I’d Rather Be Lightning is a love song to the earth, celebrating what we stand to lose. These poems are “throwing a tantrum” about the climate crisis, written by a “child / of imperialism whining about freedom / from the bondage of stuff.” What do you get when you combine capitalism, environmentalism, ecology, globalization, fascism, economic crisis, and global pandemic? Nancy Lynée Woo transmutes anxiety into dynamic and playful poems, writing into the absurdity of the global crises facing humanity with a soft wit, enduring hope, and deep love for the more-than-human world. Eco-feminism moving at lightspeed, I’d Rather Be Lightning captures a Millennial’s despair over environmental destruction with bolts of humor, compassion, and formal experimentation.
Nancy Lynée Woo is an eco-centric poet based in southern California who harbors a wild love for the natural world. She has released a full-length poetry book entitled I’d Rather Be Lightning from Gasher Press, as well as two chapbooks. Her poems have appeared in Tupelo Quarterly, Radar Poetry, Stirring, West Trade Review, Cathexis Northwest Press, and others. Nancy has received fellowships from PEN America Emerging Voices, California Creative Corps, Artists at Work, Arts Council for Long Beach, Plympton Writing Downtown Las Vegas, and Idyllwild Writers Week. Her poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. She has an MFA from Antioch University and a BA in sociology and environmental studies from UC Santa Cruz. She is the creator of the community-based poetry space Surprise the Line and believes in the power of the arts to bring people together. She currently serves as the Long Beach Youth Poet Laureate Fellow, supporting and mentoring a cohort of talented teen poets. You can find her online at nancylyneewoo.com and on social media @fancifulnance.
When this burned-out eco-activist read the first of these poems, I wanted to yell loud enough to be heard across the country. Bravo! Bravo!
By sharing her experiences, this poet nudges us out of numbed states of helplessness and lights up the sense of world-wonder that started us on our path.
“I haven’t found one thing the stars aren’t a cure for.” This first line stopped me in my tracks and slowly sank in. I often reread it for a sense of relief.
Years ago, I wrote that creatures become extinct in our minds before they disappear from the world. Nancy gently coaxes us to remember “the ridiculous brilliance of an acorn”, the world’s “miraculous blue”, the black bear, bobcat, screech owl – all the life we are blind to..
She also asks key questions:”I wonder how far humanity will go for a profit,.. whether we will find another home like this one” As we are overwhelmed by news of floods, fires, storms or, even worse, experiencing them, we are easily pushed into a chrysalis of hopeless apathy. Nancy Lynee Woo acknowledges the danger and the damage, and at the same time, offers steps towards a hopeful future. These steps grow out of our rediscovered love and awe at this amazing world we inhabit (albeit thought-lessly). The passion and love and beauty that drives this poetry refreshes our spirits and re-energizes us. For all who dread hearing more news of extinctions and destruction, “I’d Rather Be Lightning” helps us build a hope-filled path and reminds us, just like this visiting hummingbird, to notice Signs of Hope wherever we find them. Maureen Kellen-Taylor, Ph.D. https://regener8tion.com Climate Reality Leader and Creatives for Climate Member Awards from California Arts Council, Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, Poets and Writers, Boreal Environmental Center and others. Author: Imagination and the World The Arts in Psychotherapy, Vol. 25, No. 5, pp. 303–311, 1998
Shaken to the core in the best way possible. Nancy Lynee Woo's latest collection takes the reader on an unprecedented tour of not only Long Beach and Southern California, but of a larger view of the world with a majestic metaphoria that swirls about like lightning bolt zygote ideas and harvested with aplomb via the poet's keen eye for detail. Because yes, "Sometimes, Self-Medication" gets us through rough days. Because yes, "I wake to harvest rain" in "Everyday Apocalypse." Because yes, "a panic is nothing but a flurry of neurons" in "The Line Between." If your bookshelf is missing a poetry collection by Nancy, let this be the the one that you purchase first.
This is solarpunk at its best. It’s an incredibly timely and deeply necessary body of work.
I met Nancy at Page Against the Machine, and independent bookstore in Long Beach popular with local activists, where she was a featured poet at a reading. She read a few pieces from I’d Rather Be Lightening, and I was really drawn to her ability to talk about the climate anxiety, and even dread, that I know many of us feel, but to do it in a way that felt close to home, intimate and personal.
I feel lucky to have met Nancy in person, and so grateful to have found her work to help me process my own climate anxiety.
This poet wrote a poem in BINARY Code!!! As a poet who spends time with engineers, I can't tell you how brilliant this poem and the structure the poet used are to me, the reader. I was blown away. This poem is so impactful for its creativity and its code.
This book is full of lessons and reasons to scream at what the world is doing to the planet. This book teaches you that even in the most minor ways, we can make a huge impact and protect our mother - earth. The poetry here is impactful; it draws awareness and hope for a better future. I love how interactive this poetry book is as well. It's one of my favorites, and I always show my engineer friends that code is poetry, too!
Nancy’s words are powerful and also down to earth. She writes true to power from her unique lens and experience. I especially love how she writes with vulnerability. Her poem “The Big One” is my of my favorite as a climate organizer. Art forms like this can change how we talk about activism and the climate movements. We need it!
I love how bold and playful the poems are, how they invite the reader in but also let them know they have a responsibility to do better. I also appreciated how they challenge what we’ve thought to believe is “true” or “right” and offer something different, not a solution but a way of being.
I'd Rather Be Lightning is a collection of decisive and surreal poems—as existential as they are hopeful. This is a collection for our moment—it could not have come at a better time.
This is a masterpiece! This book is filled with wonderful surrealism that’s very grounded, but then takes off like a shooting star supernova that blows our minds away. This is a must have!
I just got a copy of your poetry book! Reading your poems is like having bites of chocolate— rich and comforting. I also love the size and layout -- so much space to appreciate each poem.