Well Done, You Didn't Die (OUT NOVEMBER 2025)
In Well Done, You Didn’t Die, Max Wallis returns with a searingly intimate and formally inventive pamphlet that refuses erasure. From the aftermath of breakdown to the first electric flickers of healing, these poems map the brutal, brilliant terrain of survival; mental illness, addiction, queerness, love, sex, shame, and the fragile dignity of staying when staying is a whole new thing entirely.
Wallis writes with wit, lyric fire, and radical candour. Whether speaking from the aftermath of the hospital bed or a hookup, future conversations with lovers-to-be, or the slow relentless work of sobriety, he never flinches. The voice is fierce and unguarded—at turns devastating, defiant, tender, and laugh-out-loud funny. A poem might stammer like a belt buckle or stream out in prose, incantation, or techno-prayer. Whatever the form, the message is unmistakable: “Well done, you didn’t die.”
Here is a poet documenting not only what nearly broke him, but how he rebuilt from ruin, choosing life, again and again. From “Cage” to “Prayer for Glitch”, “I Am 1 Year, 2 Months, 2 Days Sober” to “Instructions for What Happens Next”, this collection is both elegy and anthem. It is a document of return: to the body, to breath, to poetry.
“Survival is more than endurance. It is a quiet declaration: I live, I live.”
https://www.vervepoetrybookshop.com/product-page/well-done-you-didn-t-die-max-wallis
POET, JOURNALIST,
MENTAL HEALTH ADVOCATE
ABOUT MAX
Max Wallis is a poet and artist based in Lancashire. His first book Modern Love was nominated for the Polari Prize, and he has been described as a "poetry wunderkind" by Curious Arts Festival. Widely published in both poetry journals and magazines, Wallis's main motive is to get poetry into places it's not normally seen.
In 2017, he had poetry published by Vogue, did a talk at the Royal Opera House about heartbreak, collaborated with Topman twice, producing specially curated art pieces and poetry for their shows, and turned the underground at Regent's Park gay with poetry.
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In 2024 he left his life in London after a mental health crisis, returning home to his family. Diagnosed with complex-PTSD and adult ADHD he also returned to his first love: poetry.​​
EDUCATION:
Max jumped from his BSc in Biology to his Masters degree in Creative Writing, without finishing his Bachelors. During his MA he was published and nominated for prizes. He graduated with a Distinction.
​2012: Max's first pamphlet, Modern Love, was shortlisted for the Polari Prize and received national press coverage. It sold out multiple print runs.
2022: NWO (in collaboration with Timur Celikdag) won Best New Fashion Film and Best Green Film at the Fashion Film Festival Milano; also secured Best Fashion Film, Best Styling, Best Make-Up, and Best Hair at the Fashion Film Festival Istanbul; and was shortlisted by Berlin Commercial, One Point Four, the Fashion Film Festival Amsterdam, the Aesthetica Short Film Festival, and the Athens Fashion Film Festival.
2024: Love's Wild Departing placed 3rd in the Michael Marks Environmental Poet of the Year Award;
2024: The second time, received a Judge's Special Mention in the Renard Press Building Bridges Competition, shortlisted for the prize and published in the anthology.
2025: Longlisted for the Frontier Poetry Challenge.
Recent Publications
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2025: The Rialto ("Cage," "Crowns," "Profit and Loss," "Ryugu no Tsukai"); The Spectator ("Vow"); Effable ("Fulcrum").
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2024: Poetry Scotland ("Fix"); Renard Press Building Bridges Poetry Anthology ("The Second Time"); Ink, Sweat & Tears ("Snow," "Heels").
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POETRY PUBLISHED IN...
2025
The Rialto (Cage, Crowns, Profit and Loss, Ryugu no Tsukai),
The Spectator (Vow)
Effable (Fulcrum)
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2024
Poetry Scotland (Fix),
Renard Press Building Bridges Poetry Anthology (The second time),
Ink, Sweat and Tears, (Snow)
Ink, Sweat and Tears, (Heels)
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2011-2024
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Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Popshot Magazine, et al
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