Luanne Castle's Blog, page 4

One of My Favorite Things at Silver Birch Press

Silver Birch Press has a new series, My Favorite Things. In such fraught times moments of joy are so important. So without further ado, here are one of my favorite things, my boots:

With My Boots On by Luanne Castle (MY FAVORITE THINGS Series)

SOMEONE ELSE WHO LOVED HIS BOOTS

Making a Collage My Way

Colleen Chesebro asked me to post the process for my collages. I started “art journaling” during the pandemic, watching online videos to learn many different mixed media techniques. I was quite taken with junk journaling. Finally, I settled on mixed media collages as the medium I wanted to submit to literature and art journals.

My published art can be found through this link on my website: Luanne Castle Art. Pieces were published by Mad Swirl, Raw Lit, and Thimble Lit. I also have some art forthcoming in other journals.

I couldn’t make a video for you because I am not that coordinated. Also, I make a lot of small steps when I work because my time is broken into tiny fragments. So I am posting photos with commentary. I hope it’s easy enough to follow.

Art supplies are the first consideration. While I’ve managed to collect an embarrassing quantity in four years, I’ll post the main ones I use for almost all collages. Some collages also have an additional weird item, such as a feather, a jewel, etc. but here are the basics.

I’ll share the supplies in the order of the process. First you want to have paper that is thick enough and with the right finish/tooth to it. Try thicker weight watercolor paper or mixed media art paper. It usually comes in 8 or 9 inches by 11 or 12 inches. Let me jump ahead here by saying I do a weird thing that might be frowned upon in art classes. I let the collage form the way it wants to. Then I crop the background to fit the collage. I hate the idea of making the collage fit the size/shape of the paper.

Sometimes I prepare the paper by collaging scrap paper and then covering it with white gesso. Sometimes I only use white gesso. And sometimes I don’t prep it at all. Notice in the photo I have the matte version of Mod Podge to use as glue. I am starting to think I only want to use glue sticks instead of Mod Podge. The torn edges stay down better.  Here’s a photo of the glue stick that I prefer. Then after that are the photos of the initial collage bits.

Here are photos from applying the bottom layer of collage. Remember that you don’t have to do this stage. It’s just to give more texture and depth to the piece.

When the gesso is wet, you can create a design or not. Here I used something designed for that purpose, but you can use your fingernails, a fork, anything your imagination can come up with.

Now we move to the creation of the backdrop that will be seen. Soft, dry pastels. Yum. Here I have some sticks and some “pan pastels.” What I love about this type of pastels is that I can apply them haphazardly and then wet them (with a spray bottle of water) and sponge or baby wipe them in whatever chaos I like. Beware that there are other types of pastels that are impervious to water and cannot be smeared around like this.

So why do I prefer pastels to paints? For the purpose of making backdrops to collages I like the way I can layer muted colors. I prefer to choose several colors that are close together for highlights and low lights. The idea is to create layers. I apply a color and then go back later and apply another color. Then another–or even the first one over again.

An aside: I do sometimes use paints, usually acrylics. Often times I have a paper that I’ve used to clean off a brush or to put excess paint. Then I paint or smear pastels over the top of the paint. The paint underneath adds another layer for color and texture.  Here’s an example of a paint I use.

Once I get a background the way I like, I’m not done. Then I like to add something else. Often times it’s just a touch (in places) of this little shiny treasure, Lunar Paste.

Occasionally, I like to build up texture using this Texture Paste. I used this on my piece “Found Sound,” which was nominated for a Best of the Net. You can find it on the link at the top of this post. In that collage I stuck to the off-white of the product, but Texture Paste can be painted over. Pastels will not work properly.

Here are some backgrounds in process.

After I have the background ready, I am ready to collage.

To create the collage, I like to cut out images from vintage issues of Life Magazine. I am starting to like vintage McCall’s, as well. I purchase these in lots from Ebay.

 

Once I amass enough photos that I like together to create a theme or story, even in a surreal way, I arrange them before I start to glue them down with the glue stick.

I may add stamping, pencil or pen marks, even a title.

When I get the collage finished, I trim the edges of the piece so that the balance is the way I want it.

This is a finished piece that was just in Thimble. Notice the sheen. That’s from Lunar Paste. Notice the stamping and pen marks.

Some people like to create collages that are “all collage,” meaning there isn’t a background that shows. I prefer this style for the focus. I love color, but want the collage to be the star, so I haven’t used bright colors for backgrounds. Besides color and making a mess :), my favorite part of art is composition. I love experimenting with how to arrange the collage to make the best composition I can think of.

STILL LEARNING. If you decide to try a collage, I would LOVE to see it!!!!

How to Save Lily at MasticadoresUSA

A big thank you to Editor Barbara Harris Leonhard at MasticadoresUSA for publishing my very very sweet but unique story “How to Save Lily” from the wonderful workshop by Lorette C. Luzajic and Meg Pokrass that produced my story “I Want a Cat” that was published a while back.

“How to Save Lily” by Luanne Castle

The art by Fiona Hewitt that inspired the story.

 

Missing My Cats

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.

https://feedthehol.blogspot.com/2025/01/journal-from-year-after-several-of-my.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawH19mdleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHS2KrLj8JUWfD6FmONxP1g60hnuILFReTWuxPMg9acU9U853ncR4UKxfuQ_aem_m7QeVSF3ab1C2nV4sZbXcw

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!

https://www.thimblelitmag.com/author/lcastle/

Three Fairy Tales, Because That’s Where Things Happen in Threes

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.

https://shorturl.at/LKk6M

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.

I Need a Cat at MasticadoresUSA

 

 

A big thank you to Editor Barbara Harris Leonhard at MasticadoresUSA for publishing my fun cat fantasy based on an assignment from first grade that I found (and Barbara published here–I will post below) and stimulated by a painting used as a prompt (but not enough to credit in the story) from a wonderful workshop by Lorette C. Luzajic and Meg Pokrass. The workshop was about guilty pleasures, and one of mine is cats!!!

 

“I Want a Cat” by Luanne Castle

My parents adopted my brother two years later, but in the meantime, I did get a black kitten from the family across the street whose cat had kittens. My mother named my cat Toby.

Buy Yourself a Gift of Sunflower Tanka!!!

Lily is enjoying her new anthology, Sunflower Tanka. These are wonderful examples of tanka and tanka prose. There are even some unusual tanka forms. I’m so blessed to have four tanka prose in the book. A huge thanks to the contributing editors, Colleen Chesebro and Robbie Cheadle.

Isn’t the art on the cover gorgeous? It’s by Robbie.

I sent a copy to my mom and suspect she’s going to love it!

You can pick up your own copy here: https://shorturl.at/XEKLb

You can also purchase a Kindle version.

Blurb

Sunflower Tanka, edited by Robbie Cheadle & Colleen M. Chesebro, is an annual anthology of contemporary tanka, tanka prose, & experimental tanka from a broad mix of new and established poetic voices from across the world.

Our theme, “Into the Light,” draws inspiration from the way a young sunflower bud constantly turns to face the sun. Poets delved into the realms of death, love, and the natural world, capturing their human experiences in the timeless form of syllabic poetry.

Contributors to the first edition of the Sunflower Tanka: Suzanne Brace, Yvette Calleiro, Kay Castenada, Luanne Castle, Robbie Cheadle, Colleen M. Chesebro, E.A. Colquitt, Melissa Davilio, Destiny, Tamiko Dooley, Lisa Fox, Cindy Georgakas, Chris Hall, Franci Hoffman, Marsha Ingrao, Jude Itakali, Jules Paige, Kenneth, MJ Mallon, Brenda Marie, Selma Martin, Michelle Ayon Navajas, Lisa Nelson, D. Wallace Peach, Freya Pickard, Dawn Pisturino, Gwen M. Plano, Jennifer Russo, Aishwarya Saby, Reena Saxena, Merril D. Smith, Nicole Smith, Ivor Steven, Ben Tonkin, Trilce Marsh Vazquez, Cheryl Wood.

Get yourself a holiday gift of Sunflower Tanka!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!!!

Flash Fiction and a “Life History”

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!!!!

https://stortellerpoetryreview.blogspot.com/2024/12/special-gifts_17.html

 

Botox the Hard Way

I was Botoxed! In a way . . . since I had BOTULISM POISONING!

Originally, the gardener and I were invited to a Halloween party for this past weekend but had to turn it down because we planned to be out of town. It turned out that we couldn’t go away because I’ve been having a lot of trouble with a very painful leg (a whole ‘nother story) and had a bad cold.

Maybe if I’d been out of town I wouldn’t have gotten Botoxed.

Have you noticed how lots of food, especially chicken, fish, and meat, come packaged in vacuum seal these days? I don’t remember when it all changed, but I know it hasn’t been too many years.

I must have been absent the day the memo went out about this new type of packaging for fish—which is a totally different story from other foods. Did you know that when you buy seafood products in vacuum seal packaging you have to take them out of the package to thaw in the refrigerator? When I thaw salmon fillets, I usually do it because the instructions tell me to. But I never really thought about the WHY of it.

I bought salmon patties at a store I don’t usually shop at, and although I read the directions for cooking, I didn’t notice anything about thawing. So, I threw the package from freezer into refrigerator to thaw.

Apparently (and I only play a scientist in my writing sometimes) without oxygen Clostridium botulinum type E grows rapidly on seafood.

There were two patties, and because the gardener was eating burgers instead, I had 1 ½ patties (no buns) and gave him ½ a salmon patty. I ate three times what he did, therefore. And he weighs about 40 pounds more than I do.

I was terribly sick all night. The whole next day I slept and occasionally woke up to stay hydrated. That was Saturday. I still don’t feel great, although I’m no longer sick-sick. I realize that, as bad as I felt, this was a mild case because botulism can be fatal or cause paralysis. On a side note, the gardener did end up getting part of the illness a bit belatedly and although obviously food poisoning, he wasn’t nearly as sick as I was.

At first, I felt stupid after I realized what I had done. But after talking to some people, WOW. None of them knew that you must take seafood out of the vacuum seal packaging to thaw!!!!!!!!!! Many of them either cook frozen fish or thaw it under water. I’m not advocating either of those cooking methods, but at least they didn’t let bacteria grow for hours and hours.

Bottom line: always take seafood out of vacuum seal packaging before thawing!!!! And let others know!!!!!

On a related note, when I called the store to talk to the lady about the salmon patties before I really had what happened locked down, she let me know there is a huge listeria recall right now on a wide range of brands, stores, and products—generally frozen foods that have chicken in them. I called my regular supermarket, and this is their stupid comment:

The minute we get word of a recall we pull all the products from our shelves. And when you go to ring up your groceries if something has been recalled it will show up as recalled on your receipt and on the screen.

HELP!!! I am finding it too hard to live among such illogical people. If they pull the food, how can I be paying for it?!

Also, the store knows every detail of everything I’ve ever purchased there, but they can’t EMAIL me? Good grief.

I know Food Safety has a very boring sound to it, but my goodness it’s as important as Road Safety and Workplace Safety.

###

On the subject of illness (sorry), a nonfiction flash story I wrote about migraines was published by Libre, thanks to EIC Mary B. It’s a little brutal. My Avatar Lives My Life 

If you have ever had migraines or know somebody who does, you might find some similarities.

The one thing that makes me feel better no matter what is going on: my kitties. Here’s Sloopy Anne!

Exploring the Ekphrastic Poetry of Hedy Habra

I love the work of Hedy Habra, a fabulous ekphrastic poet and painter. She is originally from Egypt and Lebanon and ended up where I grew up–in Kalamazoo, Michigan–, but I think of Hedy as a citizen of the world. She knows several languages perfectly, including but probably not limited to French, Spanish, English, and Arabic. You can find her bio at the end of this post.

Before I move into her poetry, I’d like to share a couple of her gorgeous paintings: “Dancing Egret” and “Woman & Leopard.”

Hedy and I were in the same MFA program at Western Michigan University, but we don’t think we were ever in the same classes. Part of that is because I didn’t strictly focus on poetry as my MFA coursework was divided between fiction and poetry. But the fun thing is that at the end of the program, we gave our final MFA reading together.

You couldn’t ask for a better example of ekphrastic poetry than Hedy’s new book, Or Did You Ever See the Other Side. It became apparent to me in reading this collection that Hedy and I have something else in common: an obsession with the art of Remedios Varo!

I was blessed to offer a blurb for the back of the book. Here is what I wrote:

In this extraordinary new collection, Hedy Habra weaves a marvelous life tapestry through dreams and the language of memory— “the right words thrown / pell-mell in the folds of memory.” These ekphrastic poems are not content to interpret painting and music but transcend the border between poet and art. Habra explores each piece from multiple angles to discover its locked heart: “See how colors arise from heartbeats.” Then she searches for a key, but there is never only one key. Each poem asks a question that invites the reader to see another perspective, then another. This collection is kaleidoscopic, stunning, and wrings a haunting beauty from every brushstroke and musical note. Or Did You Ever See The Other Side? “soars without wings,” taking the reader on a journey into its breathtaking dreamscape.

You can pick up a copy of the book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Did-You-Ever-Other-Side/dp/1950413691

I asked Hedy to write about her work for this blog post:

Trajectory and influences.

I have a passion for art and I’m a visual artist, so art has always been an inherent part of my writing whether it is criticism, fiction, or poetry. I love prose poems but enjoy experimenting with forms, such as haikus, anaphoric poems, abecedarians, found sonnets, haibuns, pantoums, and most recently ghazals. The restrictions of a form call for concision and enable me to discard redundancies when I struggle with drafts.

The stories in Flying Carpets and the poems in Tea in Heliopolis and The Taste of the Earth, focus on my countries of origin, Egypt and Lebanon, weaving linguistic, historical, and mythical components with personal memories. I have also lived in Greece and Belgium and developed a sense of belonging encompassing cultural influences.

Even my ‘memoirs in verse’ are instilled with art. My mother was an artist and I grew up surrounded by her artworks. As a child, I imagined stories about the characters in her paintings and lived vicariously within this alternate world. Oftentimes, some elements from a painting would trigger deep emotions and revive memories or lead me to recreate imaginary worlds. For the past fifteen years, I studied Chinese Ink brush painting on rice paper, which enabled me to paint the covers of my poetry collections.

My first ekphrastic poetry collection, Under Brushstrokes (Press 53 2015) was inspired by artists of different genders, styles, and periods, whereas my most recent ekphrastic collection, Or Did You Ever See The Other Side? (Press 53 2023) is mainly inspired by contemporary and surrealist women artists. Spanish-Mexican surrealist, Remedios Varo is a primary influence, but I draw inspiration from other surrealists, such as Juanita Guccione, Leonor Fini, Deborah Tanning, and Leonora Carrington. I love surrealism because of its connection with the world of dreams and the unconscious.

When I write ekphrastic poetry, I don’t aim at depicting a work of art, but rather my response to it. I love to engage in a dialogue with the artwork itself, with one of the characters in the paintings, or at times with the artist. Often verbal images provide a sequel to the scene portrayed or another version of the original, adding a new dynamic life to the artwork. Even when verbal images coincide synchronously with the artwork, words stand on their own, creating a new world. As a result, after having written or read an ekphrastic poem, we can’t look back at the source of inspiration in the same way because the artwork will retain traces of the verbal images projected onto it in an inter-artistic dialogue.

 Here are two poems from Or Did You Ever See the Other Side?

Or Can’t You See How We’re Weaving Ourselves Tight?

After Three Women and Three Owls by Juanita Guccione

                                   

Didn’t you think you’d soar high up when you wore a miniskirt?

I lowered my hemline, surrendering to ghost owls’ hoots

Following the rhythm of my elder’s everlasting refrains

When she visited the Louvre she wanted to wear her skin bare

 

I lowered my hemline, surrendering to ghost owls’ hoots

Wore a key chain around my wrist that didn’t open any doors

When she visited the Louvre she wanted to wear her skin bare

Chest open to the drifts of wind as she’d march with Delacroix’s banner

 

Wore a key chain around my wrist that didn’t open any doors

Afraid to face the black sun of Melancholy sung by Gerard de Nerval

Chest open to the drifts of wind as she’d march with Delacroix’s banner

She enters the triple dance, a sarong loosely wrapped around her hips

 

Afraid to face the black sun of Melancholy sung by Gerard de Nerval

I conjure my younger self’s steps eager to unlock the darkness

She enters the triple dance, a sarong loosely wrapped around her hips

The three of us dive into the emerald waters under the blackened sun

 

I conjure my younger self’s steps eager to unlock the darkness

You didn’t soar high up still unable to satisfy your hunger

The three of us dive into the emerald waters under the blackened sun

United at last in our quest for meaning, weaving ourselves tight

 

First published by SLANT

From Or Did You Ever See The Other Side? (Press 53 2023)

The inspiring art for this poem:

 

 

Note for the following poem: WordPress does not allow the longer lines to be all on one line, but the idea is each line gets longer than the one before.

Or How Do You Keep Track of All the Keys You Once Owned?

After Chiharu Shiota’s The Locked Room

 

keys to unlock one’s buried memories

keys to the family cottage you had to sell

keys that once opened different-sized locks

keys that had to be changed after an effraction

keys that yearn for the doors they used to open

keys thrown into a deep well, still oozing blood

keys to the palaces King Farouk owned in Egypt

keys to learning how to deal with oneself and others

keys to the meaning of feelings that you kept losing

keys to the safes holding papers that ruled your lives

keys kept in a jewelry box that must have mattered once

keys, lost, forgotten or treasured as a possible come back

keys to the wrought-iron patio gate half-covered with jasmine

keys that opened the car door that led you straight to the beach

keys to dream’s horned and ivory gates that keep getting mixed up

keys meant to reach the heart of a man before he’d change the locks

keys you hold in your palm and run your fingers over and over again

keys to an old friend’s house who once relied upon you to water her plants

keys passed on from generation to generation to reclaim the ancestral home

keys that you had to return to the hotel where you wished you’d spend a lifetime

keys to all the cars you’ve ever owned and led you through long-forgotten crossroads

keys to the office you left carrying a cardboard box filled with what seemed important

keys to the wooden-carved secretary your mother handed down to you that held no secret to her

keys to the homes you kept leaving, from country to country, from one neighborhood to the next

 

First published by MockingHeart Review

From Or Did You Ever See The Other Side? (Press 53 2023)

This is the inspiring art:

Bio

Hedy Habra’s fourth poetry collection, Or Did You Ever See The Other Side? (Press 53 2023), won the 2024 International Poetry Book Awards and was a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Award; The Taste of the Earth won the Silver Nautilus Book Award and Honorable Mention for the Eric Hoffer Award; Tea in Heliopolis won the USA Best Poetry Book Award and Under Brushstrokes was a finalist for the International Book Award. Her story collection, Flying Carpets, won the Arab American Book Award’s Honorable Mention. Her book of criticism, Mundos alternos y artísticos en Vargas Llosa, focuses on the visual aspects of the Peruvian Nobel Laureate’s narrative. She holds a BS in Pharmacy from the French St Joseph University. Habra earned an MA in English, an MFA, and an MA and PhD in Spanish from Western Michigan University where she taught for over three decades. She is a twenty-two-time nominee for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. https://www.hedyhabra.com/