I will refuse to call it heaven

if the people I love

(who put me through hell)

aren’t there.

Summary

You Better Be Lightning by Andrea Gibson is a queer, political, and feminist collection guided by self-reflection. The poems range from close examination of the deeply personal to the vastness of the world, exploring the expansiveness of the human experience from love to illness, from space to climate change, and so much more in between. One of the most celebrated poets and performers of the last two decades, Andrea Gibson’s trademark honesty and vulnerability are on full display in You Better Be Lightning, welcoming and inviting readers to be just as they are.

Review

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

I can’t tell you honestly what made me decide to pick up this book. I don’t know of the author or even really read poetry. But I am really glad I did.

Bitterness is the easiest way 

to leave this world having had only

a near-life experience.

There is profound beautiful elegant truth in Gibson’s words. There are words and lines and full poems that just spoke to my osul. To the parts of me that have felt grief and loss and love. I practically highlighted half of the book in an effort to remind myself of the parts of the book that spoke the most to me.

Gibson’s poetry was powerful. It punched me in the gut with its truth. Especially “Queer Youth are Five Times More Likely to Die By Suicide”. It hurt. And yet, it stayed with me, long after I turned the page.

I found myself looking out the window, pondering, feeling…just absorbing after every poem. I didn’t want to digest it too quickly, and forget something, gloss over something she wrote. I wanted to feel it all. I wanted to understand it all. I wanted to just exist in this book, at that time, in that moment forever

INSTEAD OF DEPRESSION

try calling it hibernation.

Imagine the darkness is a cave

in which you will be nurtured

by doing absolutely nothing.

I identify with Gibson as a person, an an inhabitant of this blue marble, as a girl in search of love. There is distance between Gibson and I, in age and in time and in experiences, but her words fill every gap between us.

38 thoughts on “You Better Be Lightning by Andrea Gibson”

  1. 293932 150325Hi this really is somewhat of off subject but I was wondering if blogs use WYSIWYG editors or in the event you need to manually code with HTML. Im starting a blog soon but have no coding information so I wanted to get guidance from someone with experience. Any help would be greatly appreciated! 364486

  2. Pingback: canadian rx viagra
  3. Pingback: canadian viagra
  4. Pingback: sildenafil over counter
  5. Pingback: daily tadalafil 5mg
  6. Pingback: cipla cialis 20mg
  7. Pingback: tadalafil india online
  8. Pingback: tadalafil 40mg professional
  9. Pingback: tadalafil 20mg cialis
  10. Pingback: cialis pills price
  11. Pingback: remedio tadalafil 5mg
  12. Pingback: generico de cialis
  13. Pingback: cialis cost cvs
  14. Pingback: tadalafil 500mg capsules
  15. Pingback: cialis prices
  16. Pingback: black tadalafil 80mg
  17. Pingback: 5mg tadalafil
  18. Pingback: viagra wikipedia
  19. Pingback: cialis teva generic
  20. Pingback: viagra for women
  21. Pingback: cialis 800mg india
  22. Major thanks for the blog article.Really looking forward to read more. Much obliged.

  23. Thank you! Fantastic information.
    help with english writing https://argumentativethesis.com write a narrative essay https://essaypromaster.com

  24. I really like your writing style, great information, regards for posting :D. “In every affair consider what precedes and what follows, and then undertake it.” by Epictetus.

  25. Having read this I thought it was very informative. I appreciate you taking the time and effort to put this article together. I once again find myself spending way to much time both reading and commenting. But so what, it was still worth it!

  26. Merely wanna state that this is very beneficial , Thanks for taking your time to write this.

    1. Erin, USA 2022 04 23 06 20 27 cialis from india Adiposity in childhood predicts obesity and insulin resistance in young adulthood

  27. You really make it appear really easy along with your presentation however I in finding this topic to be really one thing that I believe I might by no means understand. It seems too complex and very extensive for me. I’m looking ahead in your subsequent post, I?¦ll attempt to get the hang of it!

    1. Monitor Closely 1 bosentan will decrease the level or effect of tasimelteon by affecting hepatic intestinal enzyme CYP3A4 metabolism buy zithromax 1000 mg online

  28. Hi there very nice blog!! Man .. Excellent .. Amazing .. I will bookmark your blog and take the feeds alsoKI’m glad to seek out so many helpful info right here in the put up, we’d like work out more techniques in this regard, thanks for sharing. . . . . .

  29. I have been absent for some time, but now I remember why I used to love this website. Thanks , I¦ll try and check back more frequently. How frequently you update your website?

  30. Hey! I know this is kinda off topic but I’d figured I’d ask. Would you be interested in exchanging links or maybe guest authoring a blog post or vice-versa? My website covers a lot of the same subjects as yours and I think we could greatly benefit from each other. If you happen to be interested feel free to send me an e-mail. I look forward to hearing from you! Excellent blog by the way!

  31. I have been surfing online more than 3 hours lately, yet I by no means found any interesting article like yours. It is pretty value sufficient for me. In my view, if all website owners and bloggers made just right content material as you did, the internet might be a lot more useful than ever before.

  32. I believe you have remarked some very interesting points, appreciate it for the post.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *