After Denver

by Big Bruiser Dope Boy

After Denver is a new collection of prose and poetry by Big Bruiser Dope Boy.

Genres: Poetry

75 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 6, 2020

Reviews

[Tao · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Mystery was what I was after."

[Bud Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this collection was great. Funny, sad, brutal, tender. An American original written by an American original.

“I’m going to be your first ex-boyfriend
Most of your friends will become my friends They will come to like me more than you”

[Cavin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this book and had no idea what to expect. I had read Foghorn, another of BBDB's books, but, in the last year have failed as a reader to keep up with artists which I enjoyed. For context, I have not been reading. I usually read. And then I quit. Like many in the year 2020, everything that was once good ceased being good. Frustrated in myself, I bought this book. I thought: "Surely... surely this book will reinvigorate my love of literature."

And it did. Immediately. I went through it two times in one sitting. This is the longest I have been able to focus on anything since the pandemic began in March. This book is so incredibly human. Tender. People use that word to describe literature a lot, 'tender', and it usually makes me grimace but now look, look at me, using the word 'tender' to describe literature. This book felt very much like, hm, like cracking open BBDB's chest cavity and looking around in there. Making a nest out of his organs to sleep on. And he was totally fine with it. Through the book he said, "That's fine. That's okay. You can live here now."

All in all, I don't see why someone would not want this experience. It's a great book. It's a great perspective of which to observe someone else's life which, through the words, you may find is very different and also very similar to your own life. Because we're all mammals baby. We're all human. Bleeding. Lusting. Loving. And in a forever state of loss.

I am thankful for this book and for 11:11 press which put it out.

Cheers.

[Calvin Westra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was everything I was looking for. I had previously read some of the Slab excerpts as they were published on various sites online and I had enjoyed them but it wasn't until now, reading them as one, that I appreciated their full impact. I like that no matter how sad or humiliating or frustrating the story is, BBDB neatly fits physical comedy, humor, bizarre little asides into its margins. I like that when I think back to Slab I mentally visualize Aoudad's ass and then vomited burritos and then a maraca.

My favorite story by far is A Pick-Up Artist in the Animal Kingdom.

[Jøhn Wayne Gucci · Rating 5 out of 5]

After Denver is where Big Bruiser Dope Boy truly finds/masters his unique poetic and literary voice.

I don't know how to properly review a poetry/prose collection like this without analyzing each poem or prose individually and talking about the impact they had on me.

I reread every poem in this collection at least 2 or 3 times before moving on to the next. When I read the words contained within the pages of this little black book I see fragments or myself reflected back at me.

This collection starts off with a poem titled "Daddy State of Mind" and the sentiment of self preservation and being "(your) own daddy" permeate throughout the rest of the collection.

The prose section in After Denver is as strong as the poems that come before it. The "Slab" prose in the Before Denver section depict the complexities that come along with being gay in high school; more specifically the experience of someone who isn't "stereotypically" gay. Although I wasn't a football player like the characters in the prose, allot of my experiences as a "straight passing" (what ever the fuck that means) gay werido metal teenager mirror that of the prose of After Denver.

I love this collection and hope it finds its way into the hands of more late 20s/early 30s queers like me... its honestly just refreshing to see stories similar to our own written in such a raw and beautiful way.

[Toilet Sweat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jinkies :( wtf bronito brossolini you didn’t have to go and call me a horrible thing like James Nulick! Don’t be cruel!! He sucks itty bitty kiddie widgie, too. Probably yearns to anally probe his own senior portrait. Definitely eats a hell of a lot of cheese pizza. Shit’s bad for you

Anyway. Like I said, you’re not much of a writer. Time to flush the toilet, old sport. This shit ain’t worth sixteen bucks plus shipping. You’re clearly not cut out for the intelligence community, either. I bet the feds finna shitcan your ass any day now. Need a job? Here, I’ve got an opening. In my pants. You’ve already Nulicked my loong porcelain meatballs, now my ooey gooey porcelain bussy needs a kissy wissy. I think you’d be a great fit! Whaddaya say? Work hard and you might just be an afterthot someday. I’m in the bathroom when you’re ready

psst hey plasticbagger i recommend you put a bullet in that chamber and bodybagger urself

[Scott Cumming · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome honest stuff that I checked out after hearing his interview on Selected Prose earlier in the week. Much like my other read this week it is about simply being and dealing with the changes inherent in yourself. About accepting and trying to move forwards or at least sideways through the mire.

The book centres on the author's experiences of being a gay bartender and growing from being a gay teen. There's family strife in here too, but it is done in a down to earth fashion and not dramatised.

I'll need to check out his novel at some point, but really enjoyed this collection.

[grostulate]

Really enjoyed. Poems are really juicy, full-bodied and also kinda tender? A number of times the writing deploys a kind of surrealism of everyday work, friends, conversations and sex which feels really fresh... Big Bruiser Dope Boy is here to fuck us all up!!

[Patch · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like mr dope boy is channeling the ghosts of all the beatnik gay writers. there's something very timeless about his work. but I think the thing that makes his stuff better is how honest it feels. there are a few lines intended just to clarify the emotion behind the previous one; "that line made me happy", "that line hurt to write". I loved these, I feel like so many authors (especially poets) try to surgically remove themselves from their work. but the emotion is where the power comes from. a lot good poets have just perfected the art of cauterizing just enough to be raw while still being intellectual. but you really dont need to do that at all. it comes of as less polished but theres also a sense of intimacy that I like, and that works thematically in this particular case.

[Lucy Logan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Felt Things