On Monday, April 8, students gathered in Elfers Hall for the annual Lambert Lecture, delivered by poet, essayist, and basketball enthusiast Mr. Ross Gay.
The Lambert family founded the Lambert Lecture in 1981 to honor their late son, Christopher Lambert ’76, and his passion for poetry. Since then, the Lambert Fund has annually brought a different poet or writer to address the community and attend English classes to inspire students and spread the art of poetry.
ms. janan alexandra, instructor in English, opened the event by sharing a few words about her friendship with Gay, followed by an introduction by her creative writing students Rett Zeigler ’24 and Jacques Pierre ’24.
Gay is a poet and essayist from Youngstown, Ohio. He attended Lafayette College, Sarah Lawrence College, and Temple University, where he received his B.A., M.F.A. in poetry, and Ph.D. in American literature, respectively. In addition to his popular book of essays, The Book of Delights, Gay has authored four books of poetry: Against Which, Bringing the Shovel Down, Be Holding, and Unabashed Gratitude.
Gay began by reading the poem “Two Bikers Embrace on Broad Street.” He followed the poem by reading numerous essays such as “The Marfa Lights,” “The High Five From Strangers,” “Being Read To,” “To the Mulberry Tree,” “Paper Menus and Cash,” and “Goodbye Nana.”
The readings covered a wide range of topics from playing basketball to memories of his late grandmother.
Gay was an interactive speaker, often conversing back and forth with the students during the Q & A session. He asked the audience for personal recounts of mulberry trees before presenting his poem, “To the Mulberry Tree”, and gave the option of a poem or essay for his fi nal reading. Surprised that students requested another poem, he chose “To the Fig Tree on 9th and Christian.”
Pahal Bhasin ’26 said, “The Lambert Lecture was one of the most memorable talks this year. His work truly came to life during his reading, and I am excited to explore more of his writing in the future.”
The lecture concluded with questions from students who asked Gay about his writing process, artistic inspiration, and choice to incorporate humor in his work. Pierre said, “The lecture was different from the normal, boring, robotic, reading. Straight-up accolades.”
Gay attended ms. janan’s creative writing classes to work with students during the day on Monday.
Zeigler said, “After getting to know us individually, he led a creative writing exercise where we wrote a recipe someone we love made for us, and made one for someone else we love.”
Gay also attended a vegan luncheon in the faculty room with students and faculty, visited Fairfield Farm with ms. janan’s Lower Mid English class to watch the solar eclipse, and dined at Frank House with faculty and members of the Lambert family.
