'Gayelene Carbis’ Anecdotal Evidence allows poetry to highlight and create contradictions within the binaristic understanding of ‘public’ and ‘personal’. To do so is essential for generating space for tender and vulnerable expressions we’re still unaccustomed to or discouraged from observing. One of the most daring features of Carbis’ poetry is her persistent emphasis on the lyrical ‘I’ in relation to memory. The ‘I’ or the persona within each poem expresses perspectives in such concentrated ways that there are no nostalgic curtains to hide behind. This is important because nostalgia – through its idealisation and longing – has the propensity to conceal and therefore silence.' (Introduction)