Thought Wheel

Ann Chiappetta

Weekends Are For…

| Filed under blindness Fiction Poem Relationships writing

Writing, planning, and wishing I could find an assistant or part-time publicist. Weekends are not conducive to visiting independent bookstores to promote books. Weekends are good for catching up on things, like laundry and cooking a meal and sharing it with my husband. Weekends are for brushing the dogs, binge watching favorite Netflix originals, and catching up on long-distance phone calls with extended family and close friends. Weekends are for connecting with the personal, foregoing the professional, keeping the boundaries defined and clean. When I board the bus come Monday morning, the channel changes, the persona shifts, and by the time I step down off the bus and slide the key into the office door, the transition is initiated. I greet my office mates and begin the day.

National Poetry Month

| Filed under Poem Relationships writing Writing Life

TROPHIES
By Ann Chiappetta

Burnished figures on pedestals
Inscribed electroplate
Into households they gather, insidious
Conniving onto shelf and mantle place

They represent childhood paragons
Foster a competitive edge;
Rally spirits when called upon
As we leap and clear the proverbial hedge

They possess our emotions, sentiments
Simbiants woven into beliefs
A bit of blanket, a toddler’s treasure
Photos that trigger grief

Even in death we cannot escape
Carved markers above bones underneath
Grassy knolls peppered with maudlin
Guardians, trophies the dead bequeath

Yet the living tend the reminders
While the dead are set free
What a breath holds dear
Spirits don’t need.

2005

Lunar New Year

| Filed under writing

Honoring the Lunar New Year. Moon © 2019 By Ann Chiappetta COLORS OF SLUMBER GRASP SILVER-TIPPED FOLDS OF SHADOW PEARL IN VELVET CUP horizons reveal the flaming root of each day turtle moon endures. harvest moon contains earth’s blood, fertility and pain; eclipse of my soul. From WORDS OF LIFE: POEMS AND ESSAYS to be released March 2019

Listen to New Interview

| Filed under writing

Hello , Branco Events News has published a new article on our website. InPerspective 89 – With Author Ann Chiappetta Talking About Guide Dogs January 26, 2019 edition of “In Perspective” You may view the latest post at https://www.brancoevents.com/in-perspective-89-with-author-ann-chiappetta-talking-about-guide-dogs/

A Phone Call and a Big Smile

| Filed under writing

A Phone Call and A Big Smile My mobile rang the other day and I sent it to voicemail; it was a number I did not recognize. Later that night, I listened to the message and it brought a smile and the telltale prick of grateful tears to my eyes. Little did I know that my guide dog school, Guiding Eyes For The Blind www.guidingeyes.org sends out my book, FOLLOW YOUR DOG A STORY OF LOVE AND TRUST www.annchiappetta.com to donors as a thank-you for their support. The message was from a woman in California and she said she love my book, could not put it down and read it straight through. She said I did not use self-pity but expressed the struggles with clarity and strength. So, of course I called her and we spoke, both benefitting from our short and powerful conversation. Here it is again, a miracle of inspiration — our dogs have brought us humans together; we shared a powerful moment of connection and this, folks, is why I write and why we need to continue sharing and loving one another and thank our dogs.

Follow Your Dog book cover yellow lab on rock with blue skies above and blue water beside dog reflecting dog in water.

A Great Way to Wrap-up 2018

| Filed under blindness Guide dogs Poem Relationships writing Writing Life

Thanks to Kim Charlson and the Perkins Library for the Blind, the memoir I wrote is now an audio book for listening through the National Library Service, or NLS. Expressing how it felt to listen to my words for the first time was emotional. It was immensely gratifying and powerful. A few weeks prior to the email notifying me the book was in the final editing stage I listened to the introduction I penned for GDUI’s A HANDBOOK FOR THE PROSPECTIVE GUIDE DOG HANDLER (4th Edition), also recently released as a free digital book available via the NLS talking book and braille library.
Follow Your Dog: A Story of Love and Trust DBC11582
Chiappetta, Ann. Reading time: 4 hours, 27 minutes. Read by Ana Maria Quintana. A production of Perkins Library, Perkins School for the Blind. Animals and Wildlife. Drawing on her skills as a poet and a therapist, the author of this candid memoir explores her life-changing relationship with her guide dog. The book is also available on Bookshare and all eBook sellers as a digital book and print soft cover. Go to www.dldbooks.com/annchiappetta/

The GDUI Handbook’s catalog number is DB92557 and it is also available from Bookshare.

Here’s to a book-filled 2019.