The Lights by Ben Lerner (2023)

I often review fiction on this blog because it is what I generally enjoy the most. I’m not opposed to reading non-fiction or other more artistic labours, but I find that I end up enjoying them less. This was not so with The Lights, which, while I don’t tthink I fully understood (and might never), I did end up coming around to it.

The Lights is modern (contemporary?) poetry. The only poetry I have read up until now has been what was prescribed in school, with some Poe sprinkled in about three years ago. Needless to say, I was completely out of my depth with this. So why am I talking about it?

As always, partly because this is my space and I enjoy writing about what I’ve read, and partly because this collection spoke to me. In 114 pages, I was challenged to read in a different way. Sometimes this was for the worse; there was a poem that incorporated ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ as a motif which made me roll my eyes. But more often than not I found myself thinking more deeply about what I had read than I have in a while. It’s also not something I can explain well beyond “this spoke to me.”

The Lights The Lights The Lights. Part beautiful scripture, part pretentious ramblings, all interesting as a first forray into poetry. I don’t think I can give it a score given how little of substance I have to say about it, but I would cautiously recommend it if you’re in the business of words as art.