I Can See The Lights by Russ Litten

After taking part in the Bookstagram (you can find me on Instagram @simplysuze70) tour for I Can See The Lights I was delighted to be invited to take part in this blog tour. Huge thanks to Kelly at Love Books Tours for the invite and to the publisher for my review copy.

The Blurb:

The prose poems in I Can See The Lights are earthy and raw, but also incredibly sensitive. It’s pretty much guaranteed that more than one of them will bring you to tears. Characters are vividly brought to life, and stark but warm environments evoked in a down to earth, yet almost painterly manner by Russ Litten’s uncompromising voice.

Tales of home, of un-belonging, of strife at sea – of a northern city’s beating heart. Told in a mesmeric, stripped-down tone, this collection is a work of genius.

I Can See The Lights will be published on 10th February 2020 by Wild Pressed Books. You can pre order it from the publisher and the usual retailers.


My Review:

Regular visitors to this blog will know that I love poetry, and it's always good to come across new poets.

I Can See The Lights is a slim volume of 63 pages. My copy had post it notes on at least a third of those pages marking lines I liked, poems I was moved by and ones I wanted to read again.

Russ Litten doesn't pull any punches with his poems. They are gritty, raw.  They talk about the reality for many; poverty, shoplifting, fishing, drinking, drugs, gambling, prison and a lack of hope. But Litten has a clever turn of phrase meaning there is beauty amongst the bleak.

from THE BOOKIE:
'Bring your offerings to my altar
Like ransom notes from the future,'
and
'But hope springs eternal when the day is most bleak,
when starting bells ring and whistles shriek,'

from MAYFAIR:
'Bob the artist's got a sporran on
cos in London nobody cares what you got up your skirt,
nobody's bothered about your love bites or bruises
or your ballads of urban hurt.'

There are more positive poems too. I loved A HEART'S SUPPOSED TO LAST. A simple exchange between a father and his kids is described perfectly. It's just lovely. And MIRROR, my favourite of the collection I think, is a beautiful poem about beauty.

The poem which gives it's name to the book tells of a remembered, or imagined, drunken walk home from the pub for the writer and his father, and contains some great lines, for example,
'...let's walk a staggered tango
quick, quick slow,
three steps sideways
two steps back,'
And there are many other examples in this poem and throughout the book. Simple but very effective phrasing.

Other poems of note for me were MONDAY MORNING 10am, HULL, INDUCTION and because it made me smile DEAN LICKED MY BALLS. I didn't relate to every poem, but that's fine, I didn't necessarily expect to. But there were plenty I liked, and some that touched me. They felt authentic and that's what worked for me. I will look out for more from Litten. For someone who doesn't consider himself a poet, he writes pretty good poetry!


The Author:

Russ Litten is the author of the novels Scream If You Want To Go Faster, Swear Down, Kingdom and the short story collection We Know What We Are.

As one half of the electronic storytelling duo Cobby and Litten, he has released three spoken word/electronica albums My People Come From The Sea, Boothferry and Pound Shop Communism.

He has written for TV, radio and film and has worked as a writer in residence at various prisons and youth offender units. I Can See The Lights is his first poetry collection.