Vermin: A chronicle of co-existence, collapse and consequence

by Christopher Cotton

What is a pest? What makes something vermin? And who gets to decide?
In this powerful and poetic journey through time, Christopher Cotton traces the evolutionary arc of the animals we most often seek to trap, banish, or exterminate. From the flea to the fox, from the ant to the ape, Vermin explores what it means to survive, and to be judged for doing so.
Spanning sixty million years, this collection blends evolutionary science, cultural mythology, and social commentary. Through lyrical verse and thoughtful prose, Cotton unpacks the long and uneasy relationship between humans and the creatures we deem rodents, insects, scavengers, and opportunists.
But this is not just a book about animals.
It’s about us.
How we name, how we claim, and how we construct systems of worth and exclusion. With insight and irony, Vermin asks the reader to reconsider what, and who, we choose to exclude from our circles of care.
Timely, unsettling, and deeply human, Vermin invites us to confront the stories we tell about survival, value, and belonging.

133 pages, Paperback

Published August 12, 2025

About the author

Christopher Cotton is a British poet and writer whose work blends wit, scholarship, and cultural reflection. His earlier books include The Unpicked Thread Trilogy (Frayed, Encounters and Situations), exploring technology, empathy, and the threads that hold us together — and pull us apart — and Caricatures, a gentle satire of the stereotypes we all know and encounter. More recently, he has turned to explorations of language and taboo in The Poetry of the Profane, His writing is often informed by etymology, history, and lived experience, weaving humour with serious inquiry into how words shape identity and culture. He lives quietly in Suffolk with his beloved wife and dogs.