Poet Luanne Castle has published two volumes of poems during the last year. 

Our Wolves

From Luanne’s website: “For many years, I explored fairy tales, such as Little Red Riding Hood stories from around the world, and taught them in my children’s literature class. Traditional literature, like folk and fairy tales, was one of my favorite topics of the course. I was particularly fascinated with the French and German (Perrault and Grimm) versions of Red Riding Hood and decided to address the subject in a poetic way.”

“Our Wolves looks at the identity of wolves in our everyday lives and the varied ways of viewing the wolf. For example, this character cannot be seen as merely bad or even redeemed or misunderstood, as in some interpretations of the fairy tale. Similarly, ‘Little Red’ is not simply a victim or a representation of innocence. Instead, this collection reveals the tale as a conduit for many voices and interpretations of gender, identity, and feminism.”

My thoughts: The author, enchanted by different Red Riding Hood stories, explored them from different angles and from the points of view of each character in the classical tale–the wolf, the grandmother, the woodcutter, even Little Red herself. Creative and fascinating. I also enjoyed this interview in which Luanne tells more about the inspiration for the poems.

The captivating cover art is by Kiki Suarez.

Rooted and Winged

The poems of Rooted and Winged explore the emotional and physical movement of flight and falling. They are of the earth, the place of fertile origins, and of the dream world we observe and imagine when we look upward. Golems and ghosts that emerge from the ground, as well as the birds and angels that live above us, inhabit the collection. We will always be striving for flight, even as we feel most comfortable closest to the earth.

My thoughts: Many of these fine poems take the reader into the worries and wonders of living with desert flora and fauna, a sensual journey for someone from the Midwest. I was especially taken by the poem For an Adopted Child, and those that included exquisite and compelling images and details about grandparents, especially the one named Spotlight.

The Author

Kin Types, a chapbook of poetry and flash nonfiction, was a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Award. Her first collection of poetry, Doll God (Aldrich), won the New Mexico-Arizona Book Award for Poetry. Luanne’s Pushcart and Best of the Net-nominated poetry and prose have appeared in Copper Nickel, American Journal of Poetry, Pleiades, River Teeth, TAB, Verse Daily, Saranac Review, and other journals.

Here is one of Luanne’s poignant new poems, “Inside the House We Lived in When Dad Went Broke.”

Please visit Luanne Castle’s Writer Site

And her Amazon Author Page

Kin Types, also by Luanne Castle, is a favorite chapbook that helps keep alive stories of ancestors who would be otherwise largely forgotten. Several of Luanne’s poems have encouraged me to work on poems about my motherline, of six generations of women with Iowa roots.