Q: Do you have any pets? Do they influence your writing?
A: I have two dogs, Krypto and Jubilee. They are named after super heroes. They absolutely influence my writing. For one thing, they don’t give two shits about it, and this helps enormously, especially on bad days, when I think my work sucks beyond belief. My dogs always remind me that life is not about achievement, and that beauty and love can be found everywhere, even in old tennis balls and saggy bags of dog food. I like making their tails thump on the floor after I’ve been wrestling with metaphors. I substitute their names and the word “puppy” in poems and song lyrics. It always makes me feel better. “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s puppy? Thou art my Krypto and my Jubilee.” They wag their tails and I feel like a genius.
Elise Forier Edie’s story “Heard” was published in Metaphorosis on Friday, 5 February 2016. Subscribe to our e-mail updates so you’ll know when new stories go live.
