{"product_id":"you-better-be-lightning-button-poetry","title":"You Better Be Lightning (Button Poetry)","description":"\u003cp\u003eA 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 \u003cem\u003eYou Better Be Lightning\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReadical Key Points\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA poetry collection that its publisher, Button Poetry, presents as queer, political and feminist\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGold 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\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eStarred review from Library Journal; also reviewed in Foreword\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eContent note: illness, death and grief\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePaperback, 128 pages, Button Poetry, 2021\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGibson 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eListeners 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAndrea 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCondition:\u003c\/strong\u003e Brand New and Readical Ready.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eReadical™ is an independent bookstore and reading-products brand built around a simple idea: books matter most when what we learn leaves the page and enters our lives.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eApply the Page. Get Readical™.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Button Poetry","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47854479573141,"sku":"NEW-ING-PB-1943735999","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0800\/5861\/3909\/files\/57_2bb599c9-dda4-4895-94de-59cba8f58cc8.jpg?v=1787904137","url":"https:\/\/readical.com\/products\/you-better-be-lightning-button-poetry","provider":"Readical","version":"1.0","type":"link"}