Have Dog, Will Travel: A Poet's Journey

Description

In a lyrical love letter to guide dogs everywhere, a blind poet shares his delightful story of how a guide dog changed his life and helped him discover a newfound appreciation for travel and independence. Stephen Kuusisto was born legally blind-but he was also raised in the 1950s and taught to deny his blindness in order to "pass" as sighted. Stephen attended public school, rode a bike, and read books pressed right up against his nose. As an adult, he coped with his limited vision by becoming a professor in a small college town, memorizing routes for all of the places he needed to be. Then, at the age of thirty-eight, he was laid off. With no other job opportunities in his vicinity, he would have to travel to find work. This is how he found himself at Guiding Eyes, paired with a Labrador named Corky. In this vivid and lyrical memoir, Stephen Kuusisto recounts how an incredible partnership with a guide dog changed his life and the heart-stopping, wondrous adventure that began for him in midlife. Profound and deeply moving, this is a spiritual journey, the story of discovering that life with a guide dog is both a method and a state of mind.

Stephen Kuusisto is the author of the memoirs Have Dog, Will Travel; Planet of the Blind (a New York Times "Notable Book of the Year"); and Eavesdropping: A Memoir of Blindness and Listening and of the poetry collections Only Bread, Only Light and Letters to Borges. A graduate of the Iowa Writer's Workshop and a Fulbright Scholar, he has taught at the University of Iowa, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, and Ohio State University. He currently teaches at Syracuse University where he holds a professorship in the Center on Human Policy, Law, and Disability Studies. He is a frequent speaker in the US and abroad. His website is StephenKuusisto.com.

"Kuusisto...give[s] readers and animal lovers terrific insight into not only his experience with blindness, but also the unshakable bond between a guide dog and its owner."-Publishers Weekly "Never before has the subtle relationship of a blind person to a guide dog been clarified in such an entertaining way. That Stephen Kuusisto enables us to see the world through his blind eyes as well as through the 'seeing eyes' of his dog is this book's amazing, paradoxical achievement."-Billy Collins, U.S. Poet Laureate (2001-2003) "A perceptive and beautifully crafted memoir of personal growth, and a fascinating example of what can happen when a person and a dog learn to partner with one another."-Temple Grandin, author of Animals in Translation and Animals Make Us Human "Have Dog, Will Travel is both an intimate memoir of one man's particular experience of blindness and a beautiful tribute to the devotional, unconditional love of a dog. Funny, moving, and joyful."-Dana Spiotta, author of Innocents and Others "I fell in love with Corky, of course, with her goofiness and boundless affection and heart-stopping wisdom. Truth be told, I fell in love with Steve too for how he dove into his new, broken open, adventurous life with her, and the way he processed his experiences through the lens of his reading life, and his compassion for others and for his own late-blooming self."-Ona Gritz, author of On The Whole: A Story Of Mothering And Disability "A celebration of Corky and guide dogs everywhere."-Library Journal "Kuusisto tells the poignant story of a midlife rebirth that led to self-acceptance and also celebrates human/animal interdependence and a "companionship [that] was intimate and richer than poems." An eloquent and heartwarming memoir."-Kirkus Reviews "[An] irresistible portrait of his first guide dog, Corky...Kuusisto's ever-lyrical writing pulses with lush imagery and unflagging curiosity. There's no doubt: Kuusisto's love for Corky, and love itself, become a filter through which to perceive the world-and what a deeply compassionate, beautifully observed world it is." -Booklist