Potentially Sensitive Areas: Discrimination, Strong language, Strong sexual themes These remarkable pieces serve as a powerful and necessary reminder that we can, and should, stake out a space in our lives for delight. The Book of Delights is about our shared bonds, and the rewards that come from a life closely observed. More than anything other subject, though, Gay celebrates the beauty of the natural world–his garden, the flowers peeking out of the sidewalk, the hypnotic movements of a praying mantis. But Gay never dismisses the complexities, even the terrors, of living in America as a black man or the ecological and psychic violence of our consumer culture or the loss of those he loves. Among Gay’s funny, poetic, philosophical delights: a friend’s unabashed use of air quotes, cradling a tomato seedling aboard an airplane, the silent nod of acknowledgment between the only two black people in a room. The first nonfiction book from award-winning poet Ross Gay is a record of the small joys we often overlook in our busy lives. In The Book of Delights, one of today’s most original literary voices offers up a genre-defying volume of lyric essays written over one tumultuous year. The winner of the NBCC Award for Poetry offers up a spirited collection of short lyric essays, written daily over a tumultuous year, reminding us of the purpose and pleasure of praising, extolling, and celebrating ordinary wonders. The Book of Delights: Essays by Ross Gay.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |