Recently I was delighted to get in the mail a copy of this fetchy slim book of poetry Cats and Dogs in Space (Hiraeth Books, 2025) with cool cover. In this delightful poetry book, speculative writer Lisa Timpf showcases her talented imagination and insight on our feline and dog companions.
The slim 70-page book is parsed into four sections inspired by headlines, legends & folklore, the great hereafter, and imaginings of the future. Each section showcases an aspect of these furry characters with great aplomb.
In her poems inspired by headlines, the headlines often speak volumes; like a mini-poem within a poem, they capture the fractal truths we only sense. “The Truth Is Out” inspired from the headline: “Cats classified as ‘invasive alien species’ by Polish institute,” the headline—whether real or imagined—says it all. The poem then proceeds to dissect this possibility with acumen and, of course, humour: Many questions remain, including when did their ships arrive…the next move is up to them. We can only wait to see what our feline overlords have in mind for us.
In Nursery Rhymes for Changing Times, Timpf applies a pithy dry humour to several folklore characters:
Cupboards empty again—
Mother Hubbord’s dog
orders biscuits online
exterminator’s visit just completed—
visiting cat pursues
the Queen’s computer mouse
video of fiddling cat
draws millions of likes—
dish and spoon regret departure
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In The Unknown, Timpf muses over the seasons following the passing of a beloved dog. The poem is heartfelt and beautifully metaphoric, pulling at my heartstrings with thoughts of the hereafter and our own journey into the unknown: …a skein of northbound geese, loose=strung, spans across the sky proclaiming, as they go, that we all must trace our path one day into the unknown after.
The ‘Cats and Dogs of the Future’ section is brim with fetchy titles such as The Sand Dogs of Mars and Steampunk Paradise. In A Cat’s Confession, we get wonderful insight into a cat’s psyche, as a cat from the future lists a litany of its transgressions that somehow end not with humility, guilt and apology but with logical recrimination.
Applying an edgy, sometimes warped, sense of humour—required when dealing with cats—and a tender sensibility of animal/human psychology, Timpf’s Cats and Dogs in Space explores the universe of these two species, vividly capturing their unique idiosyncrasies and influence on us from joyful to frustrated, from humorous to sentimental. This volume of poems is so much more than an exploration of cats and dogs in space; it embraces the very spaces they occupy, from the depth of our souls to the many liminal folds of existence.
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Nina Munteanu is a Canadian ecologist / limnologist and novelist. She is co-editor of Europa SF and currently teaches writing courses at George Brown College and the University of Toronto. Visit www.ninamunteanu.ca for the latest on her books. Nina’s bilingual “La natura dell’acqua / The Way of Water” was published by Mincione Edizioni in Rome. Her non-fiction book “Water Is…” by Pixl Press (Vancouver) was selected by Margaret Atwood in the New York Times ‘Year in Reading’ and was chosen as the 2017 Summer Read by Water Canada. Her novel “A Diary in the Age of Water” was released by Inanna Publications (Toronto) in June 2020.
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