As I described the last two weeks, Broad Street Magazine is featuring six poems and flash prose pieces from my chapbook Kin Types, along with some of the research and research artifacts I used to create the pieces.
Today the third part of the series was published and can be found here: Family Laundry: “More Burials” by Luanne Castle
This poem was written about the Leeuwenhoek family, specifically a relative by marriage, and the perspective is that of his dead mother. Her children were orphaned and the four youngest went to live in an orphanage.
The photo below is of a boy in Nymegen or Nijmegen, which is the city near the Neerbosch orphanage where the Leeuwenhoek children lived. It is most likely that this is a photograph of Gerrit Leeuwenhoek, the subject of my poem.
The first feature article is “Family Laundry: “An Account of a Poor Oil Stove Bought off Dutch Pete,” by Luanne Castle”
The second feature article is Family Laundry 2: “What Came Between A Woman and Her Duties” by Luanne Castle
An introduction to the series can be found here. SERIES INTRODUCTION
The Family Kalamazoo 
Reblogged this on Luanne Castle's Writer Site and commented:
The poem this week is about the brother of a relative through marriage as told by their dead mother. They grew up in an abusive orphanage, but the subject of the poem did not keep quiet about it!
Once again congratulations.
Thank you, Jose!
Such a brave soul – intrepid indeed! You did him proud Luanne. And I am sure his mother watched over your left shoulder as you wrote.
Aw thanks so much, Pauline. I feel as if she did! For awhile I was pretty sure I was his mom ;)!
Another beautiful, moving poem. I am so glad the magazine is publishing these. 😀
Su, thank you so very much. The editor took a leap of faith, but she and I are so happy with how the project turned out!
I am really enjoying reading this series! How many more will there be?
Three more. The editor at Broad Street has Been so helpful and enthusiastic!
Great—I look forward to reading them.
Thank you, Amy!
I am always mesmerized by your photographs that seem to be the visual image your poetry evokes…wonderful!
Ah thanks so much, Sheila! These photos are definitely amazing.
Congratulations! Looking forward to reading more – your pieces are so well done and interesting. Also, looking through the research that inspired you is a real bonus! Thanks for sharing your talents with us all!
Oh, you are so kind. The more we learn about people of the past the more “real” to us they become!
What suffering those poor children must have gone through at the orphanage! I loved your poem!
Clare, thank you! It really must have been awful. I hate that there were older siblings who did not take them at first, but they obviously were not in a position to do so. And I doubt they had any idea how bad it was.
I am sure they didn’t know how bad it was though life was always hard for orphan children who were blamed for being a burden.
So awful. It is hard enough to lose their parents!
Congrats! It’s a wonderful series.
Thank you so much, Sheryl!