Rain Men

Rain Men is a collection that breaks boundaries. The two poets and their editor Alec Newman - all three having received late diagnoses of autism - chose to have the poems published anonymously to make the focus about how their 'condition' shapes them. We do not know which poems are by Antony Owen or which are Neil Laurenson's. This lends itself to the feeling that you are only seeing things through mist or the flitter in a snow globe as described in the poem 'Delayed Diagnosis'. You are getting a tiny insight as to what it is like for those on the spectrum. That spectrum itself is challenged, the notion of a multi-coloured world repudiated. Autism is neither rainbows nor 'Rain Man'.

- Kate Birch

Rain Men is a fearless, tender and intelligent collection that refuses silence. Antony Owen and Neil Laurenson write with startling honesty about autism, masculinity, fatherhood, trauma, love and survival in a collection that will leave you breathless and reeling. These poems crackle with wit, rage, vulnerability and humanity - moving effortlessly from devastating social critique to moments of profound emotional intimacy. What makes Rain Men so powerful is not only its urgency, but its compassion. This is poetry that challenges, consoles and stays with you long after the final page.

- Holly Winter-Hughes

These necessary poems are far from the culture of clichéd performativity, which is currently dominating discussions on what it means to be neurodivergent. They are all conducted through the lens of an autistic speaker.  Whether the speaker is at work, having sex, or buying coffee for three policemen: autism is an ever-present refraction casting its light upon the entirety of human experience. It is often painful, and often positioned on the outside looking in. 

- Holly Bars