Let Go with the Lights On

by Lexi Pelle

If you’ve ever opened a stranger’s nightstand or scrolled through a lover’s phone then you know what it’s like to read Lexi Pelle’s poetry. Restless, intimate, and heartbreakingly whole, Let Go With The Lights On is a frame by frame look at the way desire can shape a life. Told with a reverence for honesty and a love of pop culture, here are stories of flirtation, family, heartbreak, eating disorders, sexual awakenings and reckless, blaring, heart-flinging love. These poems will leave you breathless, but begging for more.

Genres: Poetry

92 pages, Paperback

Published March 8, 2024

Reviews

[Toni · Rating 5 out of 5]

This poetry collection is funny, honest, nostalgic, and moving all at once. Lexi Pelle has a storytelling style that feels like we’re in a ‘90s bedroom painting our nails while she drops truth bombs disguised as poems.

I especially loved:
“I Try on the Strapless Top”
“Goods”
“The Nuns Came By Bus”
“Highlights”
“Elderly Couple Found Dead Buried Under Snow”
“The Bats are Having Non-Penetrative Sex in a Church”

Let Go with the Lights On is a fantastic debut—entertaining, playful, and revealing. It captures femininity, growing up, relationships, and the kinds of everyday moments that quietly stick with you. I felt seen, surprised, and utterly charmed.

P.S. Lexi also hosts writing workshops! I’ve attended two—“Metaphors that Matter” and “Twist and Turn”—and both were excellent.

[Courtney LeBlanc · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of poems about the body, identity, faith, family, and desire.

from 2000's Eyebrows: "I know now they're out of fashion. / Bushy is back, as is strong and bold / and feathered. I'm not asking for / a comeback, all I'm trying to say is / I've spent years trying to grow out / the look of surprise on my face."

from Diet Coke: "The first time I tried it / I thought it tasted like a backhanded / compliment, surprisingly good, / like dark dizzying lake like a cactus / burped Splenda into my mouth."

from Ode to the Way We Move: "Our small rebellion in the common room / of the locked ward—we shimmy our sweats / into slip dresses, our bodies loud as a nightclub."

[Clayton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lift off! Reading, "Let Go..." feels like flying. Not a wasted word. Full of pop culture, full of depth. Poems about what it's like to be a young woman in this world (which I no longer am) and much more. Great lines throughout... "To our well-to-do neighbors, my mother was like a corndog on a tray of caviar." This artful book is one I'll return to again and again.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was an ideal blend of wisdom and wit. One of the best poetry collection I've read this year. Every poem was incredible but "Parable of the Girls" and "The Nuns Came By Bus" were my favorites.

[Hillary Smith-Maddern · Rating 5 out of 5]

All the feels. 💕❤️🩷

[Carson Wolfe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lexi Pelle's "Let Go With The Lights On" is my new favourite collection of poetry. Lexi captures the complexities of girlhood and its intersections with coming of age and religion. From the very first page, her words shimmer with a unique blend of vulnerability and strength, inviting readers into a world where emotions are not just felt but vividly experienced. Each poem in this collection is meticulous and well-crafted, no word is superfluous. Lexi weaves together raw emotion with striking imagery, creating verses that resonate long after the page is turned. For example, in Elderly Couple Found Dead Buried Under Snow, she opens:

The man on top
of the woman,

frozen like the slice
of wedding cake

my mother kept
for years in the freezer.

Everyone must read these poems. They have stayed with me long after reading, and I will continue to use them to teach my own students.