The complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) community has come together to compile a poetry book raising funds for CAM4Animals – a group which has campaigned tirelessly to protect and promote CAM as part of integrated veterinary care.
Giving Voice is an anthology of poems about animals, the human-animal bond and complementary therapies, edited by Ilse Pedler, Junior Vice President of British Association of Homeopathic Veterinary Surgeons (BAHVS). It includes poems about dogs, cats, horses, cows, a falcon, and even a tortoise!
Award-winning British poets Alison Brackenbury, Jane Commane and Geraldine Green are among those who have contributed to the book, as well as people from the CAM community such as homeopathic surgeons and supporters, some of whom had never written a poem before.
“I think it is a testament to our relationship with animals that they can produce such deep emotions,” says Ilse. “The poems are beautiful, funny, thought provoking and heart-wrenching. There are also poems about some of the complementary therapies and, most movingly, a section of poems about the grief felt on losing an animal with whom we have been sharing our life.”
The title of the book comes from one of the poems in the anthology, which is about giving a voice to the natural world and the animals that live in it, questioning who we are without them.
Ilse adds: “I hope the finished book is enjoyed by as many people as possible. My grateful thanks go to all the poets and people who made this wonderful anthology possible.”
The book is available to buy from www.bahvs.com/giving-voice
