This poem by @maxwallis.bsky.social absolutely DESTROYED me when it showed up on my Facebook feed, and I haven't stopped thinking about it since.
The Aftershock Review (Max Wallis)
@maxwallis.bsky.social
📚 Max Wallis | Author of the Polari Prize-shortlisted Modern Love (2011) & Everything Everything (2016). 🖋️ Poems in The Rialto, Poetry Scotland, Spectator ✍️ Freelance journalist (The Guardian, The Times, The Telegraph). 🌈 Gay, disabled, survivor.
I’ve got two poems in the new issue of The Aftershock Review – & what an issue it is! Just look at the list of incredible poets on the cover, all writing in the aftershock of trauma & crisis. Diolch to editor @maxwallis.bsky.social for choosing ‘Document’ & ‘Being Less Stressed is on My To-Do List’.
"These poems are difficult because they are precise." From the Editorial Note by Max Wallis in Issue 3 of The Aftershock Review. 💜 @maxwallis.bsky.social
Very happy to receive my contributor copy of The Aftershock Review today! Thank you to editor @maxwallis.bsky.social for including three of my poems in the issue. And look at that line-up - I’m in great company 💜
Thrilled to have three poems published in the third issue of The Aftershock Review @maxwallis.bsky.social which I first discovered here. This review has meant so much to me since it started because after trauma there is still poetry. #poetry #blueskypoets
Absolutely thrilled to have 2 poems in The Aftershock Review. What a great place to be! I love this mag. Thank you @maxwallis.bsky.social. Here’s Tigers 🙂🐯
Here is my poem from the wonderful Aftershock Review! 🌟 @maxwallis.bsky.social With sincere thanks to Max Wallis. 🔗 www.aftershockreview.com
What @maxwallis.bsky.social has accomplished with 'The Aftershock Review' is nothing short of breathtaking. It's the fever dream all editors and publishers have when launching a new journal into the world. It's also the sort of success it's easy to envy – though that's an ugly emotional response.
Scanning the pages of the @theguardian.com, I thought, 'There's a face I know!' It was that of @maxwallis.bsky.social, above a piece by Suzi Feay, on the remarkable and literally life-changing poetry journal, 'The Aftershock Review' – to which I'm proud to have made two contributions. bit.ly/4faKgWc
‘How can I find meaning from the ruins of my life?’: the little magazine with a life-changing impact
After struggles with mental health and addiction, Max Wallis launched a poetry magazine – and it has transformed his life
bit.ly
Tough week but look what arrived: so excited to have a poem here. Huge thanks Gerry Potter, @maxwallis.bsky.social and to @novelniche.bsky.social, whose @arvonfoundation.bsky.social workshop for Bi Visibility Day started the poem. Get your copies here! www.aftershockreview.com/product-page...
I came up with this idea when I was bed-bound with PTSD, flailing but paralysed by the horrible nature of that beast. Some days still, it returns, but this time I have to get back up to do the work. Aftershock in a sense is the reason I am still functioning. open.substack.com/pub/aftersho...
Dear Aftershock Readers, Poets, Friends: I am tired
as one year closes, another begins
open.substack.com
What delicious post is this?! Thank you postman, thank you The Aftershock Review, thank you @maxwallis.bsky.social. Afternoon reading sorted! 💙🩷
Oh you pretty things! Pocket Aftershocks have arrived and are available to buy! www.aftershockreview.com/category/all...
Over the moon to have two poems in Issue Three of the splendid Aftershock Review! 🌟 My sincere thanks to Max Wallis. @maxwallis.bsky.social Preorder here: www.aftershockreview.com/product-page...
Issue Three of The Aftershock Review | Aftershock Review
Coming April/May 2026 What do you need but a bit of hope? What you’re seeing on this cover is the first tranche of acceptances — around 10% of the magazine. The rest of the architecture is still being...
aftershockreview.com
Click on ‘reviews’ on the Seren to see the endorsements (not reviews as none yet 😝) - with massive thanks to Mary Jean, @clareshawpoet.bsky.social, Daniel Sluman, Bethany Handley, Sarah Howe, @alycia.bsky.social and @maxwallis.bsky.social for reading at short notice. You’re all amazing.
I’m very pleased indeed to have some of my poetry in the new issue of The Aftershock Review - available to preorder now! @maxwallis.bsky.social
It's time for renewal - a neon-tinged hope. Issue Three is not finalised yet but here's your chance to pre-order now. www.aftershockreview.com/product-page...
Hello. I've just sent my monthly poetry news 'short & sweet' to my subscribers. If you'd like to receive my poetry newsletter too, you can sign up here mailchi.mp/14f20fcd4451... It contains reviews, opportunities for poets & forthcoming events. To read this issue mailchi.mp/d036ac0a0f16... #poetry
What a brilliant poem, Troubleshooting by @rachaelclyne.bsky.social in Issue 2 of Aftershock Review @maxwallis.bsky.social
Rachael Clyne@rachaelclyne.bsky.social · 9mo agoI'm delighted to be part of this anthology of groundbreaking poetry on trauma. Congratulations @maxwallis.bsky.social www.aftershockreview.com
Now announcing the winners of our 2025 Literature Matters Awards! Find out more about this year's winning projects, selected by judges Hannah Khalil, Kristen Vida Alfaro, and Steve Cook: https://rsliterature.org/rsl-literature-matters-awards/
I feel almost shy writing an editorial letter about this incredible poem. Some poems do not arrive; they detonate, and Inua Ellams’ Fuck / The Incalculable Unknown blasts everything open from its first line. cc @rsliterature.bsky.social aftershockpoetry.substack.com/p/fuck-the-i...
Fuck / The Incalculable Unknown by Inua Ellams
'Whomsoever asks if Black folk can be racist / I will now answer / One / Define racism / Two / Define Black / Three / In which world are these Black folk Black / Four / To whom is the racism aimed'
aftershockpoetry.substack.com
I'm still unwell - how is everyone else?
I'm ill in bed, which I hate being and reminds me of being ill in bed in other ways. If you want a 2 for £20 christmas bundle we have one up now, just add two issues and it will do the rest: www.aftershockreview.com
Congratulations Beth 🎉🎉🎉Fabulous poem in the fabulous ‘Aftershock Review’ @maxwallis.bsky.social - this small but mighty poem more than holds its space! I love it like a prayer … polished and buffed like the taps you turn and off with your elbows 🥰😘❤️
“My life of excess was replaced with illness, then slowly with hope. My mantra remains simple: choose life, over and over again. And on the hardest mornings, the only words I can still say to myself: well done, you didn’t die.” www.thetimes.com/article/f38a...
My frenetic London party lifestyle drove me to a nervous breakdown
Max Wallis was at the epicentre of the style set. Then he crashed, was sectioned — and changed his life
thetimes.com
Just devoured this today @maxwallis.bsky.social. Thanks for sending. Fantastic write, so real. @vervepoetrypress.bsky.social
STORE UPDATE - we now have a sidecart and it's easier to add things to your basket and still select more. Blackfriday discount automatically applied. www.aftershockreview.com
there were nights / I couldn't tell the difference / between touch and vanishing
The Aftershock Review (Max Wallis)@maxwallis.bsky.social · 9mo agoTwo poems from my new book. The first one won @vervepoetryfest.bsky.social June’s POTM “Our winning poem for Poem of the Month is Thinking of how many elevators by Max Wallis which was the most loud and unapologetic entry. Beginning with thinking about intimate opportunities in private spaces
