Bailee Noella’s book of poetry is serving as a source of healing for readers.
The 22-year-old Westfield resident shared her feelings of the trauma of being sexually assaulted while growing up in a book of poems called “bathtub in flames.”
“It’s been so rewarding and inspiring to see how people have responded to it,” Noella said. “It’s amazing to have my story, which I was occasionally uncertain about sharing, be received with such kindness. There are various types of trauma that I touch on in my collection, but one of the big things that I hope for this book is that it opens people’s eyes to just how frequent and silent child sexual abuse is.
“For survivors, I’ve heard that they have found some of my poems comforting. I hope it inspires them to not feel ashamed about their trauma and to potentially find someone to share their story with so that they can validate their experience and heal from it with support.”
Noella, who intentionally uses lowercase spelling in book titles, is working on another collection of poems called “a place that swallows light.”
“All of the poem titles in the book and the poems themselves are entirely in lowercase to bring attention to when I intentionally capitalize a word, I deem it important,” Noella said.
Noella, a Westfield High School graduate, started working on “bathtub in flames” in May 2020. It was released in December and was a No. 1 new release in the Women’s Poetry and Contemporary Poetry category on Amazon for about four weeks, Noella said.
“There is a mixture of new poems and poems that are years old that I edited to fit the rest of the collection stylistically,” she said.
Noella runs a clothing line focused on mental health awareness. For more on the clothing line, visit cynoapparel.com. She shares information on her Instagram @baileenoella.
