Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude (Pitt Poetry Series)

So thoughtful and a great perspective.

Devour this book of poems. They are alive, filled with joy and sensual pleasure. Thank you, Ross Gay, for this collection!

Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, Ross Gay (University of Pittsburg, PA: 2015), 102 pp.I know I have several friends who listen to On Being on public radio every Sunday morning. For many of us, those interviews are "church."So a couple of weeks ago, Krista Tippett interviewed Ross Gay, an urban activist whose beliefs and service to the community are focussed around community gardens. He's also a poet.Here's where I recommend his work to both On Being fans and my fellow poets. Ross is a master of the ecstatic, exuberant poem. I know many poets who attempt this form of expression but miss because the poem is coming from a much too self-conscious place. The trick is being in absolute command of the elements of the poetic craft and then sweeping them from the table, getting everything out of the way of the poem itself. (Revision comes later, of course.)And that's why I'm here to praise the poems in this book. I've never read better in English. This is amazing work. Treat yourself. If you've watched a flock of millions of birds in the sunset, or sat in awe as witness of dervishes twirling between heaven and earth, or been overcome at a symphony performance where everyone on stage is giving their all to their part and it boils up and out of the top of your head in one ecstatic geyser...you have experienced what is going on in the poet's language here.

Beyond.

The cover drew me - exquisitely done watercolor. Once inside, the poems are brilliant, poignant. My first Ross Gay poetry and I'm hooked. Thank you for sharing your beautiful words with the world.