In his iconoclastic collection, Roger Cowin has addressed pretty well every aspect of human existence. The poems are well crafted and some are powerfully moving.
Among my personal favourites were An Autobiography, with its trenchant comment on stereotyping, Pearls and Swine, doing the same for capitalism, the playful Doctor's Orders, Bedlam, and The End of Poetry, and the closing poem, the delightful Disclaimer.
Not all of the poems were equally successful. I did feel that Jellicat Jones missed its mark. It would have been wiser, I felt, to avoid the attempt to emulate one of our greatest poets. The Old Days, on the other hand, did have a genuinely Eliotish flavour about it.
Overall, a lovely collection, but rather marred by careless proofreading. Homophone errors, punctuation gaffes and several instances of the egregious intransitive 'lay' detracted from the reader's experience.
Among my personal favourites were An Autobiography, with its trenchant comment on stereotyping, Pearls and Swine, doing the same for capitalism, the playful Doctor's Orders, Bedlam, and The End of Poetry, and the closing poem, the delightful Disclaimer.
Not all of the poems were equally successful. I did feel that Jellicat Jones missed its mark. It would have been wiser, I felt, to avoid the attempt to emulate one of our greatest poets. The Old Days, on the other hand, did have a genuinely Eliotish flavour about it.
Overall, a lovely collection, but rather marred by careless proofreading. Homophone errors, punctuation gaffes and several instances of the egregious intransitive 'lay' detracted from the reader's experience.
Passing Through Darkness & Other Poems is available in both ebook and paperback form from AMAZON.
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