| Filed under blindness Fiction nonfiction Poem writing
Yes, folks, I spent time with Karina Kantas, the host of the author’s assist podcast and the Artist First Radio Network , talking all things creativity and writing. Karina lives in the Greek Isles and it was a great show. To visit with us and enjoy the conversation, click here.
Not sure where Dreya and I will fly to next but it’s sure to be interesting. I’ve got our virtual bags packed and ready to go.
Ann’s personal logo
| Filed under nonfiction Poem writing
This poem was written for a weekly writing prompt generated by https://writingworkswonders.com/Writing Works Wonders. It’s fun and keeps the creative muscle in top shape.
In the Sun
By Ann Chiappetta
Bandana the cat dozes
A ginger tabby
lazes in the pumpkin patch
Hooded candy corn yellow eyes
the sphinx
basking in the warm praise of Ra.
2021
| Filed under nonfiction writing Writing Life
Why I Like the Word Tweak
Hey there readers-
I left you all in limbo with a post stating I was moving my blog over to my website www.annchiappetta.com and I am happy to announce it is now completed. This is what I refer to as a tweak. As an informal verb definition, among other terms, it means to make an improvement to a system. Thank-you Siri, for the information. 😊 You all will still receive the blog updates, too.
Stay tuned for more now that thought-wheel has settled into it’s new home on the interwebs. 💻
And, as the announcer once said on the old-fashioned TV broadcasts, “and now back to the show.” 📺
| Filed under nonfiction Poem
Blogging about our animals is a bright glow in our lives. Just when I think it can’t get any zanier around here, cohabitating with two large dogs, three cats and two guinea pigs, something happens. Thank goodness it’s usually adorable or funny.
Meet Luna, a petite long-haired mix. April rescued her when she was 6 weeks old and she didn’t weigh more than a bottle of water. She is about five pounds now and won’t be a large cat. She is gentle and happy and like Bagheera/Noodle kitty, travels well in her carrier and has made her place in the pack. In this photo she found a warm spot to take a nap, I suppose a laptop is kind of like a human lap just a bit flat.
Below is my tribute to Luna.
Kitten haiku
Sprawling Feline warm
from hardware and data chips
cat divinity
Photo: Black kitten laying on it’s side over open laptop computer, head and paws facing camera.
| Filed under nonfiction
The sleek and silent Bagheera slipped into the enclosure, intent on his destination. The human, distracted by the guinea pigs, didn’t notice until it was too late.
“Darn cat, did you go in there?” The human extended her arm and Bagheera slid into the protected hut at the far corner of the cage, avoiding her searching fingers.
The human’s voice rose and she lowered the door, then talked into the thing called a cell phone.
“Is the cat in there?” she asked the phone, holding it at the cage. The tiny voice in it said,
“Yup, he’s in there, all the way in the back on the shelf,”
The human spoke and she sounded angry but he didn’t care, he was in the most rare and coveted place and he basked in his prize.
“I can’t reach you, you little turd,” she said, withdrawing her hand. He watched the human enter the storage room, then she went into the bright room with all the cold and wet places. She tapped the top of his ambrosia. Oh, he thought, why did the human have to entice him so? Why, oh why, did she offer him something he craved even more and more often than the coveted rodent shelf?
And this is how to lure a cat from hiding in the guinea pig cage. Appeal to his stomach.
He’s all grown up and now he tries to get into more places than the shopping cart
| Filed under nonfiction Poem writing
A few months ago a writing friend suggested a contest being offered by the Handy Uncapped Pen. I hadn’t submitted my work for a while and hoped this would help get me back into the submission state-of-mind again. It did help. I won second place for my poem, “Tide”.
Here’s the link:
http://www.handyuncappedpen.com/2021/06/cripendy-contest-second-place-tide-by.html
Thanks to Cheryll Romanek for the beautiful beach pic.
| Filed under nonfiction Relationships
Book Review
https://www.bookcorner.us/escaping-with-his-life/
Escaping with his life
From Dunkirk to D Day and Beyond © 2019
By Sir Nicholas Young
Biography Pen and Sword Military, Publisher; 256pp. ISBN-10: 1526746638 ISBN-13: 978-1526746634
Formats: hardcover, Kindle and audible.com
https://www.amazon.com › Escaping-His-Life-Dunkirk-…
An inspiring and thrilling account of Leslie Young, a British commando who was captured and escaped from a prison camp in Northern Italy.
From the book jacket: Very few British soldiers could lay claim to such a full war as Leslie Young. Having survived the retreat to and evacuation from Dunkirk, he volunteered for the newly formed Commandos and took part in their first operation, the raid on the Lofoten Islands. He fought and was captured in Tunisia. He went on the run before his POW camp at Fontanellato was taken over by the Nazis after the September 1943 Italian armistice. He spent six months on the run in the Apennine mountains aided by brave and selfless Italians. Many of whom were actively fighting their occupiers. He eventually reached Allied lines but not before several of his companions were tragically killed by both German and American fire.
On return to England he immediately signed up for the invasion of Northwest Europe and despite being wounded eventually fought through to Germany.
This biography epitomizes service and dedication during the darkest moments of twentieth century history, World War II. It also shows the reader the human side of war, the resiliency of the human spirit and the British stiff upper lip, the grit of a soldier.
The book takes the reader on a journey filled with action and heartbreak as told in part by Young’s journal entries and his son’s descriptive and historically accurate narrative.
At times this reader felt as if the history lesson textbook was on the desk and the words blurred into a dry and drawn—out round of this-followed-that narrative. But this was the only drawback to this intriguing story.
The attempts of the author to enliven the story is sprinkled with pieces of the ingenuity of the time, like the bicycle brigade, for example. There is also depictions of the depredations of war upon humans, the land itself, and the civilians who struggle to survive the Nazi occupation.
The book opens with a touching and powerful poem written by an Italian poet, Pierre Luigi Felli. The poem is haunting and sets the book’s place historically as well as creatively. Felli’s last line, alludes to returning to the haunting places, “Years later, the return along those mountain pathways feeling the scent of memory.”
This reader was satisfied and pleased Sir Nicholas’s account is fascinating and honors his father’s journey and those who fought for freedom from tyranny.
4 stars
| Filed under nonfiction recovering the self Writing Life
https://www.recoveringself.com/poetry/technology-love-story.
I am a beautiful nerd. I love my technology, drool over new gadgets and would have two computers if I could afford it. Well, I do own an iPad, that counts at least a little bit, right? I call my laptop Skywalker because it’s powerful and insightful, thanks to Windows 10. Yes, it does outthink me sometimes, too, maybe I should have named it R2D2 instead.
In late 2018 I upgraded to a new iPhone XR and admittedly grieved for the lost home button and fingerprint lock. The face I.D security features and gestures at first made me want to crunch the darned thing under the heel of my slipper but working from home softened my attitude and feet.
Here is a little poem about it.
On the Tip of a Finger
By Ann Chiappetta
Tap.
Flick up.
Flick down.
Double tap.
use a digit
drag it around.
press side button;
“Hello Siri” — why doesn’t she talk?
Slide and lift
Thumbs are best to text.
Swipe up with index finger
Double tap to select.
Tippity-tap tap
Doink doink doink
Try middle finger gesture instead.
Spell Onomatopoeia
Swish, swoosh blunk
Dexterity demands flanges
To execute a pinch or scrub.
“Hi Siri,”
I didn’t say that
Slide and lift
Thumbs are best to text.
Swipe up with index finger
Double tap to select.
Ann’s personal logo
| Filed under blindness nonfiction recovering the self
This article was posted on the Recovering the Self blog, why not check it out?
https://www.recoveringself.com/travel/a-path-of-discovery.https://www.recoveringself.com/travel/a-path-of-discovery.
| Filed under nonfiction Poem writing
Hi all-
Podcaster Lisa Tomey reviewed my prose and poetry collection, Words Of Life. Here’s the link:
Don’t forget to listen to her other podcasts episodes featuring other poets and authors.
