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

by Alison Hawthorne Deming

This unique collection of poems from diverse contemporary voices offers a range of perspectives on humans' complex relationship with animals, celebrating and bearing witness to the lives of animals both wild and domestic.

Animals have long been a source of inspiration, sustenance, and companionship, and poems about and for animals are among the oldest traditions across human cultures. This collection of contemporary poems adds to this ancient lineage, celebrating animals for their beauty and intelligence; empathizing over their suffering; and hoping for their future, which is entwined with our own. The presence of an animal is a gift. The loss of an animal is a grief. To share such feelings through poetry is to create a community of caring for the creatures that accompany us on Earth. The Gift of Animals includes poems by some of today's most beloved poets, including Ellen Bass, Lucille Clifton, Michael Collier, Toi Derricotte, Rita Dove, Camille Dungy, Mark Doty, Nick Flynn, Jorie Graham, Joy Harjo, Terrance Hayes, Arthur Sze, Yusef Komunyakaa, Ada Limón, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Craig Santos Perez, Paisley Rekdal, and more.

Genres: Poetry, Nature, Animals

212 pages, Hardcover

Published April 1, 2025

About the author

Poet and writer Alison Hawthorne Deming was born in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1946. She earned an MFA from Vermont College and worked on public and women’s health issues for many years. A descendant of the American novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne, Deming is native to New England, but has studied and taught in many other regions as an instructor and guest lecturer. Her books of poetry include Science and Other Poems (1994), winner of the Walt Whitman Award from the Academy of American Poets. Praising the volume, judge Gerald Stern wrote: “I greatly admire Alison Deming’s lucid and precise language, her stunning metaphors, her passion, her wild and generous spirit, her humor, her formal cunning. I am taken, as all readers will be, by the knowledge she displays and how she puts this knowledge to a poetic use; but I am equally taken—I am more taken—by the wisdom that lies behind the knowledge.” The collection, described by Deborah DeNicola in the Boston Book Review as “a dense, majestic, wise and ambitious book,” is listed among the Washingon Post’s Favorite Books of 1994 and the Bloomsbury Review’s best recent poetry.

Deming’s other poetry collections include The Monarchs: A Poem Sequence (1997), Genius Loci (2005), and Rope (2009). Genius Loci was praised by D.H. Tracy in Poetry: “Alison Deming’s title means ‘spirit of place,’ but be warned . . . Deming doesn’t belong, or want to belong, to a single place long enough to find its genius, and so she functions more like a naturalist of naturalism, classifying the spirits of place as she encounters them.”

In addition to numerous journal and anthology publications, Deming has published works of nonfiction, including Temporary Homelands (1994), a collection of essays, The Edges of the Civilized World (1998), and Writing the Sacred into the Real (2001). She also edited Poetry of the American West: A Columbia Anthology (1996), and co-edited, with Lauret E. Savoy, The Colors of Nature: Essays on Culture, Identity, and the Natural World (2002; second edition 2011).

Deming is the recipient of a Wallace Stegner Fellowship and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, and the Arizona Commission on the Arts. She has received the Pablo Neruda Prize, a Pushcart Prize, and the Gertrude B. Claytor Award from the Poetry Society of America. She is a professor of creative writing at the University of Arizona and lives in Tucson.

Reviews

[Keely · Rating 5 out of 5]

In The Gift of Animals, editor Alison Hawthorne Deming curates a selection of poems that highlight our deep and enduring connection with animals. Deming shares poems from a range of poetic voices, old and new. She organizes the collection into sections with themes ranging from animal companionship, to praise of animals, and more. At the beginning of each section, Deming introduces and reflects on the theme, then offers an ancient poem from a different world tradition, showing how central animals have been, not just to this culture or that, but to all of humankind.

The Gift of Animals is a gem and would make a wonderful gift, either for a poetry lover or an animal lover looking for a friendly entry into poetry. It's also the poetry class I wish I could have taken in college. What an engaging concept to focus on an appealing universal theme and look at how a broad range of poetic voices and traditions approach it. I found something to love in almost every poem in the collection, but there were some definite standouts for me. I especially loved Linda Pastan's playful "The Art of the Dog," which considers how often dogs appear as peripheral subjects in paintings. Mark Doty's "Little Mammoth" had me on the verge of tears for a baby animal that died forty thousand years ago. And RK Fauth's "Playing With Bees" indirectly paints a stark environmental picture by cataloging all the metaphorical possibilities that would disappear without bees. I'm also looking forward to reading more from poets I discovered through this collection, including sam sax, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, and Deming herself.

My thanks to NetGalley and Storey Publishing for providing me with a review copy of The Gift of Animals, which is scheduled for release in April 2025.

[Amanda]

A beautiful collection of poems celebrating the Earth's most amazing creatures—animals. The poems are grouped into seven sections: Praise, Lament, Companionship, Fear and Vulnerability, the Least Among Us, and the Sacred, which really enhances the overall reading experience.

Some of my favorites include:
♥ Elephants by Indran Amirthanayagam
♥ The Last Safe Habitat by Craig Santos Perez
♥ from Nightsong by Ever Jones
♥ A Sonnet at the Edge of the Reef by Craig Santos Perez
♥ Characteristics of Life by Camille Dungy
♥ Playing with Bees by RK Fauth

I was especially happy to discover Craig Santos Perez through this collection—definitely planning to read more of his work! The illustrations were also lovely and comforting, like a warm hug. I'd love to have a physical copy and highly recommend this to any animal lover!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC

[Toni · Rating 5 out of 5]

This stunning collection makes a thoughtful gift for any poetry or animal lover. Each poem honors animals—whether in their magnitude or in the sacredness of their ordinary lives. These pages deepened my respect for creatures I’ve overlooked, misunderstood, or simply never taken the time to know. Through this tenderness, I find myself looking at them with gentler eyes and a better listener to the stories each one carries.

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has a somewhat far reaching premise with a variety of authors and styles represented. Many of the poems were appreciations of wild animals or nature in a broader sense, some were close studies of beloved companion animals. Some of the poems were just beautiful, some chilling, some sad. The stories they tell are both grim and hopeful. I also enjoyed the illustrations and lead-ins to each grouping of poems. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

[Ariel (ariel_reads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful collection of poems centered around the love of animals-- both domesticated and wild. I appreciated the diverse sources of the poems as well! I definitely recommend it if you love animals, but keep in mind there are some poems revolving around the grief we feel around them (pet death, climate extinction, etc) Thank you to the publisher for sending me an eARC as part of Publisher Weekly's grab-a-galley event!

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Animals in all their diversity are represented in this anthology of poems about them. Reading about scorpions or ants or mammoths instead of just cats, horses and dogs was a delightful surprise. Even oysters make an appearance.

The poems are sorted into themes of Praise, Lament, Companionship, Fear and Vulnerability, The Least Among Us, The Sacred, and The Future of Animals. The introductions to each section explain an aspect of our relationship to animals and prepare one for the poems to follow.

The voices chosen for inclusion come from ancient and modern times, varied cultures, and differing styles. The range of poems is vast, yet all are approachable. While I enjoyed some much more than others, the variety was appealing and would allow for people of differing tastes to all find poems that resonate with them.

While I haven't seen the hardcover copy of this book, it's clear it would make a cherished gift for any animal lover. The illustrations and design of the pages are lovely.

Thank you to Storey Publishing for providing me with a digital copy of this book.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been dipping into this book of poetry for some months now. There are so many poems to choose. All different, some serious, some filled with humour. A breadth of animals, so while some poems won’t be perfect for you there are others that will fill you with joy or give you a thoughtful pause in a busy day. Thank you to Storey Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC. The views expressed are all mine freely given.

[Bethany Fisher · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a stunning collection of poetry, beautifully illustrated throughout and a must have for lovers of poetry.

I love that this anthology exists and that animals are paid the respect they deserve.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC

[Doreen · Rating 3 out of 5]

8/26/2025 3.5 stars. Full review tk at TheFrumiousConsortium.net.

9/3/2025 subtitled Poems of Love, Loss, and Connection. Truly an interesting, holistic take on how humanity's relationships to animals speak to our own existence as individuals.

Divided into seven parts -- Praise; Lament; Companionship; Fear And Vulnerability; The Least Among Us; The Sacred, and The Future Of Animals -- each section begins with an ancient text that links the theme with our perception of the animal world, grounding this contemporary examination in traditions of the past. The Hymns To Inana that open the FaV section, as well as The Flight Of Quetzalcoatl that open Lament, are both strong pieces from the distant past that evoke animals in their descriptions of their deities. A more recent, if still written and set in the 18th century, poem provides another throughline, being mentioned well ahead of its inclusion in the Companionship section. Christopher Smart's celebrated Jubilate Agno is excerpted here, to remind readers how people have long esteemed their animal companions. Pieces by Emily Dickinson and Gerard Manley Hopkins are also included, but by far the bulk of the book is written by poets still practicing in the 21st century.

This makes for a refreshingly unprecious collection of poems. Kelly Grace Thomas' Koalas slyly pokes fun at our modern-day obsessions even as she links them unerringly to that restless human need to be loved. Michael Collier's Boars Gleaning Through Cities At Night puts the hidebound past in its place as it embraces a wild and wonderful present. Similarly, Craig Santos Perez' A Sonnet At The Edge Of The Reef revels in the beauty of the seabed even as it worries about how we're preparing our own children for an uncertain future.

Speaking of parent-child relationships, Lindsay Stewart's The Mother successfully walks the tightrope between cold biology and mawkishness -- tho if I'm being honest, it was the accompanying illustration that really gave me the willies. Overall, Daniela Gallego's illustrations are excellent: it's hardly her fault that I find octopi a little creepy.

But that's the brilliance of this collection, that it takes such a long view of humanity's relationships with animals, from finding them holy and comforting and necessary to having them fill us with disgust and fear and negativity. And it isn't just the past and present that it contemplates. RK Fauth's Playing With Bees beautifully imagines language in a world where we've somehow managed to destroy these very necessary pollinators. Rebecca Morgan Frank's Not Everybody's Bestiary (Yet) engages fully with the creative trajectory of technology. And finally Katharine Coles' If Past Becomes Future closes the book with a gentle warning: we are but one species in the world's tapestry. Evolution will continue without us, once we tire of destroying others and finish destroying ourselves.

Yet this is not a bleak volume by any means. There are moments of humor and wonder and grace, whether appreciating animals in their natural habitats, as in Ellen Bass' Grizzly and Robinson Jeffers' Vulture, or in decidedly more adaptive environments, as in Khadijah Johnson's The Emmy Goes To The Seagull, Flying Off With The Hot Wing... In Front Of The Chicken Spot?. But it's hard to contemplate our relationships with the animal world without acknowledging the damage we do, as that latter poem exemplifies. And that's a good thing. Good poetry should remind us of our strengths and our flaws, and urge us towards being better, if only through genuinely appreciating the world around us. That's a task The Gift Of Animals carries off with aplomb, and the world is a finer place for it.

The Gift Of Animals by Alison Hawthorne Deming was published April 1 2025 by Storey Publishing and is available from all good booksellers, including Bookshop!

[Martha Meyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous poetry collection; almost life-changing! Alison Hawthorne Deming has collected animal poems from across time and space, including contemporary work by Black, Indigenous and Latin authors as well as the earliest writer ever (from Sumer) and the Hebrew Bible and of course Emily Dickinson and (rejoice!) Gerard Manley Hopkins. Robin Wall Kimmerer calls the collection, "an antidote to species loneliness." The book is grouped into 7 sections -- Praise, Lament, Companionship, Fear and Vulnerability, the Least Among Us, the Sacred, and the Future of Animals. For those in love with nature, but unsure about poetry, this organization of poems by theme really helps with comprehension. At the back, she's got a biographical sketch of the poets -- I would read each poet's bio after reading their poem, which also helped with comprehension and appreciation. Standouts for me were Robert Wrigley's Elk:

His Hindquarter must have fallen through
the ice, and he could not pull himself back out
and the incoming colder weather
refroze the hole around around him and he died, ...

And Rebbits and Fire by Alberto Rios:

Everything's been said
But one last thing about the desert,
And it's awful. During Brish fires int eh Sonoran Desert,
Brush fires that happen before the monsoon and in the great
Deep, wide and smothering heat of the hottest months...

BUT this is the sort of book you want to buy and dip into regularly, like a prayer book and let all the words work their magic on your heart and imagination. So tomorrow, others may be the standouts.

Run out and get a copy for yourself. Slake your "species loneliness" and discover how noticing animals changes us: "to labor and not to seek reward, he prays" (Seamus Heaney)
...

[Chantal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alison Hawthorne 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. Some writers based their work on 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?”

A thought-provoking collection of poetic gems that will inspire and remind readers of the importance of connecting with the natural world.

For more reviews, www.chantalreviews.blogspot.com

[Sara Planz · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Gift of Animals is a beautiful book of poetry celebrating our love of animals, both great and small. The gifted poets who contributed to this collection take us through the different emotions that animals inspire in us: praise, companionship, fear, and lament, to name a few. This collection brought back memories of some of my pets, of course, but also brought up recollections of animals I have experienced in the wild in places like the Rocky Mountains, Yellowstone, and the wonderful world of the oceans. As we face the planet's changing climate and how it affects humanity, we must pay attention to our animal populations, as they are often the first to adapt, suffer, or lose the fight. Our shared experiences on this planet are a core part of our existence, and the joy and connection we feel toward them are something to foster and protect.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Storey Publishing, LLC for the e-ARC!

I will admit that I am not a typical reader of poetry. It just isn't the type of storytelling that I look for when browsing library or bookstore shelves. However, I am a huge animal lover, and I find wonder and beauty in nature. This is the best type of book for readers like me. And if you aren't like me, this is still the best type of book for you. At times haunting but always thought-provoking, this collection contains beautiful examples of how we, as humans, have a bigger impact on the world than we see on an individual basis. It also contains examples of how our world and the creatures within it impact us. Readers will re-discover poets of old and discover new poets, all of them well-loved and deservedly so. This is a lovely read.

[Harini ✍️📚 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Luscious, lovely and lyrically beautiful collection of poems. This book felt a lot like a warm hug for a word lover like me. Full of relatable poetry and prose which comes from different authors who are different from one another resulting in portraying a distinct kind of world between humans and animals which is articulated in an enchanted way.

It will take some time to process these collections : this work somehow feel important, revealing, and yet beyond comprehension. I sense that their footnotes will be rich with discovery once I take a moment to delve deeper.

The illustrations are one of the best ones I’ve seen in recent times as sing the words written in the book.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Storey Publishing as well as the author for providing me with an ARC of this book.

[Andreea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Storey Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I am a huge Mary Oliver fan and I love her poetry that focuses on nature and animals, so I was sure I would love this collection, but unfortunately it did not wake the same awe in me that Oliver's words do.

The collection is interesting and I really enjoyed the cultural ideas about animals around the globe and how each chapter was diving into a theme, but very few poems actually impressed me.

Maybe it's not you, it's me.

[Iara Moure · Rating 3 out of 5]

Este libro tiene una premisa bastante amplia con una variedad de autores y estilos representados. Muchos de los poemas eran apreciaciones de animales salvajes o de la naturaleza en un sentido más amplio, algunos eran estudios cercanos de animales de compañía queridos. Algunos de los poemas eran simplemente hermosos, otros inquietantes, algunos tristes. Las historias que cuentan son tanto sombrías como esperanzadoras. También disfruté las ilustraciones y las introducciones a cada agrupación de poemas.

[Dr. des. Siobhán · Rating 4 out of 5]

*I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for the free poetry collection.*

A nice poetry collection with a wide range of poems about animals. I especially enjoyed the inclusion of Indigenous voices in this collection. The illustrations were not really my cup of tea and I found a lot of the poems boring, but reading them one after another is also not the right approach. Overall nice.

[Angie Quantrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a glorious celebration and deep dive of all things animals! The Gift of Animals is filled with brilliant poetry centered around the explorations of love, loss, and connections through the animal world. This book is filled with an abundance of ideas and thoughts to consider. Great collection!

[Joanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a truly stunning collection of poems on animals. Both the poems and illustration are stunning. The book offers a much needed feeling of serenity to lonely city dwellers like me.

[Pat-z · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were a few I enjoyed, but most of them didn't give me the feeling of awe like I thought they would.
I like that there are translated works included. They were so interesting!

[Fanni · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a lover of poetry, but I'm slowly accepting that contemporary pieces don't always resonate with me. After carefully reading all the poems in this collection, I truly see the intentions behind them, but more often than not, they left me wanting more.

The basic ideas were lovely, and I was excited to explore these wonderful artists' interpretations of animal gifts. However, as mentioned, the execution didn't quite land for me.

That said, the illustrations in the book were wonderful and definitely added to the experience. They brought a visual dimension to the poems, sometimes even enhancing the meaning where the words fell short.

While this collection might appeal to fans of experimental contemporary poetry. Despite my personal preferences, this book is a reminder that poetry is subjective, and what doesn't work for one reader might deeply move another.
-
ARC provided by NetGalley - Thank you!

[Kevin Derouin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poetry generally isn’t my usual genre that I read, but I love animals and do my absolute best to never harm
any animals (other than female mosquitoes).

That being said, the poems presented in the book were for the most part abstract and none really jumped out at me as being jaw dropping. I’m not sure what the connection is between the violence of racism and a cricket or tree frog as mentioned by the author but I have to conclude that is all part of the abstract editing that is part of this collection.

[Marnie Hageman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poetry has been and will always be word magic to me. I loved this beautiful collection of poems, illustrations, and meditations on animals and nature. The poems are categorized thematically (odes that praise, elegies that lament) which encourages readers to pick up the collection and choose a poem based on how they're feeling any given day. There is also a rich assortment of classic poets (such as John Clare and Emily Dickinson) as well as contemporaries. I'll be purchasing this book for my personal library and sharing these poems with my students.

Thank you to NetGalley and Storey Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Valerie Patrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

"what's it like to be that thirstless? To not crave the slow sips of a stranger's gaze, the want to be wanted"

I mean it's nice, but the majority of the poems did nothing for me. They felt appreciative, but there was no further deeper emotion or meaning behind most of them, a surprising lack of metaphors or symbolism