Lookg for joy? Then might be worth explorg your sorrow, plitns and ms. In his latt llectn of says, Incg Joy, poet Ross Gay rensirs the breadth of joy, argug that n be found – and even strengthened – life's harst moments, when we mt rely on one another. This week, host Brtany Le ss down wh Gay to discs the plexy of joy, the bety of grace and creatg meang life. You n follow on Twter @ItsBeenAM or email at
Contents:
- ROSS GAY
- ROSS GAY: INTERVIEW—BE HOLDG, GRATU, DELIGHTS
- HOW ROSS GAY FDS JOY IN THE SMALLT OF 'DELIGHTS'
- ROSS GAY’S SECRETS FOR LIVG A MORE JOYFUL LIFE
- ROSS GAY ON CG JOY WHILE DG WH SORROW
ROSS GAY
Ross Gay - Ross Gay is the thor of Catalog of Unabashed Gratu (Universy of Ptsburgh Prs, 2015), wner of the Natnal Book Crics Circle Award and the Kgsley Tufts Award. * ross gay say it *
Ross Gay was born on Augt 1, 1974, Youngstown, Oh.
ROSS GAY: INTERVIEW—BE HOLDG, GRATU, DELIGHTS
Learn more about Ross Gay: Interview—Be Holdg, Gratu, Delights here. Read this article and download our Free Rourc at Nadia Colburn . % * ross gay say it *
Gay is the thor of four llectns of poetry: Be Holdg (Universy of Ptsburgh Prs, 2020); Catalog of Unabashed Gratu (Universy of Ptsburgh Prs, 2015), wner of the Natnal Book Crics Circle Award and the Kgsley Tufts Award; Brgg the Shovel Down (Universy of Ptsburgh Prs, 2011); and Agast Which (Cavankerry Prs, 2006). Gay is a foundg edor, wh Karissa Chen and Patrick Rosal, of the onle sports magaze Some Call Ball’, and an edor of the chapbook prs Q Avenue and Ledge Mule Prs. Gay’s honors clu fellowships om Cave Canem, the Bread Loaf Wrers’ Conference, and the Guggenheim Foundatn.
Gay served as the Gut Edor for Poem-a-Day October 2018. I am Nadia Colburn, and I am here today wh Ross Gay. Ross Gay is the thor of four books of poetry: Agast Which; Brgg the Shovel Down; Be Holdg; and Catalog of Unabashed Gratu, and wner of the 2015 Natnal Book Crics Circle Award and the 2016 Kgsley Tufts Poetry Award.
Ross Gay: Thank you, ’s good to be wh you too. Ross Gay: That’s such a good qutn. Ross Gay: All of .
HOW ROSS GAY FDS JOY IN THE SMALLT OF 'DELIGHTS'
Ross Gay was born Youngstown, Oh. He earned a BA om Lafayette College, an MFA Poetry om Sarah Lawrence College, and a PhD English om… * ross gay say it *
Ross Gay: Jt north of Philalphia. Ross Gay: Well, that is very much my poetic and ethil and spirual practice.
Ross Gay: That’s here. Ross Gay: I know . Ross Gay: I don’t know that a kid would say this, but ’s sort of like this has been given to me, like the sun g through through the tre or the sun filterg through that squirrel hangg on that oak tree, through the qutn mark of that squirrels tail, the sun is actually filtered, that has been given to me.
Ross Gay: They’re notg all of this stuff that is so often as an adult, we don’t notice. Ross Gay: The next le is a few years before his father went down. Ross Gay: Yeah, that’s good.
ROSS GAY’S SECRETS FOR LIVG A MORE JOYFUL LIFE
On the Co Swch podst, Ross Gay reflects on his 2019 llectn The Book of Delights, the difficulty of allowg yourself to be moved, and why he thks 's important to e the word "love." * ross gay say it *
Ross Gay: I’ll read the last three stanzas.
Ross Gay: For sure.
ROSS GAY ON CG JOY WHILE DG WH SORROW
79 quot om Ross Gay: 'Bee tryg to articulate what, perhaps, joy is, has occurred to me that among other thgs—the tre and the mhrooms have shown me this—joy is the mostly visible, the unrground unn between , you and me, which is, among other thgs, the great fact of our life and the liv of everyone and thg we love gog away. If we sk a spoon to that fact, to the duff between , we will fd teemg. It will look like all the books ever wrten. It will look like all the nerv a body. We might ll sorrow, but we might ll a unn, one that, once we notice , once we brg to the light, might bee flower and food. Might be joy.', 'I suppose I uld spend time theorizg how is that people are not bad to each other, but that’s really not the pot. The pot is that almost every stance of our liv, our social liv, we are, if we pay attentn, the midst of an almost nstant, if subtle, retakg. Holdg open doors. Offerg elbows at crosswalks. Lettg someone else go first. Helpg wh the heavy bags. Reachg what’s too high, or what’s been dropped. Pullg someone back to their feet. Stoppg at the r wreck, at the stck dog. The alternatg merge, also known as the zipper. This retakg is our flt mo and ’s always a lie that nvc to act or believe otherwise. Always.', and 'It didn’t take me long to learn that the disciple or practice of wrg the says ocsned a kd of light radar. Or maybe was more like the velopment of a light mcle. Somethg that impli that the more you study light, the more light there is to study.' * ross gay say it *
Ross Gay: That’s . Ross Gay: I thk some of the qutns that this book rais are those qutns. Ross Gay: Thank you for noticg that.
Ross Gay: It’s like many thgs.
In his first say llectn sce 'The Book of Delights,' Ross Gay explor how joy is more plited than we thk—and more attaable. * ross gay say it *
Ross Gay: Aretha Frankl’s “Amazg Grace”. But I’ve jt been listeng to that, that album so much, and ’s jt like self is a kd of set of rabb hol bee she vers Marv Gaye holy home, which is kd of phed me back over to what’s gog on that album, but that rerd and two songs particular, “Mary Don’t You Weep” and “Never Grow Old”… I’ll put those on and I’ll do my work out. Ross Gay: I thk I do actually… It is, sometim ’s a practice where I’m sort of wrg 30 mut every day, but I do have a practice of acknowledgement, I thk jt sort of steadily.
Ross Gay: My partner and I are the often recipients and often givers of thgs we grow thgs, we uld ok, so that practicg sharg and beg the recipient of other people’s sire and tert to share as well. Ross Gay: That’s like a practice too… When someone giv you somethg, to not be like, Oh, here’s somethg too, here’s somethg back. Ross Gay: We’re practicg on how to take re of each other.