In an era where poetry often grapples with the ephemeral, Victor Stringer's debut collection, Lingering Light: 80 Poems, published by American Publishers Empire on July 19, 2026, stands as a testament to the enduring nature of human emotion. The collection, now available worldwide on Amazon in Kindle, Paperback, and Hardcover editions, brings together eighty poems written over two decades, organized into seven thematic sections that traverse the landscapes of love, loss, childhood, spirituality, memory, identity, and war.
Stringer, a poet, veteran, and father, has crafted a work that resists easy categorization. The poems move seamlessly between the confessional and the philosophical, drawing from his personal experiences with military service, romantic entanglements, and the everyday moments of raising children. In his own words, the collection is unified not by a single subject but by "a voice that keeps chasing the same thing across very different rooms of a life: something true, something that outlasts the moment it was written in." This pursuit of authenticity is evident in poems like "Being With You," which transports readers through Central Park, the Eiffel Tower, and a sunset in Montego Bay to capture the essence of complete belonging, and "Two Sides of a Broken Heart," where a man returns to a beach haunted by a past love, clutching the halves of a broken heart charm.
The collection's title, Lingering Light, encapsulates its central theme: certain feelings do not resolve neatly; they linger in the body, memory, and the quiet hours between days. This idea resonates throughout the book, particularly in the section on War, Struggle & Warrior Energy, where poems like "A Young Warrior's Request!" address politicians directly from the perspective of a soldier on the ground, grappling with decisions not his own. The inclusion of such politically charged and emotionally raw material underscores the collection's commitment to honesty over spectacle.
Stringer's work also finds room for lightness and play, as seen in the final section featuring poems like "Irish Dancer" and "A Pirate's Life for Me," proving that even a book built on hard-won honesty can embrace joy. The collection's accessibility and emotional depth have already garnered attention, with its availability across international Amazon marketplaces ensuring a wide readership. For those interested in exploring the full scope of Stringer's poetic vision, Lingering Light is available at Amazon, and more about the author can be found on his website.
