“Wedding Poem” appears in Ross Gay’s collection, Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, a book of poems that draws major inspiration from the garden. Gay lives and teaches in Indiana where, according to the poet’s website “he is a founding board member of the Bloomington Community Orchard, a non-profit, free-fruit-for-all food justice and joy project.” The garden functions as mission and muse for Gay, who grew up in suburban Levittown, Pennsylvania and came upon gardening in adulthood.

The community orchard is a living symbol of Gay’s poetic resumé, which reads as a  history of collaboration and project diversity. One of his many joint projects is the chapbook Lace and Pyrite: Letters from Two Gardens, a poetic epistolary exchange between Gay and poet/essayist Aimee Nezhukumatathil, in which the poets write letters to one another inspired by their gardens through the seasons of one year. Published in 2014, the chapbook precedes the publication of Catalog by one year.

Gay’s career as teacher and writer embraces a dynamic approach to community and community-building. In addition to poetry, Gay has coached school sports teams and is a founding co-editor of Some Call in Ballin’, an online magazine that features essays about sports. Community and collaboration lend structure to much of Gay’s work, while he himself has often identified joy as the central subject of his curiosity.