Sometimes I find it challenging to review a book of poetry, but A Little Daylight Left really struck a chord with me. I've been feeling very introspective and slightly melancholy lately, and these poems just spoke to my soul and resonated with me. Yes, these poems describe difficult times, but also how we make it through changed and stronger. Thanks to NetGalley and The Dial Press for the ARC.

"A Little Daylight Left" begins with poetry which depicts the process in which the naïveté of childhood slowly disappears as you reach adulthood. As I read through the beginning of this collection, I really resonated with the message of realizing the moment when you are finally old enough that you suddenly become the adult that you once relied on when you were a child: and now there will be young people looking to you for answers for the rest of your life. I think that Kay describes this collection of poetry very well when she states later on in one of the poems: "If there was a girl scout badge for ease with human vulnerability I think I could earn it". A very accurate description of this collection is "vulnerability", which is something that I really gravitate towards when reading poetry. "A Little Daylight Left" includes poems that discuss coping with the pain of grief and of heartbreak; the pain of transitioning into new phases of life; the pain of self-doubt and of realizing your body isn't going to cooperate with you. Different poems will surely resonate with different people, and I connected with a good portion of this collection. Thank you to NetGalley, The Dial Press, and Sarah Kay for providing an early digital ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

Sarah Kay is an intricate storyteller. I can picture every poem as if I was in the room and while I’m there she always makes my heart ache in the best way.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin for an advanced copy.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for access to this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

As an English teacher, I adore Sarah Kay, mostly for her spoken word videos, which I show my students when we tackle slam/spoken word poetry. A Little Daylight Left is full of heart and reflection on love, grief, and living. This poetry collection, Kay's second full-length publication, is one that I read slowly. It is divided into three sections, and so I would read a section per night and sometimes I would pause to allow the words to sink in.

I rate the collection 3 stars because, while the poetry was moving, I feel it would have impacted me more if I had heard Sarah Kay read it. That is more about her writing style. The poet tends to use "enjambment" where there is no punctuation, making everything feel like a run-on sentence. I am not accustomed to reading poetry like that, so I think some poems failed to resonate with me.

Overall, a bit of a mixed bag but I would still recommend it to students and friends that enjoy poets who experiment with different styles.


#ALittleDaylightLeft #NetGalley.
Expected Publication 01/04/25
Goodreads Review 11/03/25

I enjoyed this book of poetry and connected with many of the poems. This was my first encounter with Sarah Kay’s poems and I’m eager to read more.

Fans who have waited for Sarah Kay’s second full-length collection will not be disappointed. Equal parts hurt and hopeful, Kay’s words will resonate deep in that place in your chest where you try to hide the things you don’t want to feel. This collection contains a poem for every emotion, and I highly recommend reading.

Wow! This is my first encounter with a work by Sarah Kay and let me just say I was not disappointed. Their work is really good and a nice change of pace after going through a reading slump! Thank you to NetGalley and Sarah Kay’s publishing house for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review! 4/5 stars ⭐️

𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸.

3.5 stars.
Some of the poems in this book were really good, like Worth celebrating and Jakurta January (Jakurta January DESTROYED me), and really affected me, but as a whole, I don’t think A little daylight left had a big impact on me. I do still think this is a good book, but I think another reader would be able to appreciate it more than I have.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read this! My full review will be posted on Instagram and Goodreads on March 31st, in preparation for publication day!

I actually really enjoyed this poetry collection. Initially, I was reading the first few poems and almost felt overwhelmed by them, as the way they read felt fast and my thoughts as an AuDHD person already go very fast. Though, the more that I read, the more that was exactly what charmed me. I think that is something that really contributed to the emotion and I am grateful now for the range of emotions I experienced by just the formatting and flow of the writing. The poem's themselves were written beautifully, with a lot to ponder at times and even warranted rereads at several points.

This was my first exposure to Sarah Kay, but I am very interested in more of this writer's work now!

🌆 A Little Daylight Left by Sarah Kay 🌆

A Little Daylight Left is a spoken word poetry book full of vulnerable musings on life, love, loss, and everything in between.

I don’t read poetry terribly often but I enjoyed this collection! I loved how prevalent living in New York City was to these poems because New York City is my very favorite place in the entire world. I always love anything that feels like a love letter to the city, and many of these poems feel that way.

Worth Celebrating really hit me in the feels, as someone whose friends no longer all live in the same city but who did have that remarkable experience in my youth. I don’t think I appreciated it enough then, but I do now.

Jakarta, January crushed me as both a parent and as a human being who remembers the events referenced. It’s powerful in its cadence and imagery.

I took my time to read this collection. Is it 5 star poetry? Maybe not but the images and stories stay with me. I love hearing her voice online, but this collection was worth a quiet slow read. Parts I wish I knew what was the story behind the words. Her images of The sky will have me going to rooftops every time I am in NYC. Others have me wrapped in soft quilt on my front porch at dusk.
Even her notes & acknowledgements at the end are poetic and tell a story.
Even if you have never liked poetry- try this or listen to a phrase or two.
“Caught in my brain’s spiderweb”
“The way of an ocean wave is not created out of nothing… “
“She understood that what feels unknown is an opportunity for remembering “
She gives us “an explosion of upside down clementine cotton candy cloud wisps” we wish we would have seen on the Hudson.
Maybe I am into signs. This comes out April 1, my wedding anniversary. Pick up a copy or two. One for you and a friend.
Thank you Netgalley for the chance to read an advance for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review! I loved this poetry collection. I haven't really picked up a lot of poetry before, but this is the kind of poetry I want to read. While this will obviously reach a large volume of readers, each poem felt as if it was meant to be whispered in the reader's ear, creating a kind of intimacy between the author and the reader. Each poem can describe a fleeting moment of someone's day, or evoke a hazy childhood memory that can disappear from your mind as quickly as it came into it. There is a broad range of emotions captured here, and I think that while every reader will walk away with a different opinion about this collection, there will be a shared emotional experience to be discussed and shared.

This collection is out April 1, and if you are looking for something to inspire you as we begin to enter spring, or even something to get you through these last few days of winter, I highly recommend picking this collection up.

I've loved this poet's work since I first saw her TED talk many years ago. She traps images and situations beneath the magnifying glass of her gaze. Somehow she transforms very personal memories into universal experiences. I suppose that is the magical alchemy of poetry, after all. Whatever it is, this poet's magic is great and wonderful to roll in. There's some experiments with form, line breaks and spaces, that take me some work to get used to. I defintely feel like I am reading someone's most personal diary. Sometimes, I like that. Sometimes, I feel like a trespasser. Overall, definitely a solid four star. Well done!

I will admit I was initially drawn to this book because of the stunning cover! I also would like to explore more poetry, a genre I haven't delved very much into. As with any collection of writing, some of the poems spoke more to me than others and I think if I re-read this in a few years I would walk away with completely different ideas. I found the poems specifically relating to anxiety and parental anxiety to be very moving and effective. This collection seems to be about coming-of-age, and reflections on youth and aging, and what it's like to sit on the ledge, with both in plain sight.

The poems are well written but I just wasn't a fan of this type of poetry. Maybe this type of poetry is better seen live, as it sounds more like spoken poetry and it doesn't hit the same as written poetry. Other people loved this so I know that the book will find its audience, I'm just simply not one.

I am a huge fan of poetry and yet had no clue who Sarah Kay is prior to requesting A Little Daylight Left. This book of poetry was perfect for this season of my life. Kay’s poetry reminds you to stay present in life and most especially my favorite part is the reminder to keep chasing sunsets (or sunrises in my case).

To be honest, I'm having a hard time categorizing these poems, which is part of why I don't want to give this book 5 stars. Some of the pieces are wonderfully nostalgic or tantalizingly observant. Others are full of raw horror and deep sorrow. A few are angry. I really loved Kay's clever use of metaphor, even if I often had to read a poem a few times to get the gist of it. It was also fascinating to watch some of these poems pull together two topics that seem to have nothing to do with one another, but somehow by the end of the piece, they make sense. I can say that I found a few new favorites in this book of poems, primarily at the beginning and end, but there were quite a few that weren't for me. I would recommend this book of poems to anyone who likes poetry, but I'm fairly confident that because of the wide range of topics and emotions here, there will be some that won't hit right.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

"& what is a girl if not a pulsing thing learning what the world will take from her"

Sarah Kay's poetry is captivating, and I loved reading this collection. At the end of multiple poems, I found myself pausing to digest and then immediately rereading because it was just *so much* -- but in the best way.

Achingly beautiful and completely relatable. Can't wait for more.
Thank you to the publisher for the eARC in exchange for my review.

Sarah Kay’s latest collection of poetry, written a decade after her debut, explores the joy, sorrow and messiness of being human, but gets bogged down with unnecessary filler words and rambling metaphors. A handful of poems, like “Worth Celebrating,” “Table Games,” “Sharpshooters,” “Allow Me Just This One,” and “Jello” captured my attention, but most rolled over me like a tumbleweed. Some poems were pretentious and others contained lines repeating the same metaphor but in varying ways (seriously… we got your drift the first time). Additionally, I was not impressed by her liberal use of the ampersand, which made every poem seem like a run-on sentence.

Perhaps I would have enjoyed this collection more if I heard her recite these poems in person or on a YouTube video. Reading them was a sorry consolation prize and unfortunately didn’t capture the cadence or depth of feeling Kay meant for them to have.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an electronic ARC of this poetry collection.

Thank you Net Galley and Publishers for letting me read an arc of this book in return for an honest review,

This poetry book was powerful and vulnerable and the writing was absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately it wasn't a me book, but that's ok. It's a book for someone who loves the difficult things in life - heartbreak, ailing loved ones, new beginnings and uncertain futures. It's a spoken word poetry book so I feel like I might have liked these better listening to them out loud instead of reading. There were some poems I really enjoyed and were relatable to me but as a whole it wasn't my cup of tea. I am glad to have branched out to something new though.