After The Flood Comes The Apologies

By Naoise Gale

After the Flood Comes the Apologies is the debut pamphlet of emerging autistic poet Naoise Gale.

Including the poems Tomorrow, runner up in the Parkinson's Art Poetry Competition 2020, and Fruit

of Her Womb, commended in the Poetry Space Competition 2020, it is pamphlet of confessional

poetry, full of gritty, unromanticised images of mental illness. It explores the bizarre, the ironic and

the ugly. Beginning with the glory and anxiety of a gifted childhood, it descends into the chaos of

mental illness and the obliteration of early promise. Some poems explore the hysteria and

hopelessness of anorexia, while others focus on the dazzling highs and numb lows of painkiller

addiction. Later poems address the horror of withdrawal, the ambivalence towards recovery, and

the temptation to backtrack. This is a pamphlet chronicling self-destruction, yet it offers a slither of

hope, as the voice emerges wounded but unbroken, and walks towards a tentative recovery. It also

touches upon manic episodes, self-harm and asexuality. This is a world of hospital corridors, clueless

doctors, grotty student flats, and surprisingly, drizzly Venetian canals, as Naoise studied in Venice for

three months. Written by a student with lived experience of mental illness, this pamphlet is

dedicated to those who have suffered or are still suffering, and to those who have refused to give up

on them.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1838432183
• ISBN13: 9781838432188
• Release Date: November 2021
• Publisher: Nine Pens
• Length: 36 Pages
• Weight: 0.13 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.3" x 0.1" x 5.8"