Luanne Castle's Blog, page 6

Writing and Grandbaby News

Brand new and familiar poems published today by Editor Sharon Knutson at Storyteller Poetry Review. This journal specializes in narrative poetry–in other words, poetry that tells stories. In this group are new poems about my father and our lake cottage and about driving home from my Chicago grandma’s apartment when I was young.

https://stortellerpoetryreview.blogspot.com/2024/05/storyteller-of-week_17.html

I really hope you enjoy these poems because as a whole they create a little memoir.

In other writing news, Our Wolves moved from the Eric Hoffer Grand Prize Short List to First Runner-up of Chapbooks. Um yay!!!!

This is what the Hoffer judges said about the book:

“Our Wolves, Luanne Castle, Alien Buddha Press – In this bold recasting of the Little Red Riding Hood tale, a traumatic adventure unfolds, and the expectations one has for reality are shattered. An air of mystery pervades each poem, but beneath that mystery, worlds of forced silences exist. Some poems shock. Some poems awe. Some remind readers that the wolves one should fear most are not those roaming the forests.These poems also explore the myths and legends, symbolisms and mysticisms, which comprise the folk tales with which so many are familiar, and breathe new life into these well-worn tales. This retelling forms a narrative for a modern age.”

Additionally, two of my flash stories have been long listed in two different contests. One of them didn’t move beyond and the other hasn’t been announced yet.

And in still further news. I sent a couple stories to a journal yesterday and they came bouncing back, a big fat rejection with the admonition not to send again for another five months. HAHAHAHAHAH.

I have not been able to get over to our blogging community much lately because . . . baby. However, I am working on my songwriting talents as well as new poetry. Here are some samples. The first is a song:

A big tummy is happiness.

A big tummy is happiness.

A big tummy is happiness.

And a little tummy is a big tragedy.

And here is a poem:

Those that are really cute

are the ones that toot.

Haha. It won’t be long before he can join me in singing. 3 1/2 months and he’s turning on his tummy and turning on his back already.

Imayo for Rikka: #TankaTuesday

Colleen at #TankaTuesday suggested writing a syllabic poem for Part I, The Beginning of Summer, (May 5 – 19) Rikka 立夏. I tried an imayo.

Summer begins brilliant blue; sometimes clouds frame it

but mostly fresh greenery—saguaro seeks bliss

closer to heaven than earth, offering rare

gifts

as palo verdes erupt, showering sunshine

The hole in the saguaro is the entry to an occupied bird nest.

These palo verde blossoms end up all over the ground.

The duck in my pool yesterday.

Thanks to Christal Rice Cooper and Donna Biffar for editing an exciting poetry anthology. Volume 2 of The Power of the Feminine I is now available. Both volumes are jampacked with contemporary poetry that comes from a feminine perspective. The poetry is not written only by women either. I have two historical poems in volume 2 (and one in the first volume): A Lizzie Borden poem and one about European women in 1533. $3 for kindle version!!! My poems start on pages 90 and 309. https://www.amazon.com/Power-Feminine-poems-feminine-perspective-ebook/dp/B0D2WX6TY7/ref=sr_1_1?crid=16ESMVENBHW7U&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.lhKKLBk4OYONnpqAujXo1Ig50Do583AFm6JtVNC8EQ0_TaCv4F8ZAcJhxIsYfJQn.BMHoWPUTekccHF9OsWxgC4z41skHv5Enp5xpswPpXUk&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+power+of+the+feminine+i+poetry+anthology&qid=1714920222&sprefix=The+feminine+I+%2Caps%2C153&sr=8-1

Guess who tries to sleep in the baby’s bassinet when he’s not here? Perry, of course. The baby still ignores the cats. For now.

Thank you to Dawn Pisturino for Her Review of Poetry Treasures 4

Poetry Book Review: “Poetry Treasures 4”

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Photo by Michael Block on Pexels.com

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Gorgeous Poetry about Being Human on an Endangered Planet

Looking for a new poetry book? Look no further than this beautiful collection by Candice M. Kelsey within this stunning cover.

The chapbook was published in March 2024 by the publisher, boats against the current. The cover art is by Matt Kish.

Find it at Amazon here:

https://shorturl.at/BGPU3

My Review of Postcards from the Masthead

Reading the poems in Candice M. Kelsey’s new chapbook, Postcards from the Masthead, feels a bit like finding your stride on a boat deck, as you learn to move with the waves, enjoying your place upon a vast body of water. The reader must navigate between the life of our planet and the life of the body which “dresses itself in courage / to face the morning / bastard glow.” There is a sense of connection between the larger, public world and the individual. These poems are fraught with angst over the dangers of climate change. At the same time, they investigate corporeal dangers and desires. The striking imagery and perspectives unique to Kelsey are a warning cry against our endangered lives. 

Here is a sample poem:

Meditation on the Pinky Toe, Port Side

Broken again littlest
one throbbing pink
loud the big toe shifts
like my father in a chair
Sunday sessions
mandatory for the EDU
a daughter in treatment
circle of silent frescoes
and he's unhappy as
the third mate's cat

Blue who bounds over
white cedar bulwarks
where I lean with today’s
galley of oranges
halved she capsizes
a feline Michelangelo
painting the Sistine
or God dabs my toe wet
with paint-drop nose

she too knows injury
touches the gnarled-speck
perimeter of my foot
now a flesh canvas
cathedral ceiling scene
where I am broken
by a hundred Adams
awful fools busy naming
the garden of my body—

we catch ourselves
on the world’s harpoons
such sharp edges protrude
to hobble us with small
private dislocations and yet
like this little piggy
some of us make it home
somehow I make it
all the goddamn way

Short List for Eric Hoffer Grand Prize: Our Wolves

Yes, I’m pretty stoked, I’ll admit that. My wee chapbook Our Wolves is on the Eric Hoffer Grand Prize (grand as in a $5,000 check to the big winner) SHORT LIST alongside the big books.

Yesterday, Kathleen Cassen Mickelson coincidentally interviewed me about Our Wolves. She provides a great idea of what the collection is all about.

CONVERSATION WITH A POET: LUANNE CASTLE

Want to pick up a copy of this pretty lil canis lupus baby? https://www.amazon.com/Our-Wolves-Luanne-Castle/dp/B0BTKNP31D/ref=sr_1_1?crid=15JK239FCHVGE&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.ALQ-Ljk1njzWJQDlkD5jY6QtxZx6XGZg9YtrClN0btrHujuSkCk6ZGPDpCjt4GpS_PdX_Wr_gRu3YIMFPEAO16QqPGc4qdtLCGcHzaqrpSLyFLX3OPXFimGqVyzoT42KHHir_VnXarqE8c9FC-R59nq0yyfMhbeZ94Wa-Ti14oAGWFJ3uuixZ5Wmm1zinR5foBTPp3G6F6kIyCr4becsMF-gsVuPeTurNGtNR1BGd-Q.kPZp-Ktyg-ES3M0mb3PGJX_VGahVWJN-jD_IkXe_rhk&dib_tag=se&keywords=our+wolves+castle&qid=1714682476&sprefix=our+wolves+castl%2Caps%2C890&sr=8-1

Interview about OUR WOLVES on One Minnesota Crone

Kathleen Cassen Mickelson graciously interviewed me about my poetry collection Our Wolves. I hope you enjoy the exchange. If you would like to comment, please do so at One Minnesota Crone to keep Kathleen in the loop! Thanks for reading :).

CONVERSATION WITH A POET: LUANNE CASTLE

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Photo by Francesco Ungaro on Pexels.com

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Three Stories in MacQueen’s Quinterly

What a lovely surprise this morning. The fabulous EIC of MacQueen’s Quinterly, Clare MacQueen, has published three of my stories in the new journal issue. This is one of my favorite lit mags because Clare has a very eclectic taste, so the magazine offers so much variety, including funny stories and syllabic poetry.

Here are links to my stories:

Very micro humor story: http://www.macqueensquinterly.com/MacQ23/Castle-New-One.aspx

Surreal flash story: http://www.macqueensquinterly.com/MacQ23/Castle-Mountain-Painting.aspx

Creative nonfiction/memoir childhood story: http://www.macqueensquinterly.com/MacQ23/Castle-Haunted-Childhood.aspx

Arizona Blue Sky

Yesterday when I started on my walk, before I even left my driveway, I encountered several critters. First, a very light green plump lizard with smooth skin ran into the bougainvillea. I can’t find him on Google, so I don’t know what kind he is. Then a male and a female quail ran across the drive down into the wash. At the end of the driveway, on the little pony wall, a mourning dove took off in flight.

It could be the mother who has a nest in the hanging pot outside my house. My son took this pic of one of the babies with the mother.

Here’s a pic on my walk of a cactus in bloom and the brilliant blue sky above. This is the color of our Arizona sky. I still can’t get over it, and I’ve been here seventeen years now!

It’s getting warm here, but if I walk early enough it’s not yet a problem. That may change in a month or two. But I have another issue. At least six months ago I started getting a painful leg. it was weird because last year my other leg was so bad that for two months I couldn’t walk at all. Now the symptoms are somewhat different, but getting worse. My entire lower left quadrant, so to speak, is very painful and sometimes can be a NINE in pain. Most of the time it fluctuates between 2 and 7. I saw a pain doctor, who diagnosed me with a pinched nerve, so I will get a back MRI. In the meantime she wants me to start PT and take Gabapentin on top of my Extra Strength Tylenol. I’ll hold off on the Gabapentin as long as I can because I can’t afford to add more dizziness (a side effect) to my Vestibular Migraines. (Gabapentin brings up sad memories of my dear Pear Blossom’s cancer before she passed away several years ago).

Because the worst of the pain is while lying down and walking, the pain doesn’t prevent me from taking care of my cutie pie grandson while his parents are at work. He turned three months on Friday and has been stacking up a big list of “firsts.” First time he rolled over onto his stomach himself. First time he reached for me to pick him up. First time he started trying to form sounds with his mouth. First time he held a stuffed toy and rubbed the fur on his skin. Yes, I’m obsessed.

Yesterday I did a little art because I hadn’t in months and wanted to do something creative with my hands. I feel bad because I have cute fabric for a book cover to make a junk journal for the baby’s parents, but taking care of him has made that impossible at this point.

Spring Walk and Grandma-ing

I’m writing this blog post on Sunday, although I don’t intend to publish it until early Monday morning. I want to write about my walk this morning while it’s fresh, but I have stuff going on after I write it.

Now that it’s warmer in Phoenix, it’s more refreshing to walk in the morning, so I went out at ten, wearing a sundress and brimmed hat. It’s already getting too warm for long pants, and I don’t wear shorts. The temperature, slight breeze, and all-around perfection made me feel so grateful to be living in this climate at this time of year. Nothing more beautiful than April and October in Phoenix.

Green and purple hummingbirds were flying in and around the yellow-blooming sweet acacia trees. The palo verde trees’ blossoms are just wiggling out. A songbird slid into a little round hole in a giant saguaro to visit her nestlings. Everywhere I walked I heard various sections of the symphony of birds making music together. I recorded some of it on my phone so I can try to isolate what type of birds I was hearing. On my way back, a family of quail ran quickly across the street to safety, and on the wooden gate to my yard, a baby lizard sunned itself.

In my yard, the cacti are in flower. Each one is spectacular, but my favorite is the coral one. Of course, since coral is my favorite color!

I’ve been taking care of my baby grandson each week for four days of 9-10 hours each (with a wonderful baby sitter who gives me a short break in the middle of most days). It’s very confining and exhausting at my age, but I love knowing he’s safe and learning. Perry has grown to love him, and will nap with him on the baby’s activity gym (which is on the ground and where he also practices “tummy time,” a phenomenon that wasn’t around when my kids were little). Baby Hudson’s favorite activity is swinging in his little mechanical swing.

What really strikes me about the baby is that he only cries to communicate. Luckily, he doesn’t have any chronic issues that cause crying (like colic). If he cries, I need to figure out what’s wrong, remedy it, and the crying stops. So while I was a bit concerned ahead of time that he would cry so much it would annoy me or especially the cats, not so.

As it gets warmer out, I intend to go for my walk very early (right after I give the cats their breakfast) and take Hudson in his stroller.

I’m getting zero art done and not enough writing, but I wouldn’t miss this experience for anything.

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I have a flash of menstruation lit in the hilarious anthology Bloody Funny.” Thank you to Editor Sophia McGovern. Hope you like it!

Poetry Treasure 4 Blog Tour, Day 2

Poetry Treasure 4: In Touch with Nature, Blog Tour, Day 2