Poetic Communications with the Internet of Possums: A Visual Response to Untaming the Urban

A voice is heard coming from a mobile phone inside a perspex possum box. The voice is Cath Clover reading selected works to the possums that have recently moved into her house. Her readings include a range of fiction/nonfiction, transcriptions of the sounds of possums, excerpts from field guides about how we classify and identify them, and dreamtime stories about possum ancestors. The readings are intended as a kind of offering, a means of sharing space, with the idea that perhaps, ultimately, the possums would be willing to share what they think or know of us in return. While it may be unlikely that the possums understand human language, specifically English, it is an attempt at communication between humans and other species. Through this process it may be possible, “for we humans to learn to communicate with other species on their terms, in their own languages, or in common terms, if there are any.” [Plumwood, V. 2002. Environmental Culture – the ecological crisis of reason, UK, Routledge, pp. 189].