Thousands

Lightsey makes razor-sharp thought experiments that don't leave any room for hedging on her part or on the reader's part. No matter what she writes about, she's coming at you with full force and isn't going to worry about your comfort. This is Lightsey's most accessible book to date, focusing on experiences that are common to many of us (relationships, work, children) but she approaches them in a way that is unyielding, unsentimental, and without cliche.Thousands owes a debt to Susan Sontag's Reborn (the first volume of her journals) and Sontag's chronicling of frustration and fruition. Lightsey's poetry is rigorous and smart, but also infused with energy. You can see the connection to her career as a dancer in her performance of it, making her an electric reader.