The Sound of the Earth Singing To Herself

In one of the poems in this chapbook Ricky Ray writes living takes time and I want you / to stay with me. Its just one tender honest moment in this collection of deep effervescent tenderness. Throughout The Sound of the Earth Singing to Herself Rickys poems ask the world to stay just a little longer. They admit with grace what they dont understand. They offer thanks. But what they do most singularly is care. Rickys poems care about life love dogs birds gentleness unknowing wonder and more. Poetry is a kind of witness and each poem in this chapbook bears such gentle witness to this world a world that sings and kills and births all at once. They as one poem states sneak a peak even when the worlds too tender to watch. What to do when the world is not enough? Read Rickys poems. What to do when the yearning feels unbearable? Read Rickys poems. What to do when you want to heal even when healing feels impossible? Read Rickys poems. To read this book is to learn just a little bit better how to live. -Devin Kelly author of In This Quiet Church of Night I Say Amen (Civil Coping Mechanisms 2017) and Blood on Blood (Unknown Press 2016)