Entangled Species/Entangled Health: The Inclusive Poetics of Juliana Spahr

Juliana Spahr promotes a trans-corporeal posthumanist ethics by composing poetry that adopts the complex patterns of nature, a poetry that models the shared, connective spaces we inhabit with others. In doing so, Spahr’s poetry provides an excellent illustration of how health and illness are not properties of the individual body, but are features of relationships between bodies and other materialities, including the myriad of plant and animal species we relate and share space with—the species we become with. Spahr’s emphasis on entanglement has important implications for medical posthumanism. One cannot speak of human health as independent from ecosystem health. Recognition of our bodily entanglement reduces the weight placed on individual choice and merit as outcome predictors, while also encouraging us to acknowledge our kinship with all others. This recognition is vital for achieving true health equity.