David James Brock

Second Collection! Ten-Headed Alien 

Advanced Praise for Ten-Headed Alien

“Brock’s book is a sophisticated monster. This is war poetry that white-knuckles the horror story of normal life, where the most human thing about a robot is its lack of function. Here, language is a junkyard drum set of evil sounds, let loose in pursuit of an enemy half-machinic, half-mythic. Success is mutually assured destruction.”
– Linda Besner, author of Feel Happier in Nine Seconds

“David James Brock is the vital, urgent and mesmerizing maestro of the breakdown. His voices – brimming with acuity, wit and imagination – chart the frightening and inexorable breaking down of our times. Ten-Headed Alien documents the struggle for coherence and connection in the moments where spasm meets dance, where nightmare bleeds into vision, where we encounter the monster of our history and where the fertile ruins of the present are surveyed from the ruins of the future.”
– Daniel Scott Tysdal, author of Fauxccasional Poems

Hype

Spring Preview: Staff Picks (All Lit Up, 01/03/2018)
"Spring is in the air and I am looking forward to some patio time with many of the amazing poetry collections we have to offer this year. It was hard to narrow it down to one, but David James Brock's Ten-Headed Alien promises to be an epic mash-up of sci-fi, prog-rock, politics and myth; everything my little geek heart could ask for. Plus, who could resist that stunning, otherworldly cover? This alien invasion is not to be missed."

12 Canadian poetic works to discover in the first half of 2018 (CBC Books, 06/02/2018)
"Ten-Headed Alien touches on fantasy, science fiction and mythology while always keeping touch with the world we live in. This collection stretches from the fantastic to the ridiculous."

"Most Anticipated: Our 2018 Spring Poetry Preview" (Kerry Clare, 49th Shelf, 05/02/2018)
"David James Brock follows up Everyone is C02 with Ten Headed Alien, whose poems draw from sci-fi and poli-sci, prog rock and politics, climate fiction and ancient mythology."

"What's Your Story?" Final Instalment of the 2017 Obpo Writing Contest Winners: Etobicoke (Open Book, 04/12/2017)
Poem, "Bionic Pigeon Wing on the Roadside."

Debut Poetry Collection: Everyone is CO2

Crafting poems that delight scholars and fanboys alike, David James Brock's debut poetry collection addresses the things that influence our private mythologies, from television to space exploration, from heavy metal to the epic of Gilgamesh. What distinguishes his work is his knack for condensed narrative, lyrical inventiveness and his use of surprising details. He brings together all his experience as a dramatist and lyricist to mine the zeitgeist and write poems sure to entertain the most discerning pop-cultural intellectual.

David James Brock's Everyone is CO2 launched on April 16 2014 as part of Wolsak & Wynn's new imprint, Buckrider Books. 

To order the book, visit the Wolsak & Wynn website.

Press For Everyone is CO2

Review by Michael Dennis (Today's Book of Poetry, September 15, 2014)
"These poems leap from the page directly at your jugular.  That is, of course, only after he has sucker-punched your brain.  This is a master stage director plotting the audience and organizing their gasps... Brock shreds common sense as unnecessary as he rollicks all over the place with Shaman-like wisdom and an encyclopedic memory... I thought Everyone is CO2 was whipsmart stuff from start to end."

Review by Mark Sampson (Free Range Reading, August 8, 2014)
“Everyone Is CO2 taps into very specific periods of pop culture... the references here will resonate most with those born in the 1970s and `80s. Yet what comes of all this? An entirely new and fresh existence for these cultural touchstones, infusing them with an agency of their own. This is something that Brock does exceedingly well."

Review by Nico Mara-McKay (This magazine, July 15, 2014)
"The poems in David James Brock's debut collection never rest, ranging in time (1959 through to 2039), place (Toronto, Steubenville, Venus), and subject (pop culture, music, the epic of Gilgamesh). Topics and themes switch a break-neck speed, united only by a sharp eye for dramatic imagery."

Review by William Kemp ((parenthetical), May 21, 2014)
“Seldom have I read, in recent memory, a collection of poetry that is so willing to have fun... Brock’s poetic voice is a much-appreciated, much-welcomed one that is, for the most part, conversational in tone, but still steeped in technique and skill. He shows the reader, without a hint of irony, the strange, quirky beauty in a language often thought of as less refined—and by extension, less beautiful... It’s a great debut from a great poet. Read it.”

Article by Kris Bone (The Town Crier, April 21, 2014)
“An expert combination of smart, snappy phrasing and interesting, offbeat subject matter made his poems exciting to listen to. Brock’s work continues to mutate and evolve, comfortable spanning multiple genres and conceptual divides as he moves into his first full-length publication, with his poetry stronger, stranger, and more fearless than anything we’ve seen from him yet."

Chapbooks