Love Poem for Every Animal on Earth

Gravity is a tailor
stitching planets around stars,
pearl buttons cinched tight,

cinched tight in space
like hearts inside the rib cage
of the elephant or shrew.

The elephant or shrew,
the me or the you; the number
of heartbeats the same for us all.

The same for us all though some take them fast,
some take them slow. What a beautiful rhythm,
can you feel us? Held together in this world.

Together in this world.

Bios

a smiling woman with shoulder-length blonde hair stands in front of an orange background

Donna Kane

Donna Kane is a writer living in Rolla, BC. Her poems, short fiction, reviews and essays have been published widely. She is the author of the non-fiction book, Summer of the Horse, and of three books of poetry, most recently Orrery, a finalist for the 2020 Governor General’s Literary Award. Poems from Orrery were also featured in A Sky Full of Poems with Dava Sobel presented by Hampton’s Observatory and Guild Hall, in Voyages to Mars: Dreaming, a podcast for the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, and a poem from the collection was selected for Vancouver’s 2021 Poetry in Transit program. In 2020 she received the British Columbia Medal of Good Citizenship for her “exceptional dedication to discover community potential and empower ownership through arts and culture.” [provided for the poem “Love Poem for Every Animal on Earth”]