Approaching Animals
From A to Z
 |
Approaching
Animals From A to Z
ISBN 0
9541573
3 8 |
Animals
are
“neighbours/
yet
strangers –
though close
to us/
always
standing
apart”. How
should we
approach
them? These
poems
explore what
the animal
kingdom
means to us,
visually and
imaginatively
An initial
sequence
looks at how
we relate to
animals
through gene
and instinct
and symbol.
The forty or
so
individual
poems which
follow, from
Albatross to
Zoophyte,
take
unexpected
turns. A
concluding
poem salutes
the allure
of animals
and observes
how their
“restlessness
… fires up/
the pulse of
life within
us”.
The
individual
animal
subjects are
Albatross,
Aphids,
Badger,
Boomslang,
Chameleon,
Chimpanzee,
Cuttlefish,
Donkey,
Dragonfly,
Eagle, Eel,
Ferret,
Geese, Green
Woodpecker,
Greyhound,
Hamadryad,
Honey-bee,
Inchworm,
Jigger,
Kudu,
Lamprey,
Lemmings,
Manatee,
Newt,
Ostriches,
Pangolin,
Plankton,
Plasmodium,
Quetzal,
Rat, Sacred
Ibis,
Spiders,
Starlings,
Tawny Owls,
Temple
Elephant,
Three
Monkeys,
Tiger,
Urchin,
Venus’s
Girdle,
Vultures,
Wild Boar,
Xenopus,
Yellowhammer,
Zebu,
Zoophytes.
Six of these
follow: