Bringing the Shovel Down

'These poems speak out of a global consciousness as well as an individual wisdom that is bright with pity, terror, and rage, and which asks the reader to realize that she is not alone—that the grief he carries is not just his own. Gay is a poet of conscience, who echoes Tomas Transtromer's 'We do not surrender. But want peace.' -Jean Valentine

'Blending classic craft with contemporary subject matter, poet Ross Gay's new collection packs a wallop in its urgency to communication the joys and sorows of life.' -Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

'Artfully honest. Gay's poems are 'small lanterns' of 'lighting' and more'. -Philadelphia Inquirer

'With language wholly his own, sparkling clean and tender, Bringing the Shovel Down exposes a dark marriage of love and violence from which one cannot turn away.' -ForeWord Magazine

'Gay . . . can score a direct hit when he wants to. In Bringing the Shovel Down,he employs a variety of voices. The most effective of these . . . is the voice in which Gay shears off the 'poetic' trappings and just lets his language 'stutter and thrum," and he puts it in a poem called 'Say It.' Yes, you think: say it. He's at his best when he comes right out with it.' -New York Times

'The language Gay brings to his poems is fresh and inviting. . . . One of the most satisfying new books I have read in a long time.' -West Branch