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The poems of Ross Gay ’96 aren’t just snippets of emotions or observations. Many of those in his first book, Against Which, deal with national issues and events.
He will give a reading from the book 4:10 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 17, in the Gendebien Room (206) of Skillman Library.
“This is my first full-length book,” he says. “I’ve been working on some of the poems for at least eight years, but many come from the last five years or so. I decided to publish the book because I wanted to share ideas. I wanted to enter into the big dialogue of poetic ideas. I wanted to add my little voice to the chorus.”
In the poem entitled ‘Marionette,” Gay does that through an investigation of the Amadou Diallo shooting some years ago in New York City.
“The poem ‘Pulled Over in Short Hills, N.J.’ subtly discusses profiling, and the national consciousness around being an African-American man in relation to the police,” he says. “The poems deal with justice and love in many ways. Justice and love are actually overlapping concerns.”
He does, however, include more traditional poems based on love and betrayal.
“‘Song of the Pig Who Gave the Poet, Age 3, Worms,’ is an exploration of betrayal,” the author says. “But, in addition to this are what you’d call love poems. Love poems to my father, my friends, and to the beautiful things in the world.”
The book is distributed by University Presses of New England and is available for purchase on the group’s web site as well as on Amazon.com.
Now an assistant professor of English at Montclair State University and a member of the faculty in New England College’s Master of Fine Arts program, Gay was awarded the 1996 George Wharton Pepper Prize as the senior who “most nearly represents the Lafayette ideal.”
He was recruited as a student to Lafayette for his football skills, he says, and came to campus not knowing what he wanted to study. His sophomore year he took an art course with Ed Kerns, Clapp Professor of Art. “I quickly realized this was fun and good, and things just blossomed from there,” Gay says. He had a similar experience in a poetry course taught by Lee Upton, professor of English and writer-in-residence, and ended up graduating with a double major in English and art.
“I also loved playing football,” adds Gay, a defensive end who was a member of Lafayette’s 1994 Patriot League championship team.
He graduated with honors in studio art and received the College’s Vivian B. Noblett Prize as the outstanding senior in studio art and the Gilbert Prize for superiority in English.
Since graduating from Lafayette, Gay earned a master’s degree at Sarah Lawrence College and a doctorate in American literature at Temple University. He has also spent time in various professional positions.
“I have been a basketball coach in various places, including St. Anthony’s High School in Jersey City, Neshaminy High School in Langhorne (Pa.), and Piscataway High School in New Jersey,” says Gay, assistant basketball coach at Union High School in Union, N.J. “I’ve worked as a poetry instructor, in construction, and moved and set up gallery installations, among other things.”
Most recently, Gay was a visiting assistant professor of poetry at the University of Pittsburgh and he taught at Lafayette as Dean of Studies Humanities Fellow, undertaking creative projects outside the classroom with students such as Chris Michaud ’04, Jared Mast ’04, and Paul Germain ’04, and helping lead a spoken word ensemble.
While Gay has been invited to read and teach at various places throughout the Northeast, he has found time to get nearly half way through writing his second book.
“Hopefully Against Which will be received in such a way that I’ll be able to give readings at a number of places,” Gay says. “This is what I love to do — share the poems.”
He recently read at the Dodge Poetry Festival, where some high school students from Michigan recited lines from his poems to him.
“And that, like coaching, or smiling at someone, makes me happy,” he says.