Words from a Beautiful Heart
By Donald Partelow
On Friday, August 14, the Pawling Library premiered a virtual program, presented by the talented Nancy Chiarello, a patron of our library, our good friend, and neighbor.
Nancy Chiarello worked in many arenas over the years and then later in life happened upon a talent that lay dormant within her: writing poetry.
“Life is a box of chocolates you never know what you’re going to get. I’ve always loved that line from the film Forrest Gump,” said Nancy. “I do not see myself as a poet, writer or artist. I believe this is just the next step in my life at this time. It is my destiny. If someone told me 40 years ago, I would be writing poetry at 70 and reading my poems for the Pawling Library I probably would have laughed and said, not me, I don’t even like poetry. The last time I read poetry I was in grammar school and later I was working in corporate America and that was my life. I started off writing rhyming poems and was having fun with them. It was then brought to my attention that the literary world might not be so accepting of that type of work and it was suggested I try writing non-rhyming poems. I sat with that for a while and again much to my surprise I began writing non-rhyming poems.”
Vivid imagery faded in and out throughout the program as Nancy read her poetry from a collection of poems which she calls Soul Writing: Poetry for the Soul. One of these poems was inspired after a walk by a stream, a poem Nancy entitled “Steps”: “Do we ever really know where we are going?We may think we do, but find ourselves in a very different place, good, bad or different. It is where we are supposed to be at this time. Have you ever walked in a stream and jumped from rock to rock not knowing how you’re going to land? And yet you must take those steps in order to get the other side, or go upstream against the current. Does your intuition speak to you and give you hints along the way so you may safely land? Follow the steps of life and you will get the other side where the waters are calm.”
Many watched this program, some from as far away as Florida. One of the people who enjoyed the program had this to say: “I liked the original, thought provoking and good play on words in Nancy’s poems, and enjoyed her candid dialogue between poems, too. Nancy turned ordinary, inanimate objects into very “un” ordinary objects using clever humor and sarcasm. Our poet, Nancy, was unafraid to confess her recently found love of poetry writing at age 70! As a ‘senior’ myself, I so appreciate her sharing her age, wisdom, and life views. Her poems were thought provoking, and conjured up beautiful mental images, metaphors and symbolisms. I’m looking forward to her next reading!”
Our library also looks forward to new works written by Nancy Chiarello, and fully supports her creative destiny.
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