The poems in Endlings introduce readers to the last known members of extinct species from around the globe, some of whom died out many millennia ago while others passed from existence within recent decades. Lilley triumphs in bringing these doomed creatures to vibrant life and in sharing their unique value with readers along with the tragic stories of how they came to be wiped out of existence. By turns poignant and heartbreaking, each poem is an ode to an individual species that we can now collectively experience only as museum exhibits, half-remembered stories, and ghostly photographs. It's difficult not to feel the loss.