Brute

by Steven Bruce

In this unflinching collection, Brute pulls no punches. Temptation and trauma walk hand in hand with dark humour, scarred tenderness, and streetwise wisdom. These poems dwell in the margins, where grief smokes alone.

Finalist for the 2025 Independent Author Network Book of the Year Award

Praise for Brute
Sometimes amongst all of the crap someone comes along and puts it down plain and simple. It helps you get up in the mornings. It helps you get through all of the days. It makes you feel less lonely. Brute is a rare book - it has a kind of magic in it that makes you feel more alive than before you’d read it. It is good.

I haven’t read anyone who has ever made sadness and the shit we have to go through feel this good.
─ Martin Hayes, Poet and Author
★★★★★

Steven Bruce has written a new collection that cuts through the noise of contemporary poetry with its sharp insistence on looking reality hard in the eye without recourse to self pity or any kind of transcendence or easy redemption. This remarkable work examines the possibility of survival and the hardest edges of trauma yet it is brilliantly controlled and chiselled onto the page, its images ringing true in your mind long after you put it down. This isn’t just working class testimony as poetry, it is carefully crafted art that demands to be read and reread.
─ Andy Willoughby, Poet and Author
★★★★★

Bruce's poems were written in the trenches of humanity's rage.
─ Barbara Leonhard, Masticadores USA
★★★★★

100 pages, Paperback

Published July 25, 2025

Reviews

[Arne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Steven Bruce’s BRUTE is a relentless, raw masterpiece that doesn’t just tell stories—it guts you open and hands you the pulse of life in every line. The work moves from the visceral, almost mythic existence of Brute to the intimate, brutal realism of human suffering and survival, exploring grief, addiction, and the search for meaning with equal ferocity. Bruce’s poetry doesn’t just evoke emotion; it forces recognition. It’s unflinching in its portrayal of pain and tender in its glimpses of connection, small joys, and redemption.

Every section is its own universe: from the searing honesty of PRIME CUTS to the elemental storytelling of GAME CUTS, the collection oscillates between stark realism, philosophical introspection, and almost fable-like narrative. His language is sharp yet unpretentious, visceral yet luminous, blending lyricism with a narrative punch that hits like a gut punch and a caress simultaneously.

This is poetry that refuses to be decorative. It’s messy, beautiful, and unapologetically human. Five stars for work that shakes the bones, warms the heart, and leaves an imprint you can’t shake. It’s not just read—it’s survived.

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

think Brute is Steven Bruce's strongest collection yet.

It's his darkest, funniest, and most emotionally varied book. One poem will leave you laughing out loud, the next will hit you with a line that completely knocks the wind out of you. It never feels disjointed, though. Every section builds on the same central idea: how we survive a world that's often brutal without losing our humanity.

The opening poems are some of Bruce's best. Why I Don't Visit My Father's Grave, Instructions for Breathing, The Body Is a Library of Grief, Small Mercies, and She Finds Me are deeply moving without ever slipping into self-pity. They confront trauma, addiction, grief, and forgiveness with the same honesty that's become Bruce's trademark, but there's a tenderness here that feels new.

The satirical poems are equally impressive. A Cockroach Walks into a Bar, Report from Hell, What I Saw, and The Killing Joke are savage, funny, and surprisingly insightful. Bruce skewers everything from workplace culture to social media gurus without feeling preachy, and the humour gives the heavier poems room to breathe.

Then there's the final section, Game Cuts, which I honestly didn't expect to enjoy as much as I did. The "Brute" poems are written in deliberately simple language, but they're packed with wisdom. What starts as a clever gimmick gradually becomes surprisingly profound. By the time I reached Brute Marry, Brute Loss, and Brute Return, I was completely invested in this oddly lovable character.

What I appreciate most about Bruce's work is that, despite all the darkness, his books never leave me feeling hopeless. They acknowledge how difficult life can be, but they also celebrate resilience, love, laughter, books, nature, and the small moments that make carrying on worthwhile.

[Jackson Simiana · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's hard to talk about Brute without sounding like I'm insulting it. But trust me when I say it is some of the most palpable poetry I've read. Brute is dripping with melancholic existentialism, deep introspection, and topped off with a touch of nihilism and sprinkle of dark humour. It's ugly, it's hilarious, it's depressing, it's surreal. It's so damn good that it fuels me to be a better poet myself. After reading all his poetry, this has to be my favourite work of Steven Bruce to date.