Local poet Ian Cognitō explores the natural world and animal nature in his new book Animalian.
The collection, published by Repartee Press, is a shortened adaptation of Cognitō’s 2021 book Animusings with new poems.
“Newer poems because I guess I couldn’t stop ‘Animusing’ and I still seem to have lots of animal-themed poems in me, so they just keep coming. It’s a way to give some of these newer poems a home as well,” Cognitō said.
He describes the new book as “a collection of poems about animals, inspired by animals and it also touches on our own animal natures and our relationship with animals and nature.”
Cognitō said he enjoys being in nature and observing animals, which helped inspire the poems. Some of them are observational, while others use satirical analogies to encourage readers to have a closer look at themselves.
“I think there is a bit of a clarion call right now for us to pay more attention to what’s going on around us and what’s going on in nature and I think it’s the old canary-in-the-mine analogy but I think we have to pay attention to these things,” the poet said.
Cognitō said he hopes people are entertained when reading the book.
“I would like them to be moved and I would like them to have a poetic experience on the theme of animals.”
The book includes poems composed as far back as 30 years ago, as well as pieces written as recently as this summer. Cognitō said it was an enjoyable experience to curate his work into the revisited collection.
“It’s a way of communing with my younger self and finding out where the resonances of my present self and my past self harmonize. It’s interesting to see that some of these ideas and some of the things that I care about have been with me for some time,” he said.
The cover of the book features a cartoon from 19th-century cartoonist Faustin Betbeder.
“This was a commentary I believe on Darwin and the views that he was presenting to the world, which were quite controversial at the time so this is actually depicting Darwin as half ape with a monkey and he is showing the monkey its own reflection and I think that kind of encapsulates well the spirit of the book,” Cognitō said.
The book launch event will be hosted at the Nanaimo Harbourfront branch of the Vancouver Island Regional Library on Saturday, Nov. 2, from 2-4 p.m. A second event is planned at the Parksville branch of the Vancouver Island Regional Library on Nov. 9 at 2 p.m.
Animalian can be purchased directly from Repartee Press or from Literacy Central Vancouver Island, the Nanaimo Art Gallery, the Ladysmith Art Gallery and Windowseat Books.