“The kid who threw
a used condom at me is grown
and he recognizes me…”— excerpt from “At a friend’s funeral”
‘Once’ by Rob Ruttan
Three of my poems were included in EVENT 47.1. “Attractions”, a poem which was previously a runner-up for subTerrain‘s Lush Triumphant contest, examines the sculptural depictions of women in several historical significant cities in Europe.
“Breaching the lid”, illustration by Adi Berardini
“At a friend’s funeral” focuses on the perspective of a young man being approached by his middle school bully at, as the title states, the funeral of a mutual friend.
The final poem, “Breaching the lid” looks at a young speaker experiencing his father’s anger for the first time. In each of these pieces, I attempted to explore a different facet of toxic masculinity.
A tremendous thank you to EVENT for the beautifully put together magazine, as well as Adi Berardini for her fantastic illustration of images from “Breaching the lid”.
Adrian Southin 