Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!
I have the pleasure of welcoming Ms Castle to Jorie Loves A Story today, of whom, I recently read her new collection of Poetry “Kin Types” – wherein Ms Castle, was directly inspired by her ancestral research into her ancestral lines of heritage to pull forward beautifully convicting biographical sketches of her ancestors! She had a lovely way of fusing you into their lived lives as immediate as they might describe a moment out of their everyday world with you today! She struck an emotional chord within these time capsules of lives through the women of her family who she connected with the most.
This was the first piece in the collection which was what I would consider prose-narrative – where there is a delicate balance between how the story affects the reader through the scope of how it is told. There are other pieces of narrative – of elongated stories crafted together next to the poems – where lists of names and places of origins are mentioned after the stories themselves; a nod I would presume to Ms Castle’s ancestors; of reflecting of whom inspired which story or piece she’s sharing within the collection itself. A marker in a way, of noting what happened to whom and of whom she felt motivated to share insight in regards to their lives through a plausible ‘story’ of one moment where their life and hers felt interconnected to the point in which telling their tale was in effect re-telling a portion of her own.
-how I described her poetic style on my review of Kin Types
Each of them, has a larger story behind how they arrived in America (through immigration) and of how their hopes, dreams and lives were affected by circumstances they couldn’t control. Each finding the courage to overcome what befell them and find the heart of strength to carry on. In this, we too, find a renewal of strength reading their stories and re-alighting into a moment of their lives where their emotions were raw, their fortitude strong and wherein life’s adversities attempted to weaken their resolve.
Two of my favourite pieces in the collection are as follows:
The capstone poem for me in this collection is “When Your Grandfather Shows You Photographs of His Mother” due to the nature of how there are some traces of origins through our appearances which oft-times go unnoticed and unchecked. Have you ever noticed how some families are recognisable for how their features and mannerisms are well-presented throughout their lineage? Of how there are reflective murmurs of personality through each new generation their family expands inside? Others, I find are more independently related – where you cannot find connections within how they ‘appear’ to the outside world. They each are their own canvas. What is interesting here – is one woman took this observational enigma to the next layer of insight – how does what we see of ourselves in the mirror of the past, reflect now against our future?
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“The First Baby Still Sleeps Long Hours” is an entry into how a woman is captured by inspiration in how sewing clothes can be a mark of a woman’s confidence in herself. She has a keen eye for fabric and notions; of seeing how the patterns of her day’s fashions can be altered or renewed by the choices you make as you sew – a woman ahead of herself and of the time she lived. Whilst she’s toiling long into the night, over the firelight of candles – whose wax is drawing too thin to find solace in the hours left to finish her tasks, here we find the balance of life – between what is expected (ie. motherhood) and what is a personal goal of seeing how far you can push yourself to do something ‘new’ which you’ve not yet done beforehand. I felt this piece in particular could be lengthened – it would make a fitting gateway into a Historical Fiction novel.
-quotes taken from my review of Kin Types
Kin Types
Kin Types is based largely upon genealogy and a fascination with what comes to all of us from the past. A mix of poetry in the traditional sense and highly poetic prose pieces, the collection takes the reader on a journey into the lives of women and somewhat into the lives of men who must carry on alone once the women are gone. The journey of this collection is not a ramble into the past, but a slingshot into the here and now by way of these portrait tales.
Places to find the book:
ISBN: 9781635342543
on 14th July, 2017
Published By: Finishing Line Press (@FLPress)
Available Formats: Paperback & Ebook
Read how the author was inspired to create this collection
Converse via: #Ancestry + #Poetry
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