“The mad disease comes in many forms,” says Andy Carrington in The Innocence of Not Wanting to Live or Die.
Compiling poems written over a period of seven years, this book explores the subject of illness and death, as well as the writing condition, relationships between human beings and the concept of the self.
Ranging from the extremes of contemplative suicide after the loss of a parent, and falling head over heels in love with the women who were once deemed his “saviours”, the author attempts to find a middle ground through the means of poetry and alcohol.
Whether this results in apathy or having to come to terms with his own ill health, the struggle to identify personal feelings and process one’s emotions begins an individual’s search for clarity and acceptance.
