Cats and Dogs in Space: Speculative Poetry about our Feline Friends and Canine Companions, by Lisa Timpf, HiraethPublishing, February 2025, 70 pp. ebk $2.95, pbk $9.95

Review by Sandra J. Lindow

Lisa Timpf’s most recent collection, Cats and Dogs in Space, 2025, is an engaging read for pet lovers and lovers of the speculative. Timpf welcomes us into a world where pets’ lives extend into space and beyond the grave.

The first section consists of poems inspired by headlines. “Cryptic” evolves from a headline that suggests that cats’ faces are hard to read:

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

“The Truth is Out” reports that “cats are/ an alien species, and furthermore, / invasive. Many questions remain, including, / when did their ships arrive.” “Chaser Checks Out” poignantly imagines a psychology professor and her dog together in an afterlife of naming. “Military Ghost Dog” concludes:

he’s doesn’t have fur for soft pats and ear scratches,
he isn’t the greatest to cuddle
but there’s one thing to say in the ghost dog’s defense:
you won’t need to clean up his puddles,

“For Laika” is a touching elegy to the first dog in space while “Canem Roboto” is a haibun that depicts evolved cats advocating for robotic cats in space:

dearer than catnip—
thrill of exploring
new spaces

The second section focus on myths, legends and folklore such as the after effects of a party where a cow jumps over the moon, the lack of CSI investigation regarding the Gingham Dog and Calico Cat, and a heartfelt story of “The Last Dog” on earth.

The third section muses on the death of elderly pets and describes an afterlife where a border collie herds stars and a “Ghostly Dog” races through fallen leaves. Describing a burial, Timpf concludes: “Weighted by age, the fossilized rocks /strike me as a fitting symbol of the mystery of love, /which in the end is the only enduring thing”.  “This Tree” begins:

This tree is part dog
though its bark is silent.
My border collie’s ashes
rest beneath its roots.

Although some of the poems in this section tend to be more mainstream than speculative, there is a strength of imagery that touches a depth of human speculation.  “Ghost Train,” a haibun, imagines:

I’ve come to think that there is a ghost train inside of
all of us, and it sings longer and louder as we age, and more
and more of those we once loved leave us behind, moving
onto the next dimension, wherever that might be.

The final section focuses on “Cats and Dogs of the Future,” Here, a whimsical HR report differentiates between workplace dog and cat “Purr-sonality types.” “Dogs of the 2080s” is a series of haikus that includes: “canine deity/ tramples his bed/ spiral galaxy.” “Chimera Pet” wonders: “Siamese cat-bird— /which came first the kitten or the egg?” Other poems include a “Final Pandemic” where nature flourishes without us.

Throughout this collection, Timpf’s poetry is strongest when the constraints of syllabication, rhyme and meter force lean structures for her speculative imagination.  “Sand Dogs on Mars” uses rhymed couplets “and then we discovered them, muzzles to the stars /and singing, the sand dogs of Mars.” “Steampunk Paradise” describes a world of mechanical animals: a heartfelt sigh, a steamy hiss, / convey the depths of canine bliss.” Here, our sense of wonder opens us to imagine more of the story beyond the power of a few well-chosen words. Overall, Timpf is an engaging storyteller, and in these poems, her compassion for animals becomes a tangible thing. Recommended.

Sandra Lindow has served as Vice President and Acting President of SFPA. Her poetry has been seen in various markets including Asimov’s, Star*Line, Dreams and Nightmares, Dwarf Stars, and the Rhysling Anthologies. Her spec related editing includes Dwarf Stars, Eye to the Telescope, and most recently the Rhysling winners anthology, Alchemy of Stars II.  She lives on a hilltop in Menomonie, Wisconsin where she waits out the pandemic and attempts various strategies to keep varmints from eating her vegetables and perennials.

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