WHAT LOVE IS

Author Daniel and artist Cochrane present a poetry-filled work of graphic literature that illuminates love in moments of beauty, awkwardness, and tragedy.

In the vastness of the natural world, a crow cries overhead as a human couple admires the surrounding waters and lush greenery. Soon, readers encounter young David in mourning, his own slit wrist wrapped in duct tape as watches Little Joe Cook play his singular hit “Peanuts” to a Harvard University crowd in a bar (“Love how those crazy falsetto notes quiver / Between sorrow and joy”), and he sees a woman who blows him a kiss. A chance encounter with Miles Davis opens up a hard conversation years later about racial politics between friends. A near-death experience offers David a chance to share what could be his last words with his love. A follow-up commentary shares details of the close collaboration between author and artist, and their commitment in each of these selections to “poetica veritas”—a drive to make every scene as real as possible. The book also peels back the layers on Cochrane’s techniques and the book’s numerous Easter eggs, such as David’s rock-band and record-label T-shirts, which further immerse the reader in the world of Daniel’s poems. Although fusions of poetry and illustration by a single creator aren’t uncommon, it’s still rare to see collaboration between a separate poet and artist. The watercolors give each entry a hazy, impalpable feel that drives home the personal nature of each poem. Carefully rationed verses are punctuated by detailed expressions on sketched faces, which effectively controls the pace. The collection’s lone misstep is reprinting the poems at the end without their corresponding illustrations, which only serves to highlight how much the combination of the two adds to the storytelling.

A strong poetic work that honors the comic-book form.