Kay West's Reviews > A Little Daylight Left: Poems

A vulnerable poetry collection that looks at the bittersweet realities around facing ourselves when our future is here.

Sarah Kay and I are the same age, and I first found her spoken poetry when she released "If I should have a Daughter" 13 years ago. I bought and cherished her book, "No Matter the Wreckage", which was very much about self-discovery and the future. I felt so personally connected to that book and like the poems were mirroring my experiences with the world. A Little Daylight Left has me feeling the same way.

A Little Daylight feels like a life-update or a response to the call in that previous book. Like Sarah-now is speaking to Sarah-then and updating her on what has happened. Reflecting on her feelings from over a decade ago, and measuring herself against that version of herself that she had imagined.

Sarah brings the same cleverness in her writing that makes it hard to pull just one line out. Each poem is speaking to itself and building off itself. She weaves words together so tightly that you don't notice the full beauty of the poem until you get to the end and step back. I often would finish a poem, just to go back and read it again.

I highlighted so much in this book. I even just highlighted the title of the poem, "My great grandchildren finally get skeptical", because it was easier than highlighting the whole poem.

A few of my favourite quotes
- Nice poem you got there. Would be a shame if death was inevitable & you couldn't fit your arms around it.
- I am not an optimist but I play one in the group chat
- Where is my prize for most unreliable narrator? I would never lie to you, but I lie to me all the time.
- I am just three anxieties in a trench coat - always the old timey detective, never the femme fatale.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for providing this ARC.

This book is best read after going through your high school yearbook and trying to find where you left yourself.