Poetry is a Big Noise
I am not the old upright with a silent F sharp
or the diaphanous chemise in a museum case
photos of fields of tulipan in Constantinople
four upturned feet of a sleeping housecat
I am not a pomegranate cut open in a poem
and bleeding onto my palms and fingers nor
a fishing pole and hook, not even the tender
smooth fish mouth talking without sound
because I am not quiet but shout and whistle:
a Spanish jukebox, the first decree among
many, kennel of dogs barking in rounds
Think of me as a banquet with many prizes,
clapping and hooting, busboy’s clattery tray.
For invisible steps in the night, don’t call me.
Luanne Castle's Kin Types (Finishing Line Press), a chapbook of poetry and flash nonfiction, was a finalist for the 2018 Eric Hoffer Award. Her first collection of poetry, Doll God, winner of the 2015 New Mexico-Arizona Book Award, was published by Aldrich Press. Luanne 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 (PhD); Western Michigan University (MFA); and Stanford University. Her Pushcart-nominated poetry and prose have appeared in Copper Nickel, TAB, American Journal of Poetry, Verse Daily, Glass: A Journal of Poetry, Lunch Ticket, River Teeth, The Review Review, Broad Street, and other journals. An avid blogger, she can be found at luannecastle.com. She divides her time between California and Arizona, where she shares land with a herd of javelina.