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Oceanus: An Experimental Poem About the RMS Titanic
IT SANK IN THE NOW,
ex-pat down with all hands
seen one Wednesday
in a sinking southern city.
It hit the April showers
serving death
en route to Yorkshire,
killing peace and war and
Mary timed it well,
she was the biggest,
longest woman
to float the virgin shore.
OCEANUS TELLS A STORY that’s been told a thousand times before, one that’s known all around the world – the tale of a passenger liner that sank in the North Atlantic Ocean with massive loss of life. Oceanus tells the story of the RMS Titanic.
Praise for Eyes Like Lighthouses When the Boats Come Home:
“Recommended for those who enjoy poetry, or just want some honest language that arrives in an artful way.” – J. D. DeHart
“Dane Cobain gives us raw, disturbing, yet truthful poetry. It may be a bit disturbing, but sometimes the truth can be disturbing.” – Chrissy
“I highly recommend this book for fans of spoken word poetry.” – Jeremy Fee
ex-pat down with all hands
seen one Wednesday
in a sinking southern city.
It hit the April showers
serving death
en route to Yorkshire,
killing peace and war and
Mary timed it well,
she was the biggest,
longest woman
to float the virgin shore.
OCEANUS TELLS A STORY that’s been told a thousand times before, one that’s known all around the world – the tale of a passenger liner that sank in the North Atlantic Ocean with massive loss of life. Oceanus tells the story of the RMS Titanic.
Praise for Eyes Like Lighthouses When the Boats Come Home:
“Recommended for those who enjoy poetry, or just want some honest language that arrives in an artful way.” – J. D. DeHart
“Dane Cobain gives us raw, disturbing, yet truthful poetry. It may be a bit disturbing, but sometimes the truth can be disturbing.” – Chrissy
“I highly recommend this book for fans of spoken word poetry.” – Jeremy Fee
- GenresPoetry
Unknown Binding
About the author
Dane Cobain
22 books321 followersDane Cobain (High Wycombe, UK) is a published author, freelance writer and (occasional) poet and musician with a passion for language and learning. When he’s not working on his next release, he can be found reading and reviewing books while trying not to be distracted by Wikipedia.
His releases include No Rest for the Wicked (supernatural thriller), Eyes Like Lighthouses When the Boats Come Home (poetry) Former.ly (literary fiction), Social Paranoia (non-fiction), Come On Up to the House (horror), Subject Verb Object (anthology), Driven (crime/detective), The Tower Hill Terror (crime/detective), Meat (horror), Scarlet Sins (short stories), The Lexicologist’s Handbook (non-fiction) and The Leipfold Files (crime/detective).
His short stories have also been anthologised in Local Haunts (ed. R. Saint Clare), We’re Not Home (ed. Cam Wolfe), Served Cold (ed. R. Saint Clare and Steve Donoghue) and Eccentric Circles (ed. Cynthia Brackett-Vincent).
Cobain’s love of words grew from an early age, whether he was rewriting the lyrics to pop songs or teaching his elder siblings – maths and computer science students at university – how to execute commands in MS-DOS, all before he hit double digits. He started writing at fourteen, and progressed from lyrics and music to journals, short stories and poetry before writing the first draft of an early novel whilst in lectures. He studied creative writing at London’s Roehampton University, earning a 2:1 bachelor’s degree before starting a career as a social media marketer.
It was this career in marketing, combined with his love for reading and writing, which led to the creation of SocialBookshelves.com, his book blog, which was featured on multiple “best book blog” lists and has since been merged with DaneCobain.com. Through SocialBookshelves.com, he met Jesse James Freeman, the former VP of Community Management at Booktrope Publishing. Cobain’s debut novella, a supernatural thriller called No Rest for the Wicked, was released by Booktrope’s Forsaken imprint on June 11th 2015.
His second release, a collection of poetry called Eyes Like Lighthouses When the Boats Come Home, was released by Booktrope Editions in March 2016. Cobain performed his poetry at stand up nights, slams and open mic nights, memorised all 101 poems in the book.
Cobain’s third book, a literary fiction novel called Former.ly, was released on June 11th 2016. It follows the story of the rise and fall of a social networking site for the dead. Users sign up to the site, create a profile that they populate with updates that only they can see, and then when they die, their profile goes live to the public. But there’s something sinister about the site – something that people are willing to kill for.
Former.ly was followed by a non-fiction book called Social Paranoia: How Consumers and Brands Can Stay Safe in a Connected World, which was released in August 2016. The year was rounded off with Come On Up to the House, a horror novella and screenplay, in November.
In 2017, Cobain quit his marketing job to focus on full-time self-employment as an author and freelance writer. He also released Subject Verb Object: An Anthology of New Writing, which features 18 pieces from different authors and which was collected by Cobain and edited by Dane Cobain and Pam Elise Harris. That was followed in 2018 by Driven, a crime/detective novel.
In the following months, Driven was picked up for re-release by Encircle Publications, with its sequel, The Tower Hill Terror, released in 2020. In the same year, he independently released Meat, a horror novel set on a factory farm.
2021 saw the release of short story collection Scarlet Sins and non-fiction book The Lexicologist’s Handbook. The third book in the Leipfold series, The Leipfold Files, was released in 2022.
Follow him on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Goodreads, Twitter, LinkedIn and TikTok to stay up-to-date and to hear more about new releases as and when they happen.
His releases include No Rest for the Wicked (supernatural thriller), Eyes Like Lighthouses When the Boats Come Home (poetry) Former.ly (literary fiction), Social Paranoia (non-fiction), Come On Up to the House (horror), Subject Verb Object (anthology), Driven (crime/detective), The Tower Hill Terror (crime/detective), Meat (horror), Scarlet Sins (short stories), The Lexicologist’s Handbook (non-fiction) and The Leipfold Files (crime/detective).
His short stories have also been anthologised in Local Haunts (ed. R. Saint Clare), We’re Not Home (ed. Cam Wolfe), Served Cold (ed. R. Saint Clare and Steve Donoghue) and Eccentric Circles (ed. Cynthia Brackett-Vincent).
Cobain’s love of words grew from an early age, whether he was rewriting the lyrics to pop songs or teaching his elder siblings – maths and computer science students at university – how to execute commands in MS-DOS, all before he hit double digits. He started writing at fourteen, and progressed from lyrics and music to journals, short stories and poetry before writing the first draft of an early novel whilst in lectures. He studied creative writing at London’s Roehampton University, earning a 2:1 bachelor’s degree before starting a career as a social media marketer.
It was this career in marketing, combined with his love for reading and writing, which led to the creation of SocialBookshelves.com, his book blog, which was featured on multiple “best book blog” lists and has since been merged with DaneCobain.com. Through SocialBookshelves.com, he met Jesse James Freeman, the former VP of Community Management at Booktrope Publishing. Cobain’s debut novella, a supernatural thriller called No Rest for the Wicked, was released by Booktrope’s Forsaken imprint on June 11th 2015.
His second release, a collection of poetry called Eyes Like Lighthouses When the Boats Come Home, was released by Booktrope Editions in March 2016. Cobain performed his poetry at stand up nights, slams and open mic nights, memorised all 101 poems in the book.
Cobain’s third book, a literary fiction novel called Former.ly, was released on June 11th 2016. It follows the story of the rise and fall of a social networking site for the dead. Users sign up to the site, create a profile that they populate with updates that only they can see, and then when they die, their profile goes live to the public. But there’s something sinister about the site – something that people are willing to kill for.
Former.ly was followed by a non-fiction book called Social Paranoia: How Consumers and Brands Can Stay Safe in a Connected World, which was released in August 2016. The year was rounded off with Come On Up to the House, a horror novella and screenplay, in November.
In 2017, Cobain quit his marketing job to focus on full-time self-employment as an author and freelance writer. He also released Subject Verb Object: An Anthology of New Writing, which features 18 pieces from different authors and which was collected by Cobain and edited by Dane Cobain and Pam Elise Harris. That was followed in 2018 by Driven, a crime/detective novel.
In the following months, Driven was picked up for re-release by Encircle Publications, with its sequel, The Tower Hill Terror, released in 2020. In the same year, he independently released Meat, a horror novel set on a factory farm.
2021 saw the release of short story collection Scarlet Sins and non-fiction book The Lexicologist’s Handbook. The third book in the Leipfold series, The Leipfold Files, was released in 2022.
Follow him on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Goodreads, Twitter, LinkedIn and TikTok to stay up-to-date and to hear more about new releases as and when they happen.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 20, 2023
I enjoyed this. An extremely clever and well written collection of poetry. A very different and stark new take on the short career of, what was, at the time, the largest moving object ever constructed.
So many things have been written about the Titanic disaster but nothing that has made me think in such a new way about it as this has.
Highly recommend.
So many things have been written about the Titanic disaster but nothing that has made me think in such a new way about it as this has.
Highly recommend.
May 18, 2023
It took me a while to get into the flow of this but once I did it felt like I had traveled back in time to witness the sinking of the Titanic. This poem made me think about what such an experience could've been like. It also made me think about pirates and the fact that most of them were used to life at sea. Not since the movie Titanic have I actually cared about the Titanic.
If you're in the mood for something different and thought provoking then I recommend reading Oceanus by Dane Cobain.
If you're in the mood for something different and thought provoking then I recommend reading Oceanus by Dane Cobain.
May 26, 2023
I’m a big fan of Dane Cobain’s writing and YouTube channel, and it’s been an honor to be involved in some of the same short story anthologies. I purchased Oceanus as a paperback book from Amazon and this is an honest review.
Oceanus is an interesting poetry project with delightful metaphors and sound devices along the way. As someone who has taught creative writing for many years, I wish I would have given my students a project like this: Dane Cobain went to the Wikipedia page for the Titanic at the 100-year anniversary of the sinking of the ship and used the entry as inspiration for the long poem that became this book. The idea of taking nonfiction technical sentences and turning them into something poetic is brilliant and I applaud Dane Cobain for this accomplishment.
I highly recommend this book for fans of historical poetry.
Oceanus is an interesting poetry project with delightful metaphors and sound devices along the way. As someone who has taught creative writing for many years, I wish I would have given my students a project like this: Dane Cobain went to the Wikipedia page for the Titanic at the 100-year anniversary of the sinking of the ship and used the entry as inspiration for the long poem that became this book. The idea of taking nonfiction technical sentences and turning them into something poetic is brilliant and I applaud Dane Cobain for this accomplishment.
I highly recommend this book for fans of historical poetry.
April 15, 2023
Even after 100 years, the Titanic sinking still has a huge influence on people today despite taking place more than a century ago. In this book of poetry, the author uses free verse and fragmented imagery to convey the chaos and confusion of the disaster. Truly a unique and intriguing collection of poetry that explores the tragic events of the Titanic disaster.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews