Ask The Author: Keith Dunlap

From the May Issue, Keith Dunlap’s “The Clepsydra.” Below, Keith answers our questions, we especially like number 3.

1. What would you like your soul to be made of?

Something communicable. Sometimes I am sitting in a room with a bunch of other people, and I have the feeling that there is all this stuff going on that I have no suspicion of, much less knowledge of, not in a paranoid way, more like a little kid at a state fair kind of way, and I get the sinking feeling that all that stuff felt obliquely but not known is what my soul is made of, which is a disappointment.

2. How much non-fiction do you allow in your poetry?

None. Of course, I steal from non-fiction sources all the time. See below.

3. What do you like to have on in the background when getting it on?

Rain.

4. How has being married to a novelist influenced your writing?

My wife is one of those rare people who is extremely gifted, frighteningly intelligent, and also very hard-working. She also keeps her work very private until it is actually published, so there is almost no cross-fertilization. We don’t sit around, talking about writing. Still, I think we fundamentally agree that the worst thing a writer can do is try to be “interesting”, and the real task is just to write, and then revise, revise, revise.

5. What would you steal?

I assume you mean from other writers. Anything. I steal frequently and with impunity. I’m kind of a literary kleptomaniac. I am pretty sure that poets have this license. Am I wrong? Are the poetry police going to be reading this interview?

6. Where do you want to drift off to?

Right now? To a place that serves Thai Iced Tea.