This poem by James McDermott features in the Intimacy Issue of Popshot and is about a beautiful moment between male friends. Illustration by Martha Bräuer.

sat in the quiet pub waiting for him to get the drinks
at another table when their girlfriends have gone to the toilet
I see

him drape his arm over his mate’s
shoulder and then stroke his friend’s face
not sexual not romantic
affectionate

and thinking they don’t have an audience
so don’t have to act natural and play the parts of men
on the seventies sitcom set that is this pub
masculinities slip

they don’t make a joke about the stroke like men but
they smile at one another like
humans

 

Find more great poetry, flash fiction and short stories in The Intimacy Issue of Popshot Quarterly, on sale now.

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