About Ross Gay
Ross Gay, born 1974 in Youngstown, Ohio, is an African-American poet, essayist and teacher whose work, both intimate and universal, explores with rare sensitivity the themes of joy, mourning, community and resistance and radiates through its profound humanity, its vibrant lyricism and its celebration of happiness at the very heart of trials. Winner of prestigious literary awards, he has established himself as a major voice of contemporary poetry, mixing intimacy and commitment with rare grace.A graduate of Temple University and a MFA in poetry from Sarah Lawrence College, Ross Gay also earned a PhD in literature from Temple University. His work is nourished by various influences, ranging from African-American tradition (such as Lucille Clifton or Gwendolyn Brooks) to an ecological and political sensitivity close to Wendell Berry. He currently teaches at Indiana University, where he conveys his vision of a deeply human and committed literary creation and where he transmits his passion for poetry while cultivating a garden, a recurring metaphor in his work.
Ross Gay Poetic work between joy and vulnerability
His style, generous and incarnate, both concrete and metaphorical, is distinguished by a sensory language that is both lyrical and concrete, where politics is expressed through emotion rather than dogma. As a poet, he explores with overwhelming sincerity the themes of death, love, community and resilience. His poems abound with tactile images (ripe fruit, tilled earth) and sounds that anchor the reader in the physical world. In collections such as Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude (2015, National Book Critics Circle Award) or Be Holding (2020), Gay combines humor, gravity and meticulous daily attention, inviting the reader to “practice joy as an ethical duty” and were far from being naive, his celebration of beauty is an act of resistance. This approach, where beauty coexists with struggle, has made him a major figure in contemporary poetry, translated and studied internationally. His poems, often long and loose, marry the breath of lively speech, between confidence and singing, influencing a new generation of writers seeking to reconcile beauty and justice. His writing, sometimes funny, sometimes serious, invites to “practice joy as an ethical duty” (according to his words).Ross Gay books and the originality of “Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude”
He published his first collection of poems “Against Which” in 2006 - a book, where his talent to transform pain into light already emerges. His second collection “Bringing the Shovel Down” published five years later in 2011 was a real poetic reflection on violence and redemption. But it was in 2015, that “Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude”, considered as his poetry masterpiece was published. Passionate gardener, he questions in his collection of poetic essays “The Book of Delights” (2019) the little congratulations that weave our lives, while confronting the legacies of racial and environmental violence. His work, hailed for its balance between gentleness and lucidity, influences a new generation of writers seeking to reconcile art and justice. In this essay he noted, daily, ordinary “delights,” revealing his philosophy of attention to the world. “Be Holding” published however in 2020 was a long lyrical poem tribute to Julius Erving, mixing basketball, African-American history and meditation on the sublime.Ross Gay continues to write and publish, reaffirming with each text the power of poetry as a tool for connection and transformation.
Browse all poems and texts published on Ross Gay
As I write this it’s occurring to me that the books I most adore are the ones that archive the people who have handled them—dogears, or old receipts used as bookmarks (always a lovely digression). Underlines and exclamation points, and this in an old library book! The tender vandalisms by which, sometimes, we express our love.
