‘‘I am the boy who threw the ball / into summer’s empty mouth.’ So
begins David Clarke’s beautifully-crafted debut. His refined and
elegantly playful poems mine popular and classical culture with
equal aplomb, as poems about Jimmy Stewart and Superman sit
alongside an Orpheus who ‘wants two Americanos’ and an exploration
of Plato’s ideas on cake. Here is a subtle control of form, a
distinctive voice, a lightly-worn erudition and a feeling that we
are in very safe hands, as Clarke sings in praise of this ‘Dumb old
world.’ In a time of permanent emergency, there are few better
navigators. Just as in ‘The Messengers,’ Clarke laments the fact
that we do not hear the angels crying, so I want to say Listen.
Listen to this.’ – Jonathan Edwards
‘Lenin sheds reactionary tears in the music hall, Scott Walker
starts over with ‘only [his] voice and the dark’, a narrator finds
the promise of a ‘whole new country’ in a Gay Pride Festival; there
are poems about sword swallowing, Jimmy Stewart, assembling a
greenhouse, and revolution. Arc is a various, exciting and
exhilarating debut collection. David Clarke has a knack for writing
lines that take your breath away.’ – Cliff Yates
‘This is an energetic debut and a thoroughly engaging read. At
times explosive in imagery and theme, the tenor of discord, both
personal and political, flowers through a skillful sobriety of form
and theme. Arccontains poems in which the language of the world is
returned to us with a lyric excitement. It’s a pleasure to read
work as engaged and intelligent as this.’ – Rachael Boast
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