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I'll Leave a Light On for You: Poems
Not yet published
Expected 4 Aug 26
I'll Leave a Light On for You
is a meditation on what it means to hold on—to a moment, to a person, to a memory—while knowing that we are continuously changing.
In I’ll Leave a Light On for You, William Bortz weaves a haunting yet hopeful collection of poems that explore the body’s relationship with joy and grief. From breakage, “This body is meant to break and from its shell light will pour out”—to coming back together—“two hands from two bodies placed / on top of one another creates a home”, Bortz captures the lingering trauma, but also the persistence of hope and resiliency.
In I’ll Leave a Light On for You, William Bortz weaves a haunting yet hopeful collection of poems that explore the body’s relationship with joy and grief. From breakage, “This body is meant to break and from its shell light will pour out”—to coming back together—“two hands from two bodies placed / on top of one another creates a home”, Bortz captures the lingering trauma, but also the persistence of hope and resiliency.
Kindle Edition
Expected publication August 4, 2026
7 people want to read
About the author
William Bortz
10 books86 followersWilliam Bortz (he/him) is a husband, poet, and editor from Des Moines, IA. His poems appear in Okay Donkey, Oxidant Engine, Empty Mirror, honey & lime, Turnpike Magazine, Back Patio Press, the Lyrical Iowa Anthology, and others. He is the author of Many Small Hungerings (Andrews McMeel, 2023) and The Grief We're Given (Central Avenue, 2021). Growing up, William spent time in foster care, in homelessness, and in shelters. His aim in writing is to explore how joy lives in uncertainty and mourning.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Thank you to Central Avenue Publishing for the ARC
This collection is so gentle that it almost tricks you. It’s not loud or dramatic, but it keeps tapping you on the shoulder like, “hey…remember that person you never fully got over?” and then just leaves you there with your thoughts. Rude.
I HAVE to talk about the formatting because that’s what made this whole experience for me. I love the formatting choices. Each page is a little different. Some are presented as tables (which??? why does that hit so hard???), others as paragraphs, some are written like song lyrics, and others are bullet lists. A bullet list. In a poetry book. But it works. The length variety is wild too. Some poems are only two lines long while others stretch across multiple pages and force you to sit there and feel everything. Love the contrast.
There’s something so captivating about the style choices. You never know what you’re going to get when you turn the page. Two lines? Five pages? A list? Song lyrics? Three words? It keeps you off balance. I love that feeling of not knowing what’s coming next. It feels like an honest reflection of life. Unpredictable. Uneven. Sometimes brief and sharp. Sometimes long and overwhelming.
Content-wise, some poems are beautiful, while others are absolutely heartbreaking. It captures that tension between holding on and letting go in a way that feels very human.
The writing itself isn’t necessarily super memorable. There weren’t many lines that I immediately wanted to underline or tattoo on my body. But that didn’t matter as much to me here. Because the design choices were what stuck with me. The visual shifts. The way each page felt intentional and different. That’s what I keep thinking about.
Not all the poems hit. Some of them I appreciated more in concept than execution, but the overall experience of reading it will absolutely stay with me. There's something about this book that feels like scrolling through old photos that I just loved.
3 stars for the content. 5 stars for the presentation.
This collection is so gentle that it almost tricks you. It’s not loud or dramatic, but it keeps tapping you on the shoulder like, “hey…remember that person you never fully got over?” and then just leaves you there with your thoughts. Rude.
I HAVE to talk about the formatting because that’s what made this whole experience for me. I love the formatting choices. Each page is a little different. Some are presented as tables (which??? why does that hit so hard???), others as paragraphs, some are written like song lyrics, and others are bullet lists. A bullet list. In a poetry book. But it works. The length variety is wild too. Some poems are only two lines long while others stretch across multiple pages and force you to sit there and feel everything. Love the contrast.
There’s something so captivating about the style choices. You never know what you’re going to get when you turn the page. Two lines? Five pages? A list? Song lyrics? Three words? It keeps you off balance. I love that feeling of not knowing what’s coming next. It feels like an honest reflection of life. Unpredictable. Uneven. Sometimes brief and sharp. Sometimes long and overwhelming.
Content-wise, some poems are beautiful, while others are absolutely heartbreaking. It captures that tension between holding on and letting go in a way that feels very human.
The writing itself isn’t necessarily super memorable. There weren’t many lines that I immediately wanted to underline or tattoo on my body. But that didn’t matter as much to me here. Because the design choices were what stuck with me. The visual shifts. The way each page felt intentional and different. That’s what I keep thinking about.
Not all the poems hit. Some of them I appreciated more in concept than execution, but the overall experience of reading it will absolutely stay with me. There's something about this book that feels like scrolling through old photos that I just loved.
3 stars for the content. 5 stars for the presentation.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
"I'll Leave a Light On for Your," was my first taste of William Bortz's work, and it was a a lovely, short collection that was both gentle and hopeful, yet captured the uncertainty and grief of trauma at the same time.
I appreciated the author's use of various different formatting and ways of arranging the poems themselves - using slashes and writing in a block like a poem-paragraph, a bulleted list etc. It was interesting and you could tell that each piece was chosen purposefully. The entire book is also super accessible in terms of being a great book for folks who aren't *usually* poetry readers. The language is clear, and even when dealing with *big* ideas, feelings, and issues, it feels like a chat with an old friend.
I'm not sure if it was just my eARC copy, but the overall book formatting wasn't ideal to read on either a phone or an e-reader device, so I'm not sure if that was purposeful (whereas the individual poem formats were lovely and surprising, the *book* format was problematic).
Overall a 3.5 star read for me (rounded up to 4) - the work was lovely, but there weren't a lot of lines that really stuck with me or had me underlining/highlighting like I have in other collections. Definitely a collection worthy of checking out if you love poetry!
Thank you to Netgalley, Central Avenue books, and the author, for the ARC copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I appreciated the author's use of various different formatting and ways of arranging the poems themselves - using slashes and writing in a block like a poem-paragraph, a bulleted list etc. It was interesting and you could tell that each piece was chosen purposefully. The entire book is also super accessible in terms of being a great book for folks who aren't *usually* poetry readers. The language is clear, and even when dealing with *big* ideas, feelings, and issues, it feels like a chat with an old friend.
I'm not sure if it was just my eARC copy, but the overall book formatting wasn't ideal to read on either a phone or an e-reader device, so I'm not sure if that was purposeful (whereas the individual poem formats were lovely and surprising, the *book* format was problematic).
Overall a 3.5 star read for me (rounded up to 4) - the work was lovely, but there weren't a lot of lines that really stuck with me or had me underlining/highlighting like I have in other collections. Definitely a collection worthy of checking out if you love poetry!
Thank you to Netgalley, Central Avenue books, and the author, for the ARC copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
February 22, 2026
I love a cohesive collection of poetry when it really can hit to so many different people and how they interpret it.
I’ll leave a light on for you, is a beautiful collection of poetry. I can tell the author really put their soul into the collection.
The work as a whole had really poorly done formatting and structure and the way a poem is presented is so important. So you know when to take a breath and a beat when reading so you consume it how it was intended. This work’s formatting was just none stop. No spacing or line downs. It made it almost confusing to consume.
A lot of these pieces felt undone to me, and do to this and what was mentioned above a lot of them didn’t land to me and I am hoping with some formatting tweaks, that would change.
With that said, I did have multiple favorites, which are:
-View From My Therapist’s Window
-Grasping
-Who am I? Impossible Questions
-I ask God if plucked flowers go to heaven
-Sky
-Body
-My answer when asked if i love my father
-lavender town
-I could Say
-You must
(I’m hoping these titles are correct, it was hard to determine what was the titles due to spacing and formatting issues)
I’ll leave a light on for you, is a beautiful collection of poetry. I can tell the author really put their soul into the collection.
The work as a whole had really poorly done formatting and structure and the way a poem is presented is so important. So you know when to take a breath and a beat when reading so you consume it how it was intended. This work’s formatting was just none stop. No spacing or line downs. It made it almost confusing to consume.
A lot of these pieces felt undone to me, and do to this and what was mentioned above a lot of them didn’t land to me and I am hoping with some formatting tweaks, that would change.
With that said, I did have multiple favorites, which are:
-View From My Therapist’s Window
-Grasping
-Who am I? Impossible Questions
-I ask God if plucked flowers go to heaven
-Sky
-Body
-My answer when asked if i love my father
-lavender town
-I could Say
-You must
(I’m hoping these titles are correct, it was hard to determine what was the titles due to spacing and formatting issues)
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
"I'll leave a light on for you" by William Bortz is a poetry collection that lingers in the mind long after the final page. The poems feel quiet yet powerful, touching on emotions and moments that many readers can relate to.
What stood out to me most is how some of the poems stay with you even after you finish reading them. They invite reflection and make you pause for a moment, which is one of the things that make poetry so powerful and meaningful. The language is simple but effective, allowing emotions behind the words to come through clearly.
Not every poem hits with the same intensity, but the ones that do leave a lasting impression. Overall, this collection offers thoughtful and memorable pieces that readers may find themselves thinking about long after they've put the book down.
What stood out to me most is how some of the poems stay with you even after you finish reading them. They invite reflection and make you pause for a moment, which is one of the things that make poetry so powerful and meaningful. The language is simple but effective, allowing emotions behind the words to come through clearly.
Not every poem hits with the same intensity, but the ones that do leave a lasting impression. Overall, this collection offers thoughtful and memorable pieces that readers may find themselves thinking about long after they've put the book down.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
This poetry collection was tender and hopeful and the title poem especially about the act of choosing each other again and again was beautiful.
Some stand out poems to me were:
Grasping, especially stood out as the tender breath of connection between a baby and parent.
Apple Picking, too, about the delight in simple things providing joy in family life daily.
Even When The Day Is Over, about returning to the one you love after a day whether full of good or bad moments.
Tourniquet, was a great ending poem to remind us all the pain we can inflict on ourselves we have the ability to prevent harming us.
A beautiful concept collection of the light family and connection provides us with hope and love, always.
Some stand out poems to me were:
Grasping, especially stood out as the tender breath of connection between a baby and parent.
Apple Picking, too, about the delight in simple things providing joy in family life daily.
Even When The Day Is Over, about returning to the one you love after a day whether full of good or bad moments.
Tourniquet, was a great ending poem to remind us all the pain we can inflict on ourselves we have the ability to prevent harming us.
A beautiful concept collection of the light family and connection provides us with hope and love, always.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Thank you to NetGalley and Central Avenue Publishing for the e-arc.
First time ever reading anything from William Bortz, and after reading this book, I will definitely be picking up his other poetry collections cause this one was so beautiful. My absolute favorite one was the one that was titled "I'll Leave A Light On For You" and when he spoke about the meaning behind it oh my gosh you guys my heartstrings have been tugged and it was the sweetest thing ever 😭😭 I felt his love for his family, I felt his love for life in general even when being in the mist of a very painful moment. It truly is just one of those poetry books that motivates you to change your outlook in life and let love win above all else.
First time ever reading anything from William Bortz, and after reading this book, I will definitely be picking up his other poetry collections cause this one was so beautiful. My absolute favorite one was the one that was titled "I'll Leave A Light On For You" and when he spoke about the meaning behind it oh my gosh you guys my heartstrings have been tugged and it was the sweetest thing ever 😭😭 I felt his love for his family, I felt his love for life in general even when being in the mist of a very painful moment. It truly is just one of those poetry books that motivates you to change your outlook in life and let love win above all else.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Thoughts:
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. This is a tender and beautiful collection of poetry. The poems reflecting on parenthood are especially sweet and tender. I think that the idea of showing the different sides of a porch light left on was a great idea but I didn’t really feel that the poems for each section aligned with the premise of the section.
Favourite Quote:
“we are handed another day
we say thank you
we do not consider how many times it was unsuccessfully pried from our
hands”
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. This is a tender and beautiful collection of poetry. The poems reflecting on parenthood are especially sweet and tender. I think that the idea of showing the different sides of a porch light left on was a great idea but I didn’t really feel that the poems for each section aligned with the premise of the section.
Favourite Quote:
“we are handed another day
we say thank you
we do not consider how many times it was unsuccessfully pried from our
hands”
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I really wanted to like this more than I did. My first time reading anything by this author and I think he has raw talent, but it’s just not my preferred style of poetry. There were too many metaphors for rain and apples. It just felt repetitive like he was saying the same thing in different ways but I couldn’t grasp the point. However, the poem “Fruit” I liked very much. Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for an eARC.
February 28, 2026
3.5 stars! Thanks to Netgalley for this ARC copy. This poetry collection covered a wide range of topics, including the authors relationship with their family. The poems were so descriptive and vulnerable. I really enjoyed “I Dream in Many Colors.” This is a collection you can read in one sitting. Not a 5 star for me, but definitely worth checking out this collection!
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
{ARC} emotional and moving. but i didn't find myself completely immersed in this collection, as i have done with others. would still recommend; definitely worth the read. i can imagine it connecting more with other certain people.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews