This event introduced the general public to poetry co-produced by humans and companion dogs, taking place at the National Poetry Library in London, England on 22 February 2023.
Though, of late, there has been a heightened awareness of animals in poetry, most poetry is still exclusively for humans. Multispecies poetry shows that co-evolution between humans and dogs need not stop at culture, and it can help humans appreciate the ways in which “their best animal friends” perceive the world differently. Such multi-species poetry combines layers of human language with visual and olfactory elements; think of, say, an erasure poem that uses a piebald pattern, or of an acrostic written on a dog walk including a scent signature. The event will present multispecies poetry that will have been produced by dog-human teams from Austria, Germany, Switzerland, the UK and the US between June and September of 2022.