The Book of Delights, essays by Ross Gay, is a “delightful” read. He is a bit of a rambler, as far as his writing style and sounds like he does quite a bit of happy ambling in other areas of his life, as well. He shares musings, observations, and anecdotes about the little things that bring him joy, like unexpected laughter, birthdays, gardening, and good music. Even his essay titles are a delight. “My Birthday, Kinda,” “Joy Is Such a Human Madness,” “Tomato on Board,” and “The Do-Over,” to name a few. I, myself, am a huge fan of the do-over in life. I share in that delight, unless I am the one winning the game and think the other person does not deserve a do-over.
I love his comparison between all that we are and all that we love and all that makes up our experience to a healthy forest where “the roots” reach down into “the earth below” and in that place “there exists a constant communication between those roots and mycelium, where often the ill or weak or stressed are supported by the strong and surplused.” In another essay he discusses his love of finding delightful things and then the immediate desire he has to share that delight with anyone nearby. This impulse to share seems to be universal, “the urge to elbow your neighbor, who maybe was not even your neighbor until the bird flew between you.” He suggests that this urge might be because “our delight grows as we share it.
An example of his beautifully descriptive writing is this about bees. “There is a kind of flowering bush, new to me, that I’ve been studying on my walks in Marfa. On that bush, whose blooms exude a curtain of syrupy fragrance, a beckoning of it, there are always a few thumb-size all-black bumblebees. Their wings appear, when the light hits them right, metallic blue-green. I have never seen anything so beautiful.” His delight and description of these beautiful black bees inspired me to make some AI art about black bees with iridescent other-worldly wings, an example of contagious delight spreading beyond the observation to the page to the reader to AI to many platforms where I post my art.
Whether it is recording sweet hellos, feeling the wind from a hummingbird wing, a cup of good coffee, or a nap in the rain, Mr. Gay delights in sharing his special moments with us, and for that, I am grateful. I should warn that nothing is off limits in Mr. Gay’s writing. Inappropriate dreams, aging private body parts, bowel movements, peeing his pants, etc., are all fodder for pondering and finding delight, even if the joy is simply in the crisis being over. I am inspired to begin jotting down moments in my day that bring me joy. I have begun journals of this very same type of writing many times. I think it is time again, thanks to being reminded how delightful our little lives are at times.
Gay, Ross. The Book of Delights, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2022.
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