Nothing is less real than realism. Details are confusing. It is only by selection, by elimination, by emphasis, that we get at the real meaning of things.
Even as a kid I've said it doesn't matter if I live to be 150: this life will be the blink of an eye. Poet, author, visual artist, photographer, educator and lover of life (though still working on the hard parts like Covid, violence, inequity), I'm completing a memoir inspired by and largely about dogs and people.