Cats and Dogs in Space by Lisa Timpf
Reimagining our faithful furry friends in time and space
I have known Lisa Timpf for quite some time now. She was a regular contributor of reviews to my former book review website, and I was very happy when she decided to come aboard The Seaboard Review of Books. She is punctual in reading and reviewing the books she chooses to read, and I can always count on her to submit a good-quality review, whether it is a work of fiction or (more likely) non-fiction.
So I was quite excited to learn that she has recently released a book of poetry entitled Cats and Dogs in Space, a whimsical collection of speculative poetry that can be enjoyed by all ages. The cover art and design by Marcia A. Borell is eye-catching, filled as it is with dogs and cats in all manner of space suits and some crazy-looking spacecraft.
I suppose it goes without saying that one should be familiar with the habits of cats and dogs to get the many references to their particular idiosyncrasies. Then, put them in space, or make them the study of science (from real headlines) and you have the makings of some fun reading.
Lisa has assembled her poems into four sections, or groupings:
From the Headlines: Poems Sparked by News Stories
Legendary: Riffing on Myth, Legend, and Folklore
The Great Hereafter
Cats and Dogs of the Future
In “From the Headlines”, Lisa has taken actual headlines that pertain to either dogs or cats and reworked them into some clever poems. The first one, “Cryptic” is from a CBC story entitled “Cat’s faces really are hard to read, but some people can do it. Study finds.” (https://bit.ly/4jJh9dm) The news article has a test you can do yourself. Lisa takes the test, imagining cats in lab coats laughing at human attempts to understand them:
“....their face inscrutable, because, let’s face it, if dogs are an open book, cats are a cryptogram, a handful of zen koans, the sound of a single hand clapping,
an off-beat rhythm.”
Another poem I quite liked was one entitled “For Laika (The First Dog in Space)”
Laika was a stray dog that the Russians put into space in 1957. Sadly, it was a “one-way voyage”, but Laika had her few minutes of fame, and she was the first living creature to orbit the earth.
A truly fun section is the “Legendary” one, wherein Lisa puts new spins on nursery rhymes such as The Cat and the Fiddle” and Mother Hubbard’s cupboard. The real gem is “What Really Happened”, based on “The Duel” by Eugene Field, a poem I was unfamiliar with, but once I read it, then the references to it made sense.
The section entitled “The Great Hereafter” I skipped over, as much as I wanted to hear Lisa’s thoughts about the many animals that have passed through her life. However, I have been traumatized by euthanizing a couple of our dogs, and I wasn’t keen to revisit those experiences. Our two cats previous to Eddie succumbed to natural predators, we believe. They went out one night and never returned. Thankfully, Eddie is a strictly indoor feline.
However, here is Lisa on YouTube reading a few selections from her book, in particular a couple from “The Great Hereafter” section.
In “Cats and Dogs of the Future, section, we find that no matter the time or the place, dogs will be dogs and cats will be cats, but:
“Cat people are the cat’s meow. And they won’t let you forget it.”
About the Author
Lisa Timpf is a retired HR and communications professional who lives in Simcoe, Ontario. Her poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and book reviews have appeared in New Myths, Star*Line, The Future Fire, and other venues. Lisa’s speculative haibun collection, In Days to Come, is available from Hiraeth Publishing. You can find out more about Lisa’s writing and artwork at http://lisatimpf.blogspot.com/.
Book Details
Publisher : Hiraethsff
Publication date : Jan. 24 2025
Language : English
Print length : 72 pages
ISBN-13 : 979-8348479558