Eyes Like Lighthouses is Dane Cobain’s first book of poetry, distilled from the sweat of a thousand memorised performances in this reality and others. It’s not for the faint-hearted.

It took me a long time to get into this book as, at first glance, the prospect of 103 aggressive and fairly depressing poems seemed quite daunting. After a while I jumped to the Afterword at the back and that helped me appreciate that these were all written to be performed in small venues as part of music or comic open mic evenings. I then started reading them out loud and they made more sense. I also could then see the collection was broken up into nine suites or albums, presumably written at different times.

Dane Cobain appears to be an ambitious young man who has written songs, novels and poems as well as being an active blogger. When reading the poems I could picture him performing them in busy pubs and clubs, slotted in between musical acts while roadies rearranged the stage behind him and drinkers recharged their glasses. In such conditions the message would need to be short and sharp, relating to the audience with situations and language they would recognise.

A poem should stir up emotions and these certainly stirred mine, although not necessarily in the way the poet intended. Instead of siding with the poet against his targets I frequently wanted to defend the people or organisations that were being criticised.

The synopsis warns that the book is not for the faint-hearted and it is likely that some people could find some of the poems offensive but I suppose that is the intention.

On the positive side there were some thought provoking moments and on occasions Dane Cobain showed a clever use of words as evidenced in Univocalisms and General Election Tension. Of the collection my personal favourites were Take this Kiss which was a reflection on the life of a mistress and Arriva #800/850 which painted a familiar picture of a non-arriving bus although, like many of the poems, it was spoiled for me by its invective and expletives.

I have awarded this book three stars.

Dane Cobain is a writer, poet and musician from a place you’ve probably never heard of, somewhere in England. When he’s not writing books, he’s reading and reviewing them on his book blog – Social Bookshelves – or working at his day job in social media marketing.

www.danecobain.com
@danecobain
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