Luanne Castle: Poetry and Other Words (and cats!)

Tag Archives: nature poetry

by Luanne | April 6, 2023 · 5:15 am

Poem Up at The Field Guide

Thanks to Editor Amanda Marrero, The Field Guide has published my poem “A Wash is Not a Riverbed.” This poem is about the wash that runs right past my house. I think this poem would have fit in Rooted and Winged.

The poem is in six sections. Here is the first one:

I.
From overhead see a route
on an intuitive map. Scriven in earth, etched with blood and spoor.
The route is wash.
The wash is map.

A kingsnake slides its stripes
across the arroyo
in the way that a T is crossed to finish the planet. It tastes the chemical scent of its prey.

The stubbling of grasses amid stones optimistic in the hollow. We wish for custom monsoons
a steady large-drop rain and little wind.

https://thefieldguidemagazine.com/luanne-castle/

These photos of our wash show the gates we had to put up (with permission) because the javelinas were too destructive and dangerous. But all the other animals get through.

Happy Passover if you celebrate. Happy Easter if you celebrate. Ramadan Mubarak if you celebrate.

My zoom solo poetry reading is Saturday at 5PM eastern and you are invited! https://writersite.org/2023/03/27/an-invitation-to-my-first-zoom-solo-poetry-reading-and-other-stuff/

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Filed under #poetrycommunity, art journaling, Literary Journals, Poetry, Publishing

Tagged as #ampublishing, #poetrycommunity, nature poetry, Poetry, The Field Guide Poetry Magazine

by Luanne | July 25, 2013 · 5:20 am

Poetry On the Edge

Alaska native Caroline Goodwin’s first poetry book, Trapline (Jackleg Press), is set at the edge–of the sea, the swamp, the wilderness. To get a feel for her poetry, imagine yourself walking along the shore, encountering “rot and salt,” dragonflies, gnats, the quahog and cockle. Then imagine focusing in on each treasure, closer and closer until you see a wing or an eye and then inside the organism. Once you’re amongst the blood vessels with your magical microscope, Goodwin will connect what you see to the human you through a hand, a thigh, a boot. What you discover will be big and beautiful and brutal.

The first poem offers an invitation to the reader: “come to the end of the wharf / when the last of the tide releases / the harbor with its trollers / and rigging _ _ its lampshells / and speckled anemone _ _ come / after work when the mind / / has grown plumes.” [The double underscore represents a larger space in the line. Since WordPress isn’t friendly to poetry, I had to make do.]

You will want to take Goodwin up on this invitation. You can click on the book above to order from Amazon. I didn’t get a free book for recommending Goodwin’s poetry; I simply bought her book and fell in love with the poems.

Here is a sample poem for your enjoyment:

WEEDING

I can see how the termites

draw themselves through

the opening now

to rise out of the hive

in a flickering stream

every leg full of

sun every abdomen a

jewel and I let myself

think about the un-

born and the almost

born — eggs packed

in brittle shells

in husks

in the wings

ticking

my husband

scraping at the crumpled

leaves

his song a thin leg

. . . . . . . . . at the edge of the yard