Doll God by Luanne Castle

The author: Luanne Castle has been a Fellow at the Center for Ideas and Society at the University of California, Riverside. She studied English and creative writing at the University of California, Riverside; Western Michigan University; and Stanford University. Her poetry and creative nonfiction as appeared in several journals, and she had contributed to Twice-Told Children’s Tales: The Influence of childhood Reading on Writers for Adults.

My thoughts: This delightful collection of emotions and images has dolls woven throughout. The variety took me to unfamiliar experiences with the ocean and with the southwest. I especially enjoyed Sonoran October. Also two poems together mentioning the “debris of another generation” and the “sediment of memory.” Beautifully wrought.

There is a delightful connection to the doll on the cover in this blog post.

Luanne’s website.

Her Amazon Author page.

Last April I featured Luanne’s compelling collection of ancestral poems, Kin Types, which has nudged me to explore my own family stories in poetry form.

The theme for National Poetry Month 2022 is There’s A Poem in This Place. Two places to find contemporary poetry at its most vibrant are in the blogging community and at live readings. On 23 April 2022 from 4-5:30 PM ET, the two places come together when a select group of poets from the blogosphere present a live reading of their poetry at Poets in the Blogosphere. Most poetry is meant to be read aloud, and hearing poets read their own work is a heightened experience. The event is moderated by Elizabeth Gauffreau, and one of the featured poets is Luanne Castle.

Luanne’s blog post today is related, with a darling photo of the doll with a tiny surprise.