Multispecies poetry is a practice of creative writing that lets itself be informed by the agency of other animals. To that end, it experiments with traditional poetic forms but also seeks to go beyond human language, e.g. by incorporating visual elements or scent. Some of this poetry can be read by other species, too, in their own and ultimately inscrutable ways.
After a number of years experimenting with this art form, I am still most comfortable working with dogs, but I am exploring other collaborations on the condition that no co-creator will harmed, ridiculed or gravely misunderstood in the process. The other animals must be free to disengage from the collaboration and when engaging them in readings or exhibitions, they must not be forced to sniff or stay with the poems and installations.
I believe that poetry lends itself best to experimenting with more-than-human meaning making and language because it does not depend on linearity, nor on syntax; it allows for the meaning of a word to change depending on tone and position in space; and the meaning itself is not necessarily semantic. I also think that poetry and scent in particular share a number of features: they both are condensed information, they can evoke memories or associations and, of course, emotions.
On the subpages that follow, I give an account of the development of the practice, both my own and that in which I involved other teams. In February 2023, the National Poetry Library in London hosted the first public presentation of some of the results and you can listen to a recording of the event here. Since then, the works have been on show in Munich, Krems an der Donau, and Mannheim. In the meantime, the collection has grown to comprise around 30 works in various media and can be shown in different online and offline formats. Do get in touch if you would like to organise something.
After a number of years experimenting with this art form, I am still most comfortable working with dogs, but I am exploring other collaborations on the condition that no co-creator will harmed, ridiculed or gravely misunderstood in the process. The other animals must be free to disengage from the collaboration and when engaging them in readings or exhibitions, they must not be forced to sniff or stay with the poems and installations.
I believe that poetry lends itself best to experimenting with more-than-human meaning making and language because it does not depend on linearity, nor on syntax; it allows for the meaning of a word to change depending on tone and position in space; and the meaning itself is not necessarily semantic. I also think that poetry and scent in particular share a number of features: they both are condensed information, they can evoke memories or associations and, of course, emotions.
On the subpages that follow, I give an account of the development of the practice, both my own and that in which I involved other teams. In February 2023, the National Poetry Library in London hosted the first public presentation of some of the results and you can listen to a recording of the event here. Since then, the works have been on show in Munich, Krems an der Donau, and Mannheim. In the meantime, the collection has grown to comprise around 30 works in various media and can be shown in different online and offline formats. Do get in touch if you would like to organise something.
If you are interested in simply trying it for yourself, feel free to run with the idea but perhaps take a look at the "Three Rules of Multispecies Poetry"-video here. This art form is rooted in respect as much as in playfulness, in learning as much as in love. It acknowledges the luxuries and privileges humans bring to the practice and insists that these be used in ways that genuinely benefit the other animals involved—never as a gimmick or at their expense.
