A little Chily photo shoot.

 December 2022 just a few out of 167.   ☀️☀️☀️☀️#sunscream #sweetkids #tonicollenphotographycom 

Guest Post from Luanne Castle author Rooted and Winged.

Rooted and Winged by Luanne Castle - Guest Post.

READING AND WRITING SLANT

When you read a poem, do you ever wonder how the poet tackled the subject—or why she did it the way she did?

Most poetry takes advantage of Emily Dickinson’s advice in the following poem:

“Tell all the Truth but tell it slant--
Success in Circuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth's superb surprise

As Lightning to the Children eased
With explanation kind
The Truth must dazzle gradually
Or every man be blind--”

Tell all the truth. Don’t hide from even disturbing truths. But tell it slant. Don’t come at the subject straight on, but circuitously so that readers arrive at a truth slowly enough that they can accept it. 

Ever notice a glaring mistake made by someone close to you? Then you directly point it out, thinking they will see what you see. But it doesn’t work that way most times. Instead, your friend or relative is blind to their error even as it stares them in the face. 

So what do you do? You come at the subject from a position a bit off to the side, start the conversation rolling toward your goal, and eventually, the loved one may come to the problem themselves. You might even think of it as not talking at someone, but with them.

That’s how it is with poetry. There is no poem without the reader in dialogue with the poet. When you read a poem, your share of the conversation is that voice in your head. It might say, “Oh, yeah, I can relate to bobcats and hawks in Luanne’s backyard. I get deer and once I saw an eagle in the tree way out back.” Or this, “Why don’t I go back and drive past the house I grew up in and see what it looks like now?” Or, “I have special memories of my grandparents, too.” This internal dialogue is why every reading of every poem is idiosyncratic—your reading will never be the same as your friend’s or mine or the guy down the street. We will bring different experiences and knowledge to our reading.

When writing a poem, I come up with different ways to write slant. One of those is to come up with complicating factors. If I want to write about a natural disaster, I might tell myself that I have to add a Greek myth, scientific data, or both. 

Another way to write slant is to impose a writing prompt on the image or subject you have in mind. Writing prompts are shared on many blogs, as well as in craft books such as those by Diane Lockward. 

A third way to write slant is to write a very direct poem, then cut apart the lines or even phrases and re-arrange on the table or desk or even the floor. Arrange them randomly and see what fun you can have by moving them around. Sometimes you will need to find connective tissue which means generating new images and thoughts, but it might simply be that the poem needs to be told backwards.

Thank you to Author for this most excellent post.

About the author:

Luanne Castle’s new poetry collection is Rooted and Winged (Finishing Line Press). Kin Types (Finishing Line Press), 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, Tipton Poetry Review, River Teeth, TAB, Verse Daily, Glass: A Journal of Poetry, Saranac Review, Grist, and other
journals.

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.

Thank you for letting me be a part of this tour to Serena at  Poetic Book Tours

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.

Blog Tour Schedule:

Sept. 15: Review Tales by Jeyran Main (interview)

Sept. 22: The Bookish Elf (interview)

Sept. 28: the bookworm (guest post)

Oct. 4: Author Anthony Avina’s Blog (interview)

Oct. 11: The Book Connection (interview)

Oct. 19: CelticLady’s Reviews (guest post)

Oct. 25: The Soapy Violinist (guest post)

Follow the blog tour with the hashtag #rootedandwinged @writersitetweet #LuanneCastl

Review by Toni - Sticks and Stones by Chelsea DeVries

They tell you about the dangers of riptide but no one warns you that you could be swept down into the riptide of who someone else is. 

-Drowning In An Ocean of No Tomorrows

Hello!  It has been a while since I reviewed some poetry and checked in.   I am excited to be writing and talking about books.  I am finally really more again and I feel myself and inspired.  This reading was  such a good way to get back in the groove.  

 I am starting it off with Sticks and Stones by Chelsea DeVries. Available at Amazon.

Here is my review: 

I have never read a book like this before.  For me it was a journal of prose and honesty that was completely relatable.   I love the current theme in the book.  Applicable to our work places, and social media.   I read it in two sittings.  My favorite piece is an Angel in a Red Dress.   It is what I do and how I think when I no longer care who is watching me.  My vice is the red lipstick and I will forever hear that when I go in and put on my red lips ... for me it is how I do me and how I have learned to love me.   (goosebumps)

Mostly through out the book I was amazed at the trauma and the resilience.  How could one go through so much and still write it all down and face it?  How could they use all this trauma and continued pain to share and to inspire.  

It is one of the best collections I have read in a long time.  I have to say because it is on my level of comprehension and as a whole I was able to sink in the lyrical symbol parts of the poetry that sometimes escapes me in other poetry. 

I will say this as praise that the poetry that sometimes seemed obsessive is how I write in private and I found kinship in the obsessions and coping of the writing.

I  have journals and journals and poems.  I feel when my writing gets to honest, I start a new journal.   I haven't been able to write it all down and keep it flowing in my life's work because I am not brave enough.  I want to start it over and I want new pages, I am not like this author that could put it together and keep going one after the other.

This is a brave piece of work.  I truly recommend reading it and sharing it.    I truly recommend thinking of the things  (paraphrase) ...you want to say to someone and saying to yourself in the mirror also.

Thank you Chelsea DeVries.   I believe your poetry makes a difference in the world and I am so grateful beyond all things that it came to me at the precise right time.  And I do have faith the size of a mustard seed so I grapple and fail a lot.   And the scripture references were very comforting to me as this is what I am familiar.

Mostly I am sorry for the things you had to endure to write that beautiful book.  

Epic, powerful, painful and inspiration.

More about the book:

In Sticks and Stones, DeVries paints a poetic picture of rising above toxicity, love found and love lost, and delves into what it means to find strength in the human spirit. Through poetry, the reader finds a voice of strength and the rebuilding of one's heart a home with all the sticks and stones thrown upon it. Newly expanded with more full color photos, 41 new poems, and a rewrite of Drowning in An Ocean of No Tomorrows, DeVries shows a full poetic picture of turning pain into poetry in order so you can rise above whatever is pulling you under.

About the Author:

Chelsea DeVries wanted to be a writer at the age of 7. Her first publishing credit came at the age of 14 with a poem in a student anthology. She then wrote nonstop while doing IB classes in high school. She published two YA novels while still in high school which after over 10 years she rewrote as a NA romance that she looks to put out as her next publication. She is a seeker of justice and uses her words to free this world’s outcasted, peculiar, and underdogs from the chains that bind them. When not writing she runs and does PR for authors and musicians with her bookish brand The  Smart Cookie Philes. Though she’s Florida born and raised, she has New Jersey in her veins. She currently lives in Port Richey, FL with her squad of two dogs. In October 2020, DeVries was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome which is a form of Autism.

Thank you to Serena at Poetic Book Tours for inviting me to be part of the really awesome tour.

For more information and great posts please follow along with the Blog Tour.

Follow the online tour with hashtag #sticksandstonespoetry

Advance Praise:

“This collection of poetry and innovative thinking by Chelsea DeVries is a remarkable work of words. Sticks and Stones: Full Story Edition is a definite read, and please, read the dedication at the beginning of the book, and then you know the set stage for this book. It is personal. The words almost float across the pages, bringing different situations and emotions to light, in a very toxic world. After reading this, I realized what the title actually alludes to, and how it just fit this unputdownable collection. Such a wonderful read. My favorite was Perks of Being a Wallflower which starts with ‘I’m just a girl, Really strong, like petals on a flower, I wilt.’ I liked this so much, I read many of the poems twice. I look forward to reading more by this poet. Sticks and Stones is a definite recommendation.” –Amy’s Bookshelf Reviews.