I grumble when I rise
in this new routine I find
of having to leash the dogs
and head outside.
No more opening doors
having always been free to explore
and do their business
without any help of mine.
So on the leashes go
before the coffee brews
and out into the narrow streets
now home.
Smoke from chimneys hovers low
the smell of it
lifts spirits below
while pleasant thoughts soon rise
with the early sun.
And on we wend
through the aged, shadowed alleys
past tiny cars and crumbling walls
by well-fed, feral cats and barking dogs
who hear our jingly approach
and let it be known to all.
Life behind the shutters
has begun to stir
and the sounds of life within
all heard
dissuade me from feeling too alone
while my husband wraps things up
where once was home.
Passing walls of gathered stone
and garden patches in verdant rows
the dogs seek out every, single smell
while continually adding their own.
Happy to be lost in the ancient grid
of unworked fields and olive trees
of derelict lots
and well-tended hearths
I have little worry
of my place on earth
and finding our way back
to anticipated treats
to coffee
and to home.
Author: Anne Celano Frohna
I have been writing for as long as I could hold a pencil in hand and would not feel complete without it.
And I actually made a meager living at it (and as an editor) for 25 years.
I worked for newspapers and magazines, in graphic arts and advertising, and wrote several local history books.
But I have also taught English in Japan, been a Nanny/family chef in Italy, worked in and for museums, was an Airbnb Superhost for four years, as well as an Etsy shop owner, where I sold vintage items I found over the years at thrift stores and yard sales.
After moving to Arizona with my family in 2010, I completed a series of different writing projects, including two books of creative non-fiction:
Just West of the Midwest: a comedy (Based on journals I kept during my two years as an English teacher in rural Japan.)
Within Close Range: short stories of an American Childhood (Short stories and poems about growing up as the middle of five children in suburban Chicago.)
But in the past few years, I have found my voice in poetry.
I am a mother of two wonderful girls, Eva (26) and Sophia (24) and wife to one wonderful husband, Kurt.
In 2023, with our girls grown and off on their own, my husband and I packed up our things and moved to the tip of Italy’s heel, to the Salento region, where I continue to work on my poetry, as well as a new fiction project, and indulge in my passion for mosaics - all of which you can view on my Instagram page @ acfrohna.
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Dog-eared Stories by anne celano frohna 