The tender violence of an American man, by Colin Williams

Poetry, chapbook, 36 pages, from Bottlecap Features.

The seeds of America’s toxic masculinity crisis were planted in classrooms, at kitchen tables, on dying main streets. It’s these dim corners that Colin Williams explores in his debut chapbook, The tender violence of an American man.

These 25 poems examine the personal and social sides of white maleness. Using shifting forms and unusual angles, The tender violence of an American man is equal parts introspective and sociological, tracing the meandering paths that lead from bullying to fascism. Throughout, Williams’ poems return to themes of erosion, self-restraint, and renewal, from burning forests to the regrowth from the ashes that follows.

Colin Williams (he/they) is a journalist and an English instructor at the University of Pittsburgh. His poems and stories have appeared in Blue Villa, Hobart, Main Street Rag, the Northern Appalachia Review, Yawp, and elsewhere, and he’s covered heavy metal for outlets including Bandcamp Daily and Revolver magazine.