By Kaleigh Gold
Yes — it is too much information.
But we’ve all been there.
TMI (The Mentally Illest) is a dark poetry and prose collection by Kaleigh Gold — a raw, unfiltered exploration of mental illness, survival, and the beauty that grows from chaos. Often described as the villain origin story to Poems for Sluts, this book cracks open the glossy shell of modern sanity and serves it raw.
Depression. Addiction. Self-harm. Starvation.
Not for shock — for truth.
This is not a self-help book.
It’s a mirror. A manifesto. A panic attack in sequins.
Blending sharp prose, unfiltered poetry, and handwritten notebook pages created mid-delirium, The Mentally Illest explores what happens when the mind becomes both muse and monster. Gold balances darkness with black humour, turning relapse, recovery, hunger, and healing into art that’s as confronting as it is cathartic.
Strewn with doodles, handwritten scraps, and hindsight notes from cycles of collapse and clarity, this collection is a love letter to the unwell, the undone, and the undeniably alive.
For the ones who feel too much.
For the ones who keep going anyway.
For the ones who turn pain into punchlines — and poetry.
The Mentally Illest isn’t about fixing yourself.
It’s about owning every cracked, glittering piece.
