Tag Archives: #poetrycommunity

by Luanne | August 8, 2023 · 5:15 am

This Week’s #TankaTuesday

While reading poetry books is the heart of The Sealey Challenge, I do like to write reviews when I can.

Here is my review of Christine Butterworth McDermott’s new poetry collection that Harbor Review published. https://www.harbor-review.com/the-spellbook-of-fruit-and-flowers

Here are some reviews of poetry books I recently posted on Goodreads:

Margaret Duda’s I Come From Immigrants (note: book is similar in content to Elizabeth Gauffreau’s Grief Songs, since it is memoir-ish poetry paired with personal photographs)

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/180625112-i-come-from-immigrants

Laurie Kuntz has two recent books out, and both of them are wonderfully personal about her relationships with husband and adult son.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59748231-the-moon-over-my-mother-s-house

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/80351487-talking-me-off-the-roof

#TANKATUESDAY

Colleen Chesebro’s #TankaTuesday poetry prompt for this week is to write a syllabic poem using collective animal nouns.

Topic: Collective animal nouns

A murder of crows

brings me stones and an earring

for feeding their young.

My dearest clowder of cats

whines all day long for their food.

I had to look up whether to use singular or plural for the verbs. It was hard for me to determine the correct usage, but it seems that this tanka called for a singular verb.

Cute kitties below are my daughter’s kittens, but this photo is already months old! They are playing Mouse for Cats on my iPad.

REVIEW OF ROOTED AND WINGED

Richard Allen Taylor published a review of my collection Rooted and Winged in the new issue of Main Street Rag. I think it’s a pretty funny review. Posting images of the journal pages.

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Tagged as #poetrycommunity, #TankaTuesday, book review, clowder of cats, Colleen Chesebro, murder of crows, Poetry, Rooted and Winged, Spellbook of Fruit and Flowers, syllabic poetry, tanka, Word Craft

by Luanne | August 1, 2023 · 5:15 am

August is the month of The Sealey Challenge. Started by poet Nicole Sealey in 2017, the challenge is to read a book of poetry every day for the month of August. In the past, I have used this time to read poetry books that were sitting unread on my bookshelf. While I know I can’t read a book a day as I have other things going on, I am still going to try to read more than usual this month. Want to join me?

If you join the challenge and need an idea, I would love it if you wanted to add one of my books to your list. Here is a link to all four books. https://www.luannecastle.com/bookstore/ Additionally, if you are interested in a copy of my first collection Doll God, for this month I am offering you a copy for $5 that includes shipping if you have it delivered in the United States. If you are not in the U.S. contact me and let’s see if we can figure it out. Think of it in honor of the Barbie movie. Email me at luanne.castle which is at gmail.com.

Two of my Doll God poems have been republished this month in Verse-Virtual. You can find them here: https://www.verse-virtual.org/2023/August/castle-luanne-2023-august.html

Colleen Chesebro’s #TankaTuesday poetry prompt for this week is to use synonyms for the words flow and wave. I used runs and beckons and wrote an American cinquain.

Follow Me

The doe

in the pasture

sees me and runs away,

slips between trees, white tail, a sail,

beckons.

The turn is found in line five because while the deer runs from me, it seems as though she also beckons me to follow her with her communicative tail.

Not sure if this is a male that shed its antlers or a female

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Tagged as #poetrycommunity, #TankaTuesday, #thesealeychallenge, American cinquain, Colleen Chesebro, Doll God, Poetry, syllabic poetry, Verse-Virtual, Word Craft

by Luanne | July 25, 2023 · 5:15 am

Ekphrastic Tanka and Ekphrastic Microfiction:#TankaTuesday

We’re here at #TankaTuesday again! Colleen Chesebro’s prompt this week is to write an ekphrastic poem about this painting.

I am rushed for time, so I wrote a tanka since I feel familiar with the form.

This summer Sunday

lie upon the riverbank

and observe movements

of waterfowl and fishers,

neighbor’s herd and young lovers.

I have a creepy ekphrastic timed (one hour max) microfiction piece up at Visual Verse. If you like creepy in small doses, here is the link and the image that inspired the story:

The Kindness of Strangers

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by Luanne | July 18, 2023 · 5:15 am

Bird in Imayo: #TankaTuesday

Since Colleen Chesebro’s weekly #TankaTuesday poetry prompts are so inspiring to me, I bought her book that describes the various types of syllabic poetry so that I could use that as a guide instead of the wonderful links she has on the Wordcraft website. This way, the book is right at my side when I need it.

Ironically, this week’s #TankaTuesday is to write in a form not in the book. We are to write a poem about a bird in the Japanese form Imayo.

The imayo is comprised of four 12-syllable lines. Each line is divided into a 7-syllable and a 5-syllable section, with a hard pause (or caesura) in between. The pause will generally be represented by a comma, semi-colon, or similar punctuation.

4 lines (8 lines permissible)
12 syllables per line divided as 7-5
make a pause space between the 7 and 5 syllables
use comma, caesura or kireji (cutting word) as the pause
no rhymes
no meter
no end of line pauses – the whole should flow together as though one long sentence
The Imayo is a literal poem so do not use symbolism, allegory etc.

I decided to write about the Great Blue Heron that showed up in my yard last year. In the photo, the coyote behind the heron is an inanimate metal coyote!

I glanced out the front window — the Great Blue Heron

stood motionless by the pool — it stared straight ahead

perhaps lost in the desert — perhaps it mistook

pool for a swamp or wetland — beauty or sadness?

###

Hmm not my favorite form. When the description mentions “literal,” it means the form is not to employ figurative imagery. In general, in English language poetry, literal poems tend to be for children whereas figurative poems (using metaphor, simile, etc ) are for adults. In a literal poem the focus is on a plain description or a simple point or philosophy.

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Tagged as #poetrycommunity, #TankaTuesday, Arizona fauna, Colleen Chesebro, Great Blue Heron, imayo, Poetry, Word Craft

by Luanne | July 11, 2023 · 5:15 am

Arizona Wildlife, California Beach: #TankaTuesday

This week’s #TankaTuesday is at the bottom of the post.

This past week we had two new animals show up in our yard. The first was an adolescent javelina. These are not pigs, but peccaries. Because they are very destructive to flowers and cacti, we eventually had to get permission to fence them off our property. But now this little one showed up alone. They travel in herds, called squadrons, and the babies are always twins. I think this one became separated from his people after the @#&*s had to have their fireworks.

Then we were visited by the king snake two days in a row. The first time the snake was climbing a wall. The next day he was near the pool. We love king snakes because they keep rattlesnakes away!

Today’s #TankaTuesday prompt by Colleen is to write a poem with imagery that incorporates the phrase Sun, Sand, & Sea and uses this photograph for inspiration.

This photo taken in San Diego is a far cry from my desert world, but I did used to live in California, not that far from San Diego. At one time, the gardener and I thought we would move to San Diego, but we changed our minds. I wrote a haibun about a different San Diego beach and something that happened not long after we moved to California.

How I Became a Californian

That first year in California, on a sunny late October day, we skipped our grad classes and pulled the kids out of school. The four of us lay on beach towels, mesmerized by the push and pull, the rhythmic crashing, of the waves as they broke upon the beach. My chin rested between my forearms, and the smell of my own warmed skin pleased me. The sun, sand, & sea of California, even enjoyed this late in the season, seemed unreal in comparison with all my Michigan winters. The flowers were so different, I thought, as I spied spiky orange bird-of-paradise flowers along the restroom building. A whistle sounded, and we all looked toward the road. There we saw a train rushing toward us. I only noticed then that the tracks were laid in the sand along the sidewalk. The train slid in to a stop right in front of us. Only three people alighted: young men in board shorts, each carrying a surfboard. They ran past us and straight into the ocean as we watched with our mouths hanging open. The train departed and with it my midwestern innocence.

The foamy surf swelled

just past the sloping shoreline

on this grand fall day.

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Tagged as #poetrycommunity, #TankaTuesday, Arizona fauna, California, haibun, javelina, king snake, Poetry, sun sand & sea

by Luanne | July 6, 2023 · 5:15 am

Does It Have Pockets and #TankaTuesday

This week, Colleen’s #TankaTuesday prompt is to write a syllabic poem inspired by your Celtic tree. I had never heard of this before. It seems similar to an astrological sign in that your birthday determines the tree. My tree is holly, which I had never thought about before. I mean, I know the holly berries and leaves design for Christmas decorations, but that is about it. I discovered:

HOLLY – THE RULER

JULY 8 – AUGUST 4

Among the Celtic tree astrology signs, the Holly is one of regal status. Noble, and high-minded, Holly signs take on positions of leadership and power. If you are a Holly sign you take on challenges easily and overcome obstacles with rare skill and tact. When you encounter setbacks, you remain vigilant to obtain your end goals. People look up to you and follow you as their leader as you are rarely defeated. You are competitive and ambitious even in the most casual settings. You are quite generous, kind and affectionate. Highly intelligent, you skate through academics where others may struggle. Holly signs may look to Ash and Elder signs for balance and partnership.
https://onetreeplanted.org/pages/what-kind-of-tree-are-you

No doubt these descriptions are set up to flatter, but there are aspects of this description I can relate to. Taking on challenges, (trying to be) kind, things like that. But the ruler? My husband would laugh himself silly because we both agree that while some are leaders, some are followers, there are those like me that are neither. I don’t like being a boss as in: do this, do that, don’t do that, I’ll judge you, etc. I do like the “noble and high-minded” thing, though. Whether it’s simple flattery or something more, I can take a guess 😉 but one of my literary role models (and here I use literature to mean Broadway musical haha) is King Arthur in Camelot. He has to choose between the legal choice for the good of the country (meaning lots of people) or his love for his wife. Really really admire that character.

I thought I would try a tectractys today, and I’ll tell you why in a minute. So here it is:

Your

ruling

quality

must come from tact

and the ability to see both sides.

Tectractys is a five-line poem with this syllabic configuration: 1, 2, 3, 4, 10.

The literary journal Does It Have Pockets? has published a Red Riding Hood story of mine that is darker than anything found in my chapbook Our Wolves. “Why I Always Wear Red” is flash fiction that finishes with a tectractys, making it a hybrid genre. You can read it here:

https://www.doesithavepockets.com/fiction/luannecastle

If you missed my reblog of Rebecca Budd’s podcast interview of me, here is the Spotify link. You can also find it on Soundcloud.

You can also follow Rebecca’s Tea Toast & Trivia series for more author interviews.

Welcome to Tea Toast Trivia

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Tagged as #poetrycommunity, #TankaTuesday, celtic tree, Does It Have Pockets, Flash Fiction, holly, Poetry, poetry books, publication, Red Riding Hood, Tea Toast & Trivia, tectractys

by Luanne | July 3, 2023 · 12:51 pm

Season 5 Episode 14: Luanne Castle on A Poet’s Voice

“Note how the red rose,velvet worn by early frost,clings confidentlyto its own treacherous stem,never accursed by mirrors.” Luanne Castle Welcome to …
Season 5 Episode 14: Luanne Castle on A Poet’s Voice

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Filed under #AmWriting, #bloggingcommunity, #OurWolves, #poetrycommunity, #writingcommunity, Doll God, Kin Types, Poetry, Poetry book, Poetry Collection, Poetry reading, Rooted and Winged, Writing

Tagged as #amwriting, #poetrycommunity, Doll God, Kin Types, Our Wolves, Poem, Poet, Poetry, poetry book, poetry chapbook, poetry collection, poetry reading, Rooted and Winged, Writing

by Luanne | June 26, 2023 · 7:55 pm

Syllabic Synonyms: #TankaTuesday

Colleen at Wordcraft poetry suggested writing a syllabic poem using synonyms for the words OPEN and CLOSE.

When the sun unfurls

in the rosy morning sky

the owl shuts her eyes.

In my haiku I used unfurl as a synonym of open and shut as a synonym for close.

Speaking of animals I have a cat poem in a new anthology of ekphrastic poetry published by Moonstone Press. It can be purchased here if you like ekphrastic poetry. https://moonstone-arts-center.square.site/product/ekphrastic-poetry/423

By David Ryckaert III – Web Gallery of Art: Image Info about artwork, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15541707

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Tagged as #poetrycommunity, cats, ekphrastic poetry, Haiku, owl, Poetry, poetry books, synonyms

by Luanne | June 20, 2023 · 7:33 am

Meditation on Art: #TankaTuesday

Colleen at Wordcraft poetry suggested writing a syllabic poem inspired by an art meditation video posted by Rebecca Budd on her chasing art.com website. https://chasingart.com/2023/06/02/the-national-gallery-5-minute-guided-meditation/

You see a cup on a pewter dish and a thornless rose. Actually the rose looks like more of a fantasy rose whereas the cup and dish are realistic. I found watching the video to be an amazing experience.

I wrote a haibun.

The Realism of Winter, The Fantasy of Spring

In this portrait of a cup of water, I find my mind focusing on the slivers of light on pewter and pottery. I have to be directed to see the large shadow on our right that is so obvious once pointed out. Then I note its power. The water looks refreshing enough to dive into if only I could make myself smaller like Alice. In fact, I feel myself becoming both smaller as the scene looms bigger in front of me and also larger as the space in my mind that this painting inhabits grows. Eventually I have to recognize the two aspects that poke at me, pay attention to me, they say. One is the fantasy flower with petals so curvy they could be dying or so unreal as not to include thorns. The other is the handles of the cup are misshapen. They don’t match, and only a child’s fingers could enter their spaces. Only a fantasy child like Alice.

Shadows of winter

once greeted bring forth treasures

of fantastic spring.

###

My girl Kana is the Box Queen. She is the one of my five cats who finds a box or bag the minute it enters the house. The other day she went one better. I set a buckled belt I am using for an exercise on the couch. When I turned back to it she had climbed in it.

On another note, I had a banner/header made with my two full-length poetry books and my two chapbooks made by someone who knows what they are doing because I clearly don’t. It’s for this blog and my social media. What do you think?

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Tagged as #poetrycommunity, Alice in Wonderland, art meditation, ekphrastic poetry, haibun, Poetry, poetry books, seasons

by Luanne | May 30, 2023 · 1:14 pm

Spirit Animal: #TankaTuesday

Colleen at Wordcraft poetry suggested writing a syllabic poem about our spirit animal. She provided a quiz to find our spirit animal. I took the quiz and discovered that at this moment mine is the turtle. The website, spiritanimal.info, says that “The turtle totem symbolizes our peaceful walk on this earth. It represents the path we take as we embark on our journey through life. In contrast to emotional or spiritual development occurring in bursts, the way of the turtle anchors our personal unfolding in a slow, more grounded series of steps and longer cycles of transformation. The turtle is associated with our physical and embodied evolution on the earthly plane. Call this spirit animal for help to be more grounded. You can also get help slowing down and pacing yourself, so you can take your next step with more confidence.” While I doubt my spirit animal is always a turtle it does fit right now. I’ve had this torn meniscus and other issues since January, and I am trying to resolve myself to stop fighting it and just proceed in the right direction, working hard at physical therapy, icing, and REST. Yes, this past week it was so bad that I actually rested, and wow, that actually helps . . . a lot. I had a good physical therapy appointment today. Fingers crossed. Moving at my turtle’s pace, in the right direction.

For this poem, I wrote a tanaga, which is a form from the Philippines. This is a 7-7-7-7 Syllabic verse, with an AABB or AAAA rhyme scheme.

###

Accepting the Turtle as My Guide

For this part of my journey

I learn to walk with this knee.

A turtle guide teaches me

to keep on without hurry.

###

Another thing that I like about a turtle is that while they are slow and seem clumsy on earth, they are quite graceful and fast in the water. With my Sun in Cancer, I was born under a water sign. And grew up in and around the lakes of Michigan.

When I was a little girl, I had a beautiful painted turtle as a pet. The turtle’s shell was at least 4″ long. I must have been about five. I took him or her outside to play a few times. She would fall into the window well and need help out. I recall my father helping me release her to live free, but I don’t remember the details. Today it is illegal to release a captive turtle into the wild. But I do remember that I felt wonderful letting that turtle go have her own wild life.

Then when I was in 4th grade, I was given two tiny turtles to live in an aquarium. I don’t remember what happened to those turtles, but I did used to love to feel their scratchy claws scrabbling at my palms when I held them. Looking back, I wonder if the idea of releasing the big turtle was sympathy for it because of it’s size or if I was too young to take proper care of it.