Janet Innes, whose poem ‘Birdie, Birdie’ is published in issue 7 of Lucent Dreaming, is a poet and writer from Rhode Island. Her poetry has been published both in print and online by Arsenic Lobster, Abyss & Apex, and the American Journal of Nursing, among other publications. ’Birdie, Birdie‘ is her first piece of flash fiction.
“Birdie, Birdie” is the result of a writing prompt between me and two other writers I met at the Creatures, Crimes, and Creativity conference in 2007 — write something horror-adjacent, and include a pigeon. It just took off from there. More broadly speaking, the story’s about how humans assume we’re superior beings, but that’s hardly a given.
I love David Harsent’s poems for their brutal clarity and lyricism. Legion was the first collection of his that I read, and the menace and threat still haunt me. “I can wait as long as it takes. I can wait for ever.” [from “At the Seaside” in Legion] He writes mysteries, too. It’s rare to find someone who is so talented in both genres.
I recently bought an ice cream maker, so I am really looking forward to a summer of homemade ice cream!
On the creative front, I’m working on a novel set in the near future, during a global war in the Arctic. The story is about two women who belong to the same cell of a terrorist group. I would really like to write something cheerful and kind for a change, but all my anxiety and fury about the state of the world seem to come out in my writing.
I wrote my first story when I was seven — all I remember of it is a vivid description of blood running a foot deep on the palace floor! For most of my life, I wrote poetry, but I made a sharp turn to fiction after discovering National Novel Writing Month a decade ago. My family, especially my husband and my sister, are unfailingly supportive. And having a writing group has been invaluable. We all write in different genres — speculative fiction, noir, space opera — but the creative journey and struggle is the same, and it’s something that non-writers don’t really understand.
I have a couple of short stories in the works, so hopefully they will find homes soon. I update my Twitter account, so you can follow me there: @Janet_Innes_
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