bushes and trees is a painting.
Still, according to #TankaTuesday, this is the first week of The Beginning of Winter (November 7 – 21) Ritto 立冬. I thought I would try a new-to-me form, the gogyohka. This form is not truly syllabic, but Colleen Chesebro’s research has shown it to be more about breaths. It is a five-line poem, like a tanka. A gogyohka does not need a kigo word, but I am playing along with the seasonal prompts, so I am including “long night” as a kigo.
Some super cool news this week. Both my full-length collection Rooted and Winged and my chapbook Our Wolves are finalists for the American Book Fest 2023 awards! https://americanbookfest.com/2023bbapressrelease.html
I’m so pleased with how my books have done with the awards, but they could both use more reviews on Amazon (and Goodreads, too, but especially Amazon). It only takes one or two sentences to help the algorithm, so if you have read the books and liked them, please consider taking the time to drop Amazon a line or two.
It’s been over a week that I have been walking every day. I am so happy that I have been able to sustain this routine, and that my health has permitted. It’s a beautiful walk near me, and so far it’s been almost eventless. I am a little dismayed, though, how few birds I am finding this year. Has anyone else noticed this where you live or is it just here?
I’m very grateful to Mark Danowsky, Editor of One Art, who has published a poem I wrote when I visited my mother in August. I traveled with my bad knees and my husband to see Mom and attend our high school reunion. We stayed in a guest room in the retirement community where Mom lives. And this is what happened the morning we were leaving. I hope you enjoy this narrative poem. It all happened just like this . . . .
Filed under #amreading, #poetrycommunity, #writerlife, #writingcommunity, Literary Journals, Poetry, Publishing
Cristina M. R. Norcross, Founding Editor of Blue Heron Review has published one of my new poems in the new issue of the journal. The theme is Heart Source & Haven. In these dark, anxiety-ridden days, what a wonderful issue to read. My poem is about a magical place I found when I was a kid. It was in the woods across the narrow rural road near Caledonia, Michigan.
You can find the issue here: https://blueheronreview.com/bhr-issue-17-fall-2023/ You will love these poems!
Here is mine:
A Very Specific Opening in the Woods Near Caledonia
The road lilts through the thick woods on either side.
There are no mailboxes to denote location, but
that heart-shaped patch of lupines marks the entry
if I remember to balance across the moss-covered log
and bend down to pass under the sugar maple leaves.
Follow the burbling creek down past the grasses
nestling the tree trunks and saplings and when
I’m lulled into the rhythm of the path, it appears
in front of me—an open meadow sparkling with
sunlight on the kaleidoscopic array of poppies,
Sweet William, and phlox—hummingbirds
and butterflies—even dragonflies—rising amidst
the motes of pollen and seed, a bluebird’s chest
pumping its song, and an alert squirrel scolding.
At the top of my basket is the tablecloth—red
and white checkered, natch—and I lay out the wine
and chocolates, the ginger cake and oranges.
Later, I drowse with my head on my doubled sweater.
That’s when they arrive in their gossamer tutus
and green tights, with their silvery voices. In the haze
of my half-opened eyes, I watch them for memory’s
sake. I will paint them later, as if they are a dream.
I wrote a tanka with Dia de Los Muertos as the kigo word for #TankaTuesday.
[Topic: First Frost]
Before winter’s here
on Dia de Los Muertos
we remember ones
we have lost to the Reaper
and celebrate life and love.
Although we are not in danger of a frost in Phoenix, the days and nights are cooler than they were. When I wake up in the morning, we are in the low 50s. I’ve been walking in the morning to take advantage of cooler air.
BONUS: to use Trick or Treat. Here is my lune:
Trick or treat, smell my
feet, give me
something good to eat.
(stolen from the childhood jingle)You can’t improve on a classic!
Doll God (shipping within the U.S. included)
$10.00
