Ross Gay's 'Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude'

a writing (and thinking) prompt for you this week + an invitation to a collective catalog of thanks

Sometimes the right words come along at the right time. They’ve been out there, circling around the universe, inspiring others. They just never winged their way to you, until you needed them, or were ready to hear them.

This poem found me at just the right time last week, through Suleika Jaouad’s The Isolation Journals. I was catching up on email, shifting uncomfortably in my chair after tweaking my back, again—a long day of work deadlines in front of me. Everyday and holiday house chores backed up because I couldn’t really bend over without pain and a muttered curse word. Not feeling particularly grateful, though I was. I am.

The poem shifted my whole day. It’s long and worth every perfect word. It’s true, too, which means take care if you are easily offended by language, or by the pairing of pain and gratitude, which is also how I’m feeling about this complicated holiday week of thanksgiving.

And I’ve already said too much. Anyway, it made me nod, and laugh out loud by myself, and wipe away tears, and want to keep bees or grow something in a garden.

Here’s a snippet, and also how I feel about you this week.

And thank you, too. And thanks
for the corduroy couch I have put you on.
Put your feet up. Here’s a light blanket,
a pillow, dear one,
for I can feel this is going to be long.
I can’t stop
my gratitude, which includes, dear reader,
you, for staying here with me,
for moving your lips just so as I speak.
Here is a cup of tea. I have spooned honey into it.

May the poem shift something in you towards gratitude and thanksgiving, too.

Here it is in print on The Poetry Foundation: Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude.

But I suggest listening to it in full (14:39), read by Ross Gay below. Take a walk with your earbuds in, or listen while cooking something, or driving somewhere. Or just sit in your chair while other (less important) tasks wait, and enjoy. Here’s the poet reading:

You can listen on YouTube here.

The poem comes from a 2015 collection of the same name, which is also the National Endowment for the Arts 2022-23 Big Read for groups, and you can read more about that project here.

a writing (and thinking) prompt

Make your own catalog of unabashed gratitude. Short, long, whatever is true today.

I know not everyone writes to these prompts. I hear from some of you who prefer to read and think about them, and I’m glad to help prompt new words or new thoughts in you.

Can we create a written catalog of thanks and gratitude together, here in the comments? What’s one response you have in words today?

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Ross Gay, photo by Natasha Komoda