CONVERSATION WITH A POET: LUANNE CASTLE

Today, I have the privilege of sharing a conversation with poet Luanne Castle, in which we discuss poetry, creative process, and her second chapbook Our Wolves (Alien Buddha, 2023).

OMC: Hello, Luanne, and thank you for sharing a copy of Our Wolves with me, as well as having this conversation about your work. The variations on the story of Red Riding Hood made for interesting reading and sent me researching the oldest versions of that story (Little Red Riding Hood by Charles Perrault, 1697; Little Red Cap by the Brothers Grimm, 1812). This chapbook feels like it came out at just the right time for women who are disappointed that we’re still fighting the same old sexism in 2024. It’s loaded with malleable metaphors that suit this time quite well. 

Your Sonnet 

People always tell me don’t talk to strangers
as if I am my big red mistake. Remember how I 
made caramel brownies and helped eat them 
when the jerk dumped you? And, you, I rode
the bronco when you wanted the mild mare 
although in truth I was more scared than you. 
All of you, am I the only one who felt pity
for a wolf on crutches in the middle of nowhere? 
My mother taught me to be kind, to be helpful, 
not to ignore the slow or less than able, the ones 
who are different, the needy, so I asked what
he needed from me and he misunderstood.
My story is not so very different from yours
and yours and yours and yours and yours. 

(p. 31, Our Wolves)

I know from listening to one of your interviews – I think it was on Tea, Toast, & Trivia – that Our Wolves began with some poems that didn’t make it into your 2022 book, Rooted and Winged. What was it about the Red Riding Hood tale that really hooked you, the piece that you eventually wanted to turn over and over in this chapbook? 

LC: When I was very young, my mother bought me a Golden Book version of Red Riding Hood. This now vintage version is available for $150 online, but in those days, a Little Golden Book cost twenty-nine cents at the grocery store. I used to beg my mother to buy me one when we were shopping. Every night I asked to be read the story. The illustrations of an old-fashioned peasant girl charmed me, and the story of a little girl being given independence and responsibility in a dangerous world fascinated me. Even Red’s basket containing goodies fed my imagination. I used to have a recurrent dream based upon that basket. Also, the darker aspects of the story reminded me of the dangers even in my own home where I was frequently afraid of my father who had anger issues. 

OMC: Growing up with a father who has anger issues shows in the poems you’ve created. I’m thinking of your poem, “How to Digest the Wolf”, where you have a line about taking the belt without crying. Also, the poem, “From the kitchen, you enter,” which has a line about how fast a father’s joy dissolves into anger and what happens next. These poems, in particular, speak to anyone who has had a parent with anger issues. What do you hope readers take away from Our Wolves? And have you heard any reactions that surprised you?

LC: I would love for readers to find or renew a love for folk and fairy tales because they are the building blocks of stories and stories are the way humans make sense of the world around them. I hope that the poems show a variety of ways of looking at one well-known story so that readers see how rich any one story can be. In fact, I could keep writing Red stories and poems. One surprising, but humorous, reaction from readers was a complaint that the book was too short. Our Wolves is a chapbook, not a full-length collection, and that decision was purposeful. I decided on a chapbook not because I couldn’t write more on the topic, but because I didn’t want to overwhelm the reader with Red poems. Rather, I’d like to leave them craving more. 

OMC: I agree with not overwhelming readers. Your chapbook covers a lot of emotional ground. Do you have a favorite piece from Our Wolves? And why that particular poem? Or, maybe, another question would be whether you have a favorite point of view that popped up in Our Wolves?

LC: I had so much fun writing these poems and inhabiting different POVs that it’s hard to choose. I love to read “You All Been Waiting for a Wolf Confession” aloud because the wolf is such a character. I love writing “voices.” “How to Digest the Wolf” is a very serious memoir poem. “How to Make a Hand Shadow Wolf” is the last poem in the collection because it allows Red and readers to become wolves. By becoming wolves, we no longer have to fear “our wolves.”

How to Make a Hand Shadow Wolf

Start in your own room. Shut the door.
If you can, lock it or else barricade
with the hope chest and all your dolls.
Prop a flashlight on the bedding,
pointed at the gray fan-pattern plaster,
and make a light-circle on the wall.
Find your shadow. Try to keep track.
Close four fingers with the thumb up.
Curl in your index finger. There,
your own shadow is a basic wolf.
Add a thumb and wiggle the ears.
Watch now. Your pinky finger
is the mouth, open and close it.
See, no teeth. Can you make an open
eye by tweaking that one finger?
Close it now. You’re in charge.
Tip your hand, open the mouth,
and howl at the moon, all aquiver.

(p. 36, Our Wolves)

OMC: I understand that fairy tales and Little Golden Books were an important part of your childhood reading experience. Do you still maintain a collection of childhood books to serve as references when you’re working on poetry that harkens back to those tales? And which are your favorites?

LC: Funny you should ask that question. I used to teach college-level children’s literature to education students. During that time, I added to my collection of books from my own childhood, which included books that belonged to my great-grandfather, grandmother, and mother, with many books, particularly Caldecott and Newbery winners and honor books. I have been keeping my collection, waiting for grandchildren. My first grandchild was just born in January, and I can’t wait to share the books with him.

OMC: Which poets do you love to read right now? Who resonates with you?

LC: Ugh, I have so many poets whose work I love. Diane Seuss is the queen. I’m reading her new book Modern Poetry right now. Joy Harjo. Victoria Chang. Carmen Giménez Smith. I could go on and on. And I have to mention that I still reread Sylvia Plath and Audre Lorde as they are two of my long-time favorites. 

OMC: You also write flash fiction. There are similarities in flash pieces and poetry as far as word choice and rhythm. For you, what determines whether an idea moves into the flash fiction or poetic form? 

LC: For me, a sense of story is important to flash, whereas a poem does not need story to support itself. But truly, it’s more what mood I am in. Do I feel like writing a poem or a flash story today?

OMC: What subject would you like to see poets take on more often?

LC: Menstruation. I recently published a period flash in a local zine and a few years ago published a period short story, “The Secret Kotex Club,” in Longridge Review which was nominated for a Pushcart. Note that these are both stories, not poems. I realize there are probably some beautiful menstruation poems out there, but I read a lot of poetry collections and poems in journals and don’t see many period poems. Another subject I’d like to read is this grandma business—about taking care of a grandchild on a regular basis.

OMC: Those are excellent choices for poetic subjects! Yes! There is a lot of power both in menstrual cycles and menopause – as in grandmothers. I take care of my youngest granddaughter a couple of days a week, and my own poems that come from that are usually focused on trying to look at things through a child’s eyes again rather than thinking about the grandmother wisdom I might contain. Do you have a new project in the works? Can you talk a little about what’s next?

LC: I haven’t begun to pull anything together, although I have published probably a dozen flash stories based on the paintings of Remedios Varo. Whether I end up trying to pull them into a collection or move in another direction, I don’t yet know!

OMC: I look forward to learning more about that in the future. And, I suspect, you’ll be writing your own grandmother poems and stories. 

Thank you so much for taking the time to discuss your work with me. Do you have any parting shout-outs you’d like to share?

LC: The online poetry community has been such a blessing to me. There are so many wonderful poets writing today and unlike when I started out so much of it is available online without a library or paywall. When I was working on my MFA, I couldn’t afford to purchase literary journals and had to go to the library in person to read them. Many couldn’t even be checked out. I am so grateful to my readers who have stuck with me through all my books. They are in my heart.

OMC: This was a pleasure. 

Below are links to more information about Luanne Castle and her work.

AUTHOR WEBSITE: https://www.luannecastle.com

WHERE TO BUY A COPY OF OUR WOLVES: https://www.amazon.com/Our-Wolves-LUanne-Castle/dp/B0BTKNP31D

cover image of girl and wolf courtesy of Brandon Serna Correa on Pixabay.