"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. 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, Yusef Komunyakaa, Ada Limón, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Craig Santos Perez, Paisley Rekdal, and more" --

Foreword: on giving & receiving / Robin Wall Kimmerer -- Animals & the creative spirit / Alison Hawthorne Deming --

Praise.

Magic words / translated by Edward Field -- How to triumph like a girl / Ada Limón -- Ode to the fish / Ellen Bass -- Elephants / Indran Amirthanayagam -- Wild gratitude / Edward Hirsch -- The lark's nest / John Clare -- Kissing a horse / Robert Wrigley -- The water witch on salvation / Crystal Wilkinson -- Koalas / Kelly Grace Thomas -- Dog / Lawrence Ferlinghetti -- Love poem: chimera / Donika Kelly -- Canto for the chestnut-eared laughingthrush / Hai-Dang-Phan -- the earth is a living thing / Lucille Clifton --

Lament.

The flight of Quetzalcoatl / translated by Jerome Rothenberg -- A lament for the dead pets of our childhood / A. E. Stallings -- Sick fox / Mark Jarman -- The mother / Lindsay Stewart -- The last safe habitat / Craig Santos Perez -- For a coming extinction / W. S. Merwin -- Mr. Cass and the crustaceans / Aimee Nezhukumatathil -- Pity the swine its succulence / Vievee Francis -- Elk / Robert Wrigley -- That buffalo hair fedora / Kimberly Blaeser -- Smokey / Ian Ramsey -- The voice of the manatee / Elizabeth Bradfield --

Companionship.

Listening to the moon / Yosa Buson, translated by Robert Hass -- from Jubilate agno / Christopher Smart -- Yoko / Thom Gunn -- Two kerosene lanterns / Jane Hirshfield -- The art of the dog / Linda Pastan -- Tecolote / Jose Hernandez Diaz -- Turkeys, bucks and bulls / Kamella Cruz -- Drawl and hum / Tina Mozelle Braziel -- Boars gleaning through cities at night / Michael Collier -- from Nightsong / Ever Jones -- A sonnet at the edge of the reef / Craig Santos Perez -- Weakness / Alden Nowlan -- The peace of wild things / Wendell Berry --

Fear and vulnerability.

from Hymns to Inana / Enheduana, translated by Sophus Helle -- A narrow fellow in the grass / Emily Dickinson -- Nearly every invading army brought pigs with them to feed their soldiers / sam sax -- Black flamingo / Jonny Teklit -- Rabbits and fire / Alberto Ríos -- Driving to Santa Fe / Paisley Rekdal -- The minks / Toi Derricotte -- Rabbit / Oleh Lysheha, translated by Virlana Tkacz & Wanda Phipps -- The Emmy goes to the seagull, flying off with the hot wing...in front of the chicken spot? / Khadjiah Johnson -- Carnivore / Todd Davis -- Ice anglers / Wang Jiaxin, translated by Arthur Sze -- Little mammoth / Mark Doty -- The white-headed woodpecker / Sean Hill -- Every lion until now / Brian Bartlett --

The least among us.

Go to the ant / Proverbs -- Characteristics of life / Camille Dungy -- Exotic animals, book for children / Naomi Shihab Nye -- Scorpions / Francesca Bell -- St. Roach / Muriel Rukeyser -- Worker / Nick Flynn -- The oyster / Francis Ponge, translated by C. K. Williams -- Sloth surprises / Brian Bartlett -- Back to Denver / Manny Loley -- The spring cricket considers the question of negritude / Rita Dove -- I remember Galileo / Gerald Stern -- Psuedacris crucifer / Terrance Hayes -- My proteins / Jane Hirshfield --

The sacred.

Prayer to the sockeye salmon / Alison Hawthorne Deming -- Eagle poem / Joy Harjo -- Returning / Manny Loley -- A prayer to talk to animals / Nickole Brown -- Come into animal presence / Denise Levertov -- St Kevin and the blackbird / Seamus Heaney -- Blessing the animals / Yusef Komunyakaa -- Grizzly / Ellen Bass -- Pied beauty / Gerard Manley Hopkins -- Anthropocene blessing: nightjar / Brittney Corrigan -- Vulture / Robinson Jeffers -- Like Jesus to the crows / Vievee Francis -- Contextual education / Derek Sheffield -- The snakes of September / Stanley Kunitz --

The future of animals.

from Empedocles / translated by Dan Beachy-Quick -- Extinction / David Baker -- The swimmers / Anne Haven McDonnell -- Species prepare to exist after money / Brenda Hillman -- from Look at this blue / Allison Adelle Hedge Coke -- Not everybody's bestiary (yet) / Rebecca Morgan Frank -- Playing with bees / RK Fauth -- Dear fisher cat (Martes pennanti) / Natasha Sajé -- The creation of the world by the animals / Homero Aridjis, translated by George McWhirter -- Can you / Jorie Graham -- If past becomes future / Katharine Coles