#TBT | Behind the Scenes by Ryan Patey
Similar to a number of other throwbacks, this one goes back to around the time of the first T.O.F.U. tour. However, today’s post is a little more personal. Along with publishing a new issue just before I left, I also decided to release a collection of poetry that I had written over a number of years leading up to the tour.
Taken from a rather dramatic part of my twenties, and filled with a number of themes I think plenty of people can relate to, the book itself is an interesting flashback to parts of my life that are now really just memories. At the time, I described the book as such:
More a catharsis than a statement, this collection of poems spans a five year period (2004-2009) of the life of T.O.F.U. founder, Ryan Patey. For better or for worse, it was released in an attempt to finally do something creative, instead of just supporting and promoting those who do.
Since it was my first release of any artistic merit, and it didn’t involve much in terms of contributions from other people (minus the artwork from a good friend), I only printed an incredibly small run to keep my expectations low. Over the years, I’ve been happy to hear that friends still have their copies, and I even remember one or two strangers telling me they enjoyed it. Of course, I haven’t really sat down with it in some time, and I’m sure I would cringe at some of it now, but so be it.
So, in order to possibly spread it a little further, I’ve decided to put the last copies up for sale through the T.O.F.U. store for only $6 CDN (plus shipping). Hopefully, I can sell them before I leave the country and my parents will be storing one less thing for me while I travel!
If you’re interested, you can find the book here.
