The Gift of Animals: Poems of Love, Loss, and Connection

Poet and editor Deming (Science and Other Poems) has compiled a collection of 90 poems that rings alarm bells, reminding readers that the world is losing animals and their gifts at a horrifying rate. The poems are written by a wide range of contributors—some well-known, some relatively new; Indigenous, Latine, Black, Asian, and white; some writers and others whose work is based in oral traditions. With topics that range from praise to the future of animals” to companionship, the poets consider the grandeur of animal life, the grief of impending loss, and hope for future generations. Some of the animals that are in peril are seen as protectors; in “Tecolote,” Jose Hernandez Diaz expresses his thanks for owls, the “protector(s) of the moon and sky,” while, arguing against the idea that snakes are sinister and sly, Denise Levertov writes, “Come into animal presence. / No man is so guileless as / the serpent.” In nature, there are no hard lines, and Nickole Brown’s “A Prayer To Talk to Animals” sums this up beautifully, “Am I not an animal / too?”