Reviews for Asterisms
March 2024, Asterisms: “Asterisms is a well-integrated collection in which the poems are connected to each other thematically as well as formally, often using “weaving” patterns of repetition into the verse. Moreover, these finely-crafted poems are engaging to read, often highly informative and insightful with their call to love and embrace nature as part of the larger cosmos.” The British Columbia Review
March 2024, Asterisms: “Kane has a clarity and calm, cut with a passion that I find appealing. Neither pat and expected nor so far strange as to be random, she leans into questioning and observing, filtering the external with something that doesn’t feel like a foregone conclusion of profound. … Part of the appeal is the dispassionate focus and vision. Kane doesn’t mire and kvetch. She doesn’t go in for humorous deflection but if something is comic it is not banal.” Miramachi Reader
February 2024, Asterisms: “Kane is writing at the true peak of lyric intensity here, her ear honed, her curiosity about everything from the Artemis program to frogs to the Incredible Hulk evidenced in pieces that explore depths in small spaces of language and feeling. ” Marrow Reviews
Reviews for Orrery
September 2021, Orrery: ” … Donna Kane uncovers truths about humankind that make living on earth appear just as dazzling, wondrous, and nebulous as a trip through the cosmos. ” Canadian Literature: A Quarterly of Criticism and Review
August 2021, Orrery: “Orrery offers a rich drift through space, Northern B.C., and the mind that makes the perception of such things possible. Like a space documentary narrated by Carl Sagan, the book is guided by a sharp wonder that urges gratitude for any and all time
spent in the presence of stars.” Malahat Review Issue 215 Summer, 2021
February 2021, Orrery: “I love how these poems muscle out what it’s like being human in the world. Each is a story of discovery, whether sensory or metaphysical. They’re stunning.” Seeking Certainty in Uncertain Worlds (49thshelf.com)
January 2021, Orrery: “I can’t say enough good about. I loved her previous book and was ecstatic/anxious to see that she had made another. This one exceeds the last. I read this twice. There’s something to the phrasing, the rhythms, the subjects, the world attitude. It delighted me.” – Pesto Blog
Reviews for Summer of the Horse
Spring 2019: “At the heart of everything is mystery, Kane reminds us. And that mystery is itself a kind of beauty, much like the wilderness. In Summer of the Horse, she takes us on an unsentimental, honest, and contemplative ride to the wildest outposts of the heart, and leaves us with a sense of wonder.” – The Malahat Review
Autumn 2018: “For those who already appreciate Kane’s verse, this book will be a delight.” – Canadian Literature
Autumn 2018: “[A] thoughtful, and sometimes lyrical, account of a complex life.” – The Fiddlehead
Vol. 8 #80: “A memoir? To be sure, but it’s also much more — a paean to the outdoors, a plea for the environment, a chronicle of several layers of healing. Heck, it’s even a darn good love story.” – SubTerrain
June 2018: “Kane’s poetic voice shines in her prose” – Library Journal
June 2018: “A quiet classic of a book… .” Caroline Woodward
June, 2018: “Summer of the Horse is full of the risks of entering new terrain. There’s a healing of wounds, a beautiful honesty, and a sense of celebration and accomplishment … ” – Story Circle Book Reviews
May, 2018: “Summer of the Horse comes at an opportune and important moment as more and more wilderness areas in northeastern British Columbia – and indeed across the province — give way to roads, industry, and settlement. This intimate book speaks to the way we can be changed and shaped by wilderness and in the process reminds us of the importance of keeping such areas as wild as possible.” – The Ormsby Review
April, 2018: “The language digs by nail and tooth past personal artifice down to the root of individual purpose—the voice that tells us what we’re supposed to be; or at least where we should look.” – Miguel Eichelberger
April, 2018: “Summer of the Horse promises to entrance and enliven. It’s a rich draught from a deep well. Sip it slowly.” BC Studies: The British Columbian Quarterly
Reviews for Pioneer 10, I Hear You
October, 2017: “Jack Pine typically produces uniquely-covered chapbooks, and they, Donna Kane, and designers kit fast and mary mottishaw have raised the bar with this one.” – Scott Bryson, Broken Pencil Magazine
March, 2017: “I really adored Pioneer 10, I Hear You by Donna Kane — the poems, about the famous space probe, are heartbreaking and lovely.” – Ann Foster, CFCR Radio Book Club
Summer, 2013: “Kane is a master when it comes to creating a wall of restraint behind which a reader can sense intensity.” Arc Poetry Magazine . How Poems Work: “Donna Kane’s Summer Solstice”
For more reviews, visit Publications / Books