You Better Be Lightning

Gibson’s poetry of love, loss, light, and survival leaves me wordless and goose-bumped, and when I found out they had a new book of poetry coming out, I nearly broke my phone hitting the Preorder button so hard. Recommended By Deana R., Powells.com

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.

"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

"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

"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 (they/them/theirs) is a queer author of five full-length collections of poetry, including Lord of the Butterflies (Button Poetry 2018) which sold over 20,000 copies worldwide. Winner of The Independent Publishers Award in 2019, Andrea is also a two-time Goodreads Choice Awards Finalist. In 2017, Penguin Books published Take Me With You, an illustrated collection of Gibson’s most beloved quotes, and in 2019, Chronicle books published their first nonfiction endeavor, How Poetry Can Change Your Heart. The winner of the first Women’s World Poetry Slam, Gibson has gone on to be featured on BBC, Air America, CSpan, and regularly sells out large capacity venues all over the world. Gibson has also released seven full length albums of spoken word. Their most recent book, You Better Be Lightning, is forthcoming from Button Poetry November 2021.