"A blunt-force look at a world structural collapse."
Just Papering over the Cracks is a fiercely raw, darkly comedic poetry collection that strips back the glossy veneers of modern society to expose the rotting institutional machinery underneath. Documenting systemic political greed, crumbling public infrastructure, and the deep roots of organized crime from the bleakest corners of England to the mafia-shadowed landscapes of Italy, Darren Hobson delivers a panoramic, stream-of-consciousness indictment of a breaking world.
Do not expect polite, sanitized verse. In this uncompromising volume of rhythmic free-verse,grounded socio-political critiques plunge without warning into surreal body horror, parasitic nightmares, and the suffocating panic of psychological anxiety. Yet, the absolute signature of Hobson’s vision is its deadpan tonal whiplash; heavy existential despair and bleeding wounds are abruptly punctured by the laugh-out-loud absurdities of mundane daily reality—including a rain-drenched trip to Dartmoor to look at ponies and eat cake.
Using visceral, uncomfortable physical metaphors as personal armor, Hobson constantly shatters the fourth wall to address his own prolific output and erratic creative process. This is an unfiltered, visceral spoken-word survival guide from an independent counterculture voice that refuses to compromise.