Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude

Ross Gay

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2015

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Themes

Unabashed Gratitude

Ross Gay’s sense of gratitude is more than the singular state of being happy. This is evidenced by his title, which is not “Catalog of Gratitude” but “Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude.” The word “unabashed” cues the reader into the fact that the poem is dealing with more than superficial thankfulness. To be “unabashed” is to be unshrinking, fearless, and unflinching. As Gay tells interviewer David Naimon, most of us know that “things are unpleasant, or difficult, or whatever [but] there is an understanding that […] one of us is going to be dead and soon […] one of the practices of joy is to be walking with that understanding perpetually with us” (See: Further Reading & Resources). This is not just a poem about life’s glorious blooming, the goals we achieve, or the tasty fruit we consume but rather an embrace of a world in which death and its aftermath leave a “glacial shine” (Line 97) we must contend with as we are “falling down to cry” (Line 96). We must appreciate the world through the lens of pain and loss so that little kindnesses, like the touch of a loved one when you crumble in despair (Line 115) or helping an “old lady falling down” (Line 127), or “whisking a turtle off the road” (Line 147), are elevated in value. Gay suggests we all should have hearts that shimmer like “the lady on the bus / dressed head to toe in gold, the sun / shivering her shiny boots” (Lines 245-247).

Visionary Ancestors

Throughout a “Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude,” the poet tells us about those who come to him in his dreams: the “robin” (Line 3) who tells him to play the “whole rusty brass band of gratitude” (Line 23); a woman in her “sheer dress” (Line 151), who makes him feel virile; his “murdered friend” (Line 175), who is “moseying back” (Line 184) to offer comfort; his “father” (Line 250) who “plucked” (Line 251), his throat until he gratefully sang; and the “child in my dreams” (Line 270, Line 275), who ponders the fate of the world. With this in mind, Gay looks to offer a solution. Before this moment, he tells us, there were ancestors who acted like visionaries, protecting the earth by not pillaging it, refusing to give up on themselves, committed to moving forward. That Gay sees himself as one in a line of these visionaries (Line 194) is clear by his joy over the small “baby” (Line 47) helping to plant an “apple” (Line 46) tree early in the poem. His vision of care is enhanced by his concern over the imaginary “child” (line 270, Line 275) who notes the world’s imminent destruction as well as everyone’s individual death. “[N]o duh,” (Line 275) Gay rejoinders. There is no point in dwelling on the negative, he suggests, even as we realize it. Like the bird, Gay positions himself “like a matador / giving up on murder” (Line 14-15). Like the visionary ancestors who “smuggl[ed] seeds into braids” (Line 197), or “[put] / a walnut tree in the ground” (Line 200), he too will fight to be a “volunteer” (Line 211), to bloom from those who propagated before him. Gay’s offering is this solution: Find what beauty you can and revel in both the “singing and shuddering” (Line 276) that make up the world. In offering such advice, he too becomes one “who loved you / before [they] knew you” (Lines 194-195).

Appreciation of Nature

One of the things that can bring one comfort in any difficult time is a connection to and appreciation for nature. It succeeds in making us realize there is something greater than the individual self and offers lessons on rebirth and reaffirmation. The “robin” (Line 3) that begins the poem insists Gay “bellow forth” (Line 22, Line 26) to point out our association with our natural environment and its regenerative power. Gay’s description of the heavy-lifting of gardening and “dream[ing] an orchard this way” (Line 40) as well the enumeration of the blessings of the natural world shows how essential the earth is to our emotional grounding. The poet urges us to view the world with a sense of childlike wonder, to appreciate “the ruddy bombast of the [robin’s] breast,” (line 18), the “fig” (Line 55) and “peach” (Line 190, Line 238) trees that offer sustenance, the beauty of a “throng of roadside goldenrod” (Line 69), simple “moonglow” (Line 229), and a “bazillion ants [that] labored in their earthen workshops” (Line 260). Yes, he agrees with the “child in [his] dream” (Line 270, Line 275) that the world is full of “roiling sea and sky” (Line 271), that we are “hurtling” (Line 272) to disaster. Yet, this should not diminish our comfort in its pleasure of “stumbling into the garden” (Line 256) like knowledgeable Adams and Eves, “singing, smiling / thank you, thank you” (Lines 254-256). Gay’s poem continually suggests it is important to stand in the fruit-giving “orchard” (Line 40) and “squirm like a worm” (Line 51), glorying in “the realest place [we] know” (Line 50).