Let Go with the Lights On

Lexi Pelle's debut, Let Go With The Lights On, chronicles a wise-cracking ex-Catholic girl's rollercoaster life while troubling the notions of self, art, religion, and beauty.

Through the lens of pop culture, these candid narratives reimagine beauty standards and grapple with the awkwardness of girlhood, struggles with body image and recovery, and questions of faith. In this intimate journey, with a fearless and unreserved voice, Pelle constructs a vivid frame-by-frame exploration of the profound ways in which desire molds the contours of our lives. These introspective poems illuminate the complexities of love, our human beliefs and desires.

Lexi Pelle is a poet and editor living in New Jersey. She was the winner of the 2022 Jack McCarthy Book Prize, a Pushcart Prize nominee, and a finalist for the Prufer Poetry Prize and the Marvin Bell Poetry Prize. Her work has appeared in Rattle, Ninth Letter, SWWIM, Sucarnochee Review, and The Shore.