The Book of Delights: Essays“Ross Gay’s eye lands upon wonder at every turn, bolstering my belief in the countless small miracles that surround us.” —Tracy K. Smith, Pulitzer Prize winner and U.S. Poet Laureate 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. Ross Gay’s The Book of Delights is a genre-defying book of essays—some as short as a paragraph; some as long as five pages—that record the small joys that occurred in one year, from birthday to birthday, and that we often overlook in our busy lives. His is a meditation on delight that takes a clear-eyed view of the complexities, even the terrors, in his life, including living in America as a black man; the ecological and psychic violence of our consumer culture; the loss of those he loves. Among Gay’s funny, poetic, philosophical delights: the way Botan Rice Candy wrappers melt in your mouth, the volunteer crossing guard with a pronounced tremor whom he imagines as a kind of boat-woman escorting pedestrians across the River Styx, a friend’s unabashed use of air quotes, pickup basketball games, the silent nod of acknowledgment between black people. And more than any other subject, Gay celebrates the beauty of the natural world—his garden, the flowers in the sidewalk, the birds, the bees, the mushrooms, the trees. This is not a book of how-to or inspiration, though it could be read that way. Fans of Roxane Gay, Maggie Nelson, and Kiese Laymon will revel in Gay’s voice, and his insights. The Book of Delights is about our connection to the world, to each other, and the rewards that come from a life closely observed. Gay’s pieces serve as a powerful and necessary reminder that we can, and should, stake out a space in our lives for delight. |
Contents
1 My Birthday Kinda | 1 |
2 Inefficiency | 4 |
3 Flower in the Curb | 8 |
4 Blowing It Off | 10 |
5 Hole in the Head | 14 |
6 Remission Still | 17 |
7 Praying Mantis | 20 |
8 The Negreeting | 23 |
53 Church Poets | 147 |
54 Public Lying Down | 148 |
55 Babies Seriously | 152 |
56 My Life My Life My Life My Life in the Sunshine | 154 |
57 Incorporation | 155 |
58 Botan Rice Candy | 157 |
59 Understory | 160 |
The Duff Between Us | 162 |
9 The HighFive from Strangers Etc | 27 |
10 Writing by Hand | 31 |
11 Transplanting | 34 |
12 Nicknames | 38 |
13 But Maybe | 41 |
14 Joy Is Such a Human Madness | 43 |
15 House Party | 51 |
16 Hummingbird | 55 |
17 Just a Dream | 57 |
18 Thats Some Bambi Shit | 61 |
The Gratitudes | 63 |
20 Tap Tap | 66 |
21 Coffee without the Saucer | 68 |
22 Lily on the Pants | 70 |
23 Sharing a Bag | 72 |
24 Umbrella in the Café | 74 |
25 Beast Mode | 77 |
26 Airplane Rituals | 79 |
27 Weirdly Untitled | 82 |
28 Pecans | 85 |
29 The DoOver | 88 |
30 Infinity | 91 |
31 Ghost | 94 |
32 Nota Bene | 98 |
33 Love Me in a Special Way | 101 |
34 Stay by Lisa Loeb | 104 |
35 Stacking Delights | 107 |
36 Donny Hathaway on Pandora | 111 |
37 To Spread the Sweetness of Love | 113 |
38 Baby Baby Baby | 116 |
39 REPENT OR BURN | 118 |
40 Giving My Body to the Cause | 120 |
41 Among the Rewards of My Sloth | 122 |
42 Not Grumpy Cat | 124 |
43 Some Stupid Shit | 126 |
44 Not Only | 128 |
WE BUY GOLD | 129 |
46 Reading Palms | 131 |
47 The Sanctity of Trains | 134 |
48 Bird Feeding | 136 |
49 Kombucha in a Midcentury Glass | 138 |
50 Hickories | 141 |
51 Annoyed No More | 142 |
52 Toto | 144 |
61 Its Just the Day Im Having | 164 |
62 The Purple Cornets of Spring | 165 |
63 The Volunteer | 167 |
Two or Three Cents on the Virtues of the Poetry Reading | 169 |
65 Found Things | 172 |
66 Found Things 2 | 174 |
67 Cuplicking | 176 |
68 Bobblehead | 178 |
69 The Jenky | 181 |
70 The Crows Ablutions | 184 |
71 Flowers in the Hands of Statues | 187 |
72 An Abundance of Public Toilets | 189 |
73 The Wave of Unfamiliars | 193 |
74 Not for Nothing | 195 |
75 Bindweed Delight? | 197 |
76 Dickhead | 200 |
77 Ambiguous Signage Sometimes | 202 |
78 Heart to Heart | 206 |
Bees on Bridge | 209 |
80 Tomato on Board | 212 |
81 PurpleHanded | 215 |
Kayte Young Phone Number 5558675309 | 216 |
83 Still Processing | 219 |
84 Fireflies | 221 |
85 My Scythe Jack | 223 |
86 Pawpaw Grove | 225 |
87 Loitering | 229 |
88 Touched | 233 |
89 Scat | 236 |
90 Get Thee to the Nutrient Cycle | 241 |
91 Pulling Carrots | 244 |
92 Filling the Frame | 246 |
93 Reckless Air Quotes | 247 |
94 Judith Irene Gay Aged Seventysix Today | 249 |
95 Rothko Backboard | 251 |
96 The Marfa Lights | 253 |
97 The Carport | 255 |
99 Black Bumblebees | 262 |
100 Grown | 265 |
101 Cocobaby | 266 |
102 My Birthday | 269 |
Acknowledgments | 272 |
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Common terms and phrases
actually asked baby beautiful beneath bird body brother called carrying child close coming dancing delight despite don’t dreams especially evidently eyes face fact father feeling finger flowers front fucking garden getting given going hand hard head heart holding hole imagine inside it’s keep kind least leaves legs less light live looking mean mention mother mouth movie moving never noticed offered once one’s passing perhaps person planted play poems poetry probably pulled reading realized reason reminds seems shit sitting smiling someone sometimes song sound started street sure sweet talking tell thank thing thought told touch tree trying turning walking watching wonder writing