Heartbeat by Yana Kane

Wave song,

whale song

starting low,

rising slow,

growing strong. 

Come along!

Let it call you,

lull you, cool you,

pull you, roll you,

rise-and-fall you.

Let its spell engulf you, fill you

with the heartbeat of the sea,

vast and free, vast and free.

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Yana Kane came to the United States as a refugee from the Soviet Union when she was a teenager. She has a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Princeton University and a Ph. D. in Statistics from Cornell University. She works as a data scientist / engineer. Until recently, most of Yana’s writing and publications have been in Russian. In the last few years, she found her voice in English, in addition to Russian. Yana’s English language poems appeared in Trouvaille Review , The Red Wheelbarrow,  Chronogram  and Ritualwell. A bilingual book of her poetry and translations, “Kingfisher / Zimorodok”, came out in 2020.