Reviewed by Kate Champlin
Content Warning: Suicide
Ricky Ray’s latest collection is a profound spiritual meditation. These verses and prose vignettes invite us to share the lessons that Ray has learned about the natural world, the interconnectedness of all life, and the mindful process of observing these relationships. The Soul We Share places grief and pain within a universal context. As Ray’s collection shows us, both are learning experiences because they are parts of life.
In “Digging a Hole: A Vignette,” Ray sees his ill and elderly dog, Addie, begin to dig a hole. He thinks about stopping her, because digging might hurt her spine, but he realizes that this might be her last chance to dig. Instead, Ray kneels down beside Addie and learns about digging holes in the process of offering help. He learns to start at one end of the hole and work backwards. He learns to shape depth and length before detailing edges. He watches Addie bite through the roots in her own way and sees the earth itself: first, the covering leaves; then, the black dirt; then, the sand beneath the dirt. In the end, Addie reminds Ray how to turn around before lying down and how to relax completely, both lessons she’d taught him earlier in their friendship. In that moment, Ray states:
Our work was done, our mother was holding us, we were alive and happy in each other’s presence. Addie rested her chin on the edge of the hole, and was, for a long moment, at peace. (107)
A few pages later, Ray muses on a favorite sweater that has been partially eaten by moths. He thinks about the goats who contributed the wool, the grass they ate, the knitter who created such a perfectly-fitting sweater, and the moths who chewed “portals” in the wool (114). Many others would want to hurt these insects or at least drive them away. Ray thanks them for leaving enough sweater to keep him warm and wishes them well. He hopes he (via his sweater) hadn’t given them indigestion. He leaves his sweater uncovered in the closet, an invitation to the moths to return and dine again. Above all, Ray observes the thread that connects all of creation, saying:
…it’s all down to pattern, a shifting
pattern, a thread of wool raveling into a knot of moth,
the moth’s wings the stitchwork of the hand that knits us all (114)
In “Identity Earth: A Brief Biography of Our Planetary Self,” Ray invites readers to learn from the Earth’s beginnings and from the history of trees. In the process, he further explores and shares his spirituality. Within Ray’s cosmology, Mother Earth, child of Grandmother Universe, has become a thinking and feeling being by sharing the experiences of her biological creations. Mother Earth has also shown a remarkable talent for restarting biological life after mass extinction events. The current ecological crisis is a sign that humanity is not adequately caring for itself or for its non-human neighbors. The human failure to collaborate threatens both human and non-human life.
Fortunately, Earth’s history reveals an odd source of hope. Volcanos have been both destructive and generative. These landforms have produced oceans of lava where biological life could not survive, but they also helped to establish our atmosphere and seasons by regulating the carbon cycle. Trees have followed a similar pattern of creation and destruction. The first trees caused an Ice Age during the mid-Devonian era. They held onto so much carbon that both carbon dioxide levels and temperatures plummeted.
Nevertheless, today’s trees are a vital part of the ecosystem, providing oxygen, shelter, and food for a variety of Earth’s creatures. If trees can fit into a symbiotic system, both to shape the Earth’s community and be shaped by it, then there may be hope for humanity as well. The vignette offers a powerful statement of hope for those dismayed by recent climate reports. It also puts humans firmly in their place. We are a single species in a vast cosmos that is not human-centered.
When Ray speaks of his disability, he does so with an eye toward life lessons and cosmological context. Poems like “I’m Not Sure How Much More I Can Take,” discuss the experience of chronic pain including the stabbing pain of herniated disks, the inability to sleep, and the fact that medication can barely take “the edge off” (108). When Ray discusses his herniated disks with his doctor, he asks what the doctor would do in his place. The doctor replies that Ray doesn’t want to know, a response that implies suicide or giving up. Yet, even faced with the prospect of severe lifelong pain and the frustration it causes, Ray does not give up. Instead, he imagines his spine as a series of nebulae exploding inside him or as a collection of eggs that chicks must peck their way out of. Finally, he sets his pain in the context of his faith in Mother Earth, declaring:
I like to think of my spine as my teacher
a gift from hell that says, don’t end up here. A gift from the Earth
that says, I’m ruining your body that you might know something
of the ruin inflicted upon mine. I thank her and pay attention. (108)
The collection ends with an elegy to the now-deceased Addie. Ray exhorts himself to remember Addie even when the memory of her hurts. He cries for Addie and begs Mother Earth either to release her or to exchange his life for hers. He ignores the Earth when she attempts to comfort him. Nonetheless, the elegy concludes with a response from Addie, who assures her papa that the Earth “is good” to her (149). Addie is following an irresistible scent beyond the veil and will wait for Ray to join her when his time comes. She expects him to grieve and also to continue on his own path. Even the final separation of death can be a life lesson. Even chronic pain and the pain of grief can be reminders that the Earth is good to us.
Title: The Soul We Share
Author: Ricky Ray
Publisher: Fly on the Wall Press
Date: 2024
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About the Reviewer
Kate Champlin (she/her) is a late-deafened adult and a graduate of Ball State University (Indiana). She currently works as a writing tutor and as a contract worker for BK International Education Consultancy, a company whose aim is to normalize the success of underserved students.