Ricky Ray is an American poet, critic, and essayist. He is the founding editor of Rascal: A Journal of Ecology, Literature and Art. Ray is known for his full-length poetry collection Fealty (2019) and two chapbooks: Quiet, Grit, Glory (2020) and The Sound of the Earth Singing to Herself (2020).
Ricky Ray studied at Columbia University and the Bennington Writing Seminars. His work is widely published in periodicals and anthologies, including The American Scholar, Verse Daily, Diode Poetry Journal, and The Moth. Ray has received several awards, including the Cormac McCarthy Prize, the Ron McFarland Poetry Prize, and a Liam Rector fellowship.
Ray’s most recent collection, The Soul We Share (2024), won the 2023 Aryamati Collection Competition. The collection features poems exploring pain, gratitude, and the interconnectedness between humans, animals, and the natural world.
Ray’s writing reflects on his experiences living in a disabled body and his life in various landscapes, from the woodlands of New England to the urban environments of Manhattan and the swamps of the Deep South.
In addition to his poetry, Ray’s work often focuses on ecological themes and the relationship between nature and humanity. His writings convey an awareness of the fragile yet deeply shared connections among all living beings.
As he describes in The Soul We Share, he sees existence not as something that humans merely inhabit but as a state deeply connected to and animated by the earth and its creatures.
Ricky Ray lives on the outskirts of the Hudson Valley, where he spends his time exploring the hills with his old brown dog, Addie.
Photo credit: rickyray.earth