Poetry · 2024
The Soul We Share
Winner of the Aryamati Prize
Visit the publisher“Beautiful poems, built to last.”
—Ilya Kaminsky
01 / About
Ricky Ray is a poet, essayist and eco-mystic who lives with his wife and his old brown dogs in the old green hills of New England.
He is the author of four books of poetry: The Soul We Share (2024), winner of the Aryamati Prize; Fealty (2019), a finalist for the Julie Suk Award; Quiet, Grit, Glory (2020); and The Sound of the Earth Singing to Herself (2020), a finalist for The Laurel Prize. He is also the author of a book of criticism: Brigit Pegeen Kelly: The Many-Mindedness of Spirit (2025).
He was educated at Columbia University and the Bennington Writing Seminars, and his awards include a Ron McFarland Poetry Prize, a Whisper River Poetry Prize, a Liam Rector Fellowship, a Zoeglossia Fellowship and a Succorro Fellowship. He lectures on poetry, animism and integral ecology, and he serves on the advisory board of the Program for the Evolution of Spirituality at Harvard.
02 / Work
Poems, Interviews, Lectures.
My Donkey Spirit Steps through My Body to Take Up the SlackWaxwing from Working DefinitionsThe Moth My Favorite Sweater, Sometimes Vision… & Walk with Addieiamb FamilyMuzzle Magazine A Walk in the WoodsThe Boiler Not for Vanity InterviewInterview Identity Earth Lecture at HarvardLecture Young Ravens InterviewInterview
At some point, the body cannot pull its cart,
struggles against the straps, sinks into the muck,
struggles again and falls. The body cannot pull the cart
so it becomes the cart, while the spirit steps down
from the seat, picks up the cart and hauls. No straps,
no wheels, the axles shot, the nails rusted in the rotted wood,
the spirit hoists his old friend up, brays and yanks
his foot from the mud. The mud says not long now.
The body says a little longer. The donkey says
leave it to me, friend, I know how to carry us home.
03 / Books
Books.
Criticism · 2025
Brigit Pegeen Kelly
The Many-Mindedness of Spirit
Visit the publisher“A profound meditation on the enduring legacy of Kelly and the transformative power of art.”
—Aaron Kent
Poetry · 2020
The Sound of the Earth Singing to Herself
Finalist for The Laurel Prize
Visit the publisher“To read this book is to learn, just a little bit better, how to live.”
—Devin Gael Kelly
Poetry · 2020
Quiet, Grit, Glory
Broken Sleep Books
Visit the publisher“Poems of silent courage, softly spoken, with a generosity of spirit that opens out to everyone.”
—Aaron Kent
Poetry · 2019
Fealty
Finalist for the Julie Suk Award
Visit the publisher“This book is the sermon we need after hours, when life’s sorrow overtakes our vision.”
—Natalie Eilbert
Poetry · First edition
Fealty
First Edition
Find on Amazon04 / Contact
Bark.
I’ll bark back.
