Book

The book of delights / Ross Gay.

Gay, Ross, 1974- (author.).

Summary:

"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 first nonfiction book from award-winning poet Ross Gay is a record of the small joys we often overlook in our busy lives. 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. 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. 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. The Book of Delights is about our shared bonds, and the rewards that come from a life closely observed. These remarkable pieces serve as a powerful and necessary reminder that we can, and should, stake out a space in our lives for delight."-- Provided by publisher.

Record details

ISBN: 9781616207922
ISBN: 1616207922
Physical Description: xii, 274 pages ; 19 cm
Publisher: Chapel Hill, North Carolina : Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, [2019]
Copyright: ©2019

Content descriptions

Formatted Contents Note:

My birthday, kinda -- Inefficiency -- Flower in the curb -- Blowing it off -- Hole in the head -- Remission still -- Praying mantis -- The negreeting -- The high-five from strangers, etc. -- Writing by hand -- Transplanting -- Nicknames -- But, maybe ... -- "Joy is such a human madness" -- House party -- Hummingbird -- Just a dream -- That's Some Bambi Shit" ... -- The irrepressible: The gratitudes -- Tap tap -- Coffee without the saucer -- Lily on the pants -- Sharing a bag -- Umbrella in the café -- Beast mode -- Airplane rituals -- Weirdly untitled -- Pecans -- The do-over -- Infinity -- Ghost -- Note bene -- "Love Me in a Special Way" -- "Stay," by Lisa Loeb -- Stacking delights -- Donny Hathaway on Pandora -- "To Spread the Sweetness of Love" -- Baby, baby, baby -- "REPENT OR BURN" -- Giving my body to the cause -- Among the rewards of my sloth ... -- Not Grumpy Cat -- Some stupid shit -- Not only ... -- Micro-gentrification: WE BUY GOLD -- Reading palms -- The sanctity of trains -- Bird feeding -- Kombucha in a mid-century glass -- Hickories -- Annoyed no more -- Toto -- Church poets -- Public lying down -- Babies, seriously -- "My Life, My Life, My Life, My Life in the Sunshine" -- Incorporation -- Botan rice candy -- Understory -- "Joy is Such a Human Madness": The duff between us -- "It's Just the Day I'm Having" ...

The purple cornets of spring -- The volunteer -- Fishing an eyelash: Two or three cents on the virtues of the poetry reading -- Found things -- Found things (2) -- Cuplicking -- Bobblehead -- The jenky -- the crow's ablutions -- Flowers in the hands of statues -- An abundance of public toilets -- The wave of unfamiliars -- Not for nothing -- Bindweed ... delight? -- Dickhead 200 -- Ambiguous signage sometimes -- Heart to heart -- Caution: Bees on bridge -- Tomato on board -- Purple-handed -- Name: Kayte Young: phone number: 555-867-5309 -- Still processing -- Fireflies -- My scythe Jack -- Pawpaw grove -- Loitering -- Touched -- Scat -- Get thee to the nutrient cycle! -- Pulling carrots -- Filling the frame -- Reckless air quotes -- Judith Irene Gay, aged seventy-six today! -- Rothko backboard -- The Marfa lights -- The carport -- My Garden (book) -- Black bumblebees! -- Grown -- Coco-baby -- My birthday.