Bright Dead Things examines the chaos that is life the dangerous thrill of living in a world you know you have to leave one day and the search to find something that is ultimately disorderly and marvelous and ours. A book of bravado and introspection of 21st century feminist swagger and harrowing terror and loss this fourth collection considers how we build our identities out of place and human tracing in intimate detail the various ways the speakers sense of self both shifts and perseveres as she moves from New York City to rural Kentucky loses a dear parent ages past the capriciousness of youth and falls in love. Limon has often been a poet who wears her heart on her sleeve but in these extraordinary poems that heart becomes a huge beating genius machine striving to embrace and understand the fullness of the present moment. I am beautiful. I am full of love. I am dying the poet writes. Building on the legacies of forebears such as Frank OHara Sharon Olds and Mark Doty Limons work is consistently generous and accessiblethough every observed moment feels complexly thought felt and lived. show more