Male Vulnerability, Intimacy and Care: Two Poets in Collaboration and Conversation
Publication information:
Ray, Ricky, and Devin Kelly. 2023. “Male Vulnerability, Intimacy and Care: Two Poets in Collaboration and Conversation.” in Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities. Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
Abstract
Abstract: Drawing from their respective artistic and spiritual practices, two poets—Ricky Ray and Devin Gael Kelly—known for the depth of feeling and range of emotion in their work, will explore the sources and complications of vulnerability in the male persona, tracing its development in their own lives, and as an empowering force in creativity, kinship and care. They will explore these themes in a multi-modal performance, including the reading of lyric essays and original poetry, culminating in a conversation in which the life of the deeply-considered heart is every bit as essential as the life of the cultured mind.
Ricky Ray’s bio: Ricky Ray is a poet, essayist and eco-mystic who lives with his wife and his own brown dog in the old green hills of New England. He is the author of Fealty; Quiet, Grit, Glory; and The Sound of the Earth Singing to Herself. He was educated at Columbia University and Bennington College, and he lectures on poetry, animism and integral ecology. His awards include the Cormac McCarthy Prize, the Ron McFarland Poetry Prize, a Liam Rector Fellowship and a Zoeglossia Fellowship. His writing appears widely in periodicals and anthologies, including The American Scholar, Salamander, Waxwing and The Moth.
Devin Gael Kelly’s bio: Devin Gael Kelly is a writer and high school teacher living in New York City. He is the author of In This Quiet Church, I Say Amen (Civil Coping Mechanisms), and his work has appeared in The Year’s Best Sports Writing 2021, Longreads, The Guardian, LitHub, and more. He writes the poetry newsletter, Ordinary Plots.
Ricky Ray’s bio: Ricky Ray is a poet, essayist and eco-mystic who lives with his wife and his own brown dog in the old green hills of New England. He is the author of Fealty; Quiet, Grit, Glory; and The Sound of the Earth Singing to Herself. He was educated at Columbia University and Bennington College, and he lectures on poetry, animism and integral ecology. His awards include the Cormac McCarthy Prize, the Ron McFarland Poetry Prize, a Liam Rector Fellowship and a Zoeglossia Fellowship. His writing appears widely in periodicals and anthologies, including The American Scholar, Salamander, Waxwing and The Moth.
Devin Gael Kelly’s bio: Devin Gael Kelly is a writer and high school teacher living in New York City. He is the author of In This Quiet Church, I Say Amen (Civil Coping Mechanisms), and his work has appeared in The Year’s Best Sports Writing 2021, Longreads, The Guardian, LitHub, and more. He writes the poetry newsletter, Ordinary Plots.