It's a sign of our ever-hotter times that the quiet contemplation of nature typical of centuries of verse has given way to activism in the emerging genre of ecopoetry which took center stage at a London festival.

The biennial Poetry International at the Southbank Centre was founded by former British Poet Laureate Ted Hughes in 1967 as a response to the polarization of East and West during the Cold War and is making a comeback after a pause during pandemic lockdowns.

Its organizers said ecopoetry was an obvious focus given rising concern about climate change as record-breaking heatwaves have swept much of the globe.

Among the more than 50 poets from around the world taking part, 57-year-old U.S. poet CAConrad, who identifies as queer, said they loved the formal freedom of ecopoetry that had "no aesthetic" in that it did not require them to write in a specific form.

"You can write whatever kind of poems you want. It's just a concern for this fragile ecosystem that we're seeing falling apart around us," they said.

CAConrad read pieces at the event, taking place over the weekend, that they said were inspired by extinct animal sounds as well as "creatures who are thriving in this world right now."

"I want to see before I die a mink wearing a human scarf, skin from a handsome hairy leg," one of their poems ends.

Also taking part was 30-year-old New Zealand-born poet Nina Mingya Powles, who is concerned about water quality. In Last Summer We Were Underwater she reflects on swimming in Wellington Harbor, whose beauty she says is in danger from rising pollution.

Poetry's power to move its listeners can be a positive spur, she said.

"If someone feels in a poem, the boundaries collapse between ... what we think of as the human and the non-human ... that for me is hope," she said.

Subscribe to Storyboard: A weekly newsletter bringing you the best of CGTN every Friday