Sacred Heart Reads: Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude by Ross Gay

"My creative life is really informed by that community gesture of asking 'how do we care for our neighbors'.” – Ross Gay, 2020

I recently moved from an apartment I had lived in for twenty years and in sifting through the wreckage, I learned that I have been writing poetry on and off my whole life without really realizing it. I also have read poetry for comfort during tough times. No one offers more comfort than poet Ross Gay. You may have come across him in the last several years because his poem Small Needful Fact about Eric Garner’s work with the Horticultural Department made the rounds on the internet or because his 2019 book of essayettes entitled The Book of Delights made him a frequent voice on public radio. That book got me through the early days of the pandemic, but here I want to recommend his 2015 book of poetry, entitled Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry and was a National Book Award finalist. Whether he is writing about racism or gardening or friendship or love or death, compassion and generosity hum underneath his words. He braids together joy and sorrow. He grieves and also laughs. You should buy Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude because artmaking labor deserves to get paid, but also give yourself a little taste by reading one of my favorites-- Ode to the Puritan in Me--which offers a well of self-forgiveness. And then watch his performance of the title poem of the collection, saturated with humor and soul force. Ross Gay’s poetry always brings consolation but I also want to recommend a poetry practice--reading a poem every day, either first thing in the morning or at the end of the day. Many of us loved poetry as kids and wrote poetry as kids and shed or hid that love as we grew. Reclaim it for yourself as an adult; you’ll be surprised by the gifts it will bring you.

– Review by Jen Myre