I always enjoy Luanne Castle’s poetry and its connection to our past and to nature. Our Wolves is a bit of a departure from that, but one I thoroughly enjoyed. Here, Castle subverts the old fairy tale, “Little Red Riding Hood” and, though a unique combination of poetic forms and shifting points of view—from Little Red to her mother to her grandmother to the wolf to the huntsman—shows that within each of us lies a wolf. Underlying ideas highlight the way the patriarchy programs girls to say “I’m sorry” to everyone and to “study his face for bared teeth or curled lips./Take the belt without crying.” Her father spanks her bare skin with his palm: “Slap, slap, slap on my bare skin which smarts like kindling lit.” This is definitely a chap book to read slowly and savor so you can catch all the innuendos and subtle humor and twists in this age-old story.
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Our Wolves (Alien Buddha Press, January 31, 2023) is available through Amazon.
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