Biophilia Love Poems for the Living World

The biophilia hypothesis, put forward by Edward O. Wilson in Biophilia (1984), proposes that human beings possess an innate tendency to seek out and affiliate with other forms of life. In his words: ‘to explore and affiliate with life is a deep and complicated process in mental development. To an extent still undervalued in philosophy and religion, our existence depends on this propensity, our spirit is woven from it, hope rises on its currents’.

This truth, that the human animal is wired for connection with other living things and that we suffer when we create lifestyles that isolate us from the biosphere, has long been recognised by indigenous cultures worldwide and is at the heart of our publishing practice at Channel Press. For our debut anthology, we are looking for poems that attend to this propensity for connection with the same fascination, sensitivity and sensual abandon traditionally given to the poetry of romantic love.

Send us a paean to a little-known species or to the creature hiding in your back garden; a song of despair for a landscape disfigured by climate change or a poem of affection for the grasses that brush your legs on a local walk. All expressions of biophilic love are welcome.

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