A poem made for the stage still has to work on the page. Spoken-word poet Andrea Gibson gathers poems on love, illness and the wider world in You Better Be Lightning.
Readical Key Points
- A poetry collection that its publisher, Button Poetry, presents as queer, political and feminist
- Gold medals from the 2022 Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY) and the 2023 Feathered Quill Book Awards, and a 2021 Goodreads Choice Awards poetry finalist, according to the publisher
- Starred review from Library Journal; also reviewed in Foreword
- Content note: illness, death and grief
- Paperback, 128 pages, Button Poetry, 2021
Gibson moves between the inward and the public. Poems of love and partnership, gender and queer identity, and the body in sickness sit beside poems about politics, the climate and the reach of space. The voice is the one Gibson developed in performance: direct, conversational and unguarded, built to land with a listener the first time through, and the collection's grief sits next to its affection rather than replacing it.
Listeners who found Gibson through videos and live readings will find the poems collected here in print, and readers of contemporary American and LGBTQ+ poetry can take it a few pages at a time. The stage made Gibson's name. This book is the part of the work a reader can carry home.
About the Author
Andrea Gibson started out at a Boulder, Colorado, open mic in 1999 and in 2008 won the first Women of the World Poetry Slam. They published several collections of poetry, released spoken-word albums, and served as Colorado's poet laureate from 2023. Gibson died in July 2025.
Condition: Brand New and Readical Ready.
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