You Better Be Lightning, by Andrea Gibson

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.
 
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Gibson expertly walks the line between grief and hope, giving readers a deeply layered collection . . . . With all the grace and hope that fans of Gibson’s work have come to expect, the author finds beauty even in the most painful moments of their life.
— Ronnie K. Stephens, Lambda Literary
 
Andrea Gibson’s unabashedly emotional poetry performances create communal spaces for audiences to feel through the pain and joy of being queer, express queer love, and break the isolation of mental illness. None of this emotional power is lost in the transition from stage to page. . . . Their work is full of transformations—the lighter beneath a crack spoon becomes dripping ice cream—and witnessing these transformations offers liberation and healing.
— Elizabeth Hoover, Star Tribune
 
Andrea Gibson’s poetry surges on a wave of perseverance. Even as their poems reckon with depression and political turmoil, there’s a thread of possibility and hope within them—it may be unraveling, but it’s there, and Gibson wants you to take note.
— Caitlin Wolper, Nylon