The latest poetry collection from John Cooper Clarke, AKA the Bard of Salford, What comes with themes including chlamydia, necrophilia, Elvis, the “misery soup” of rolling news, the late racing commentator Peter O’Sullevan, Boxing Day bubble and squeak and the delights of Manchester’s Curry Mile – “Drunk chicks blow chunks out the back of a stretch / Staccato heels a-clatter”.
These poems are vintage Clarke: full of wordplay and whimsical humour and threaded with sharp social commentary. Blue Collar Wallah is a portrait of a “heteronormative handyman” who is a “two meat and one veg guy, potatoes never kale”, and who finds himself out of step with contemporary values; Smooth Operetta depicts the youth tribe once known as casuals, discernible by their Farah slacks and slip-on shoes – “Neat neat neat neat neat / Please do not make me repeat”.
Along with fashion, Clarke has a keen eye for life’s simple pleasures: Ode to the Coast extols: “A nice cuppa splosh and a round of toast / A cursory glance at the morning post / A pointless walk along the coast.” Sheffield is a hymn to the city of steel that begat “Richard Hawley on the corner / The Cockers both Jarvis and Joe.”
Manchester-born Clarke is best known as a spoken-word performer who rose to fame on the punk scene and who has long been attuned to words and their rhythmic sounds. What is therefore best heard in audio and narrated by its author. Clarke’s unmistakable delivery – all elongated vowel sounds and amused disdain – elevates the verse to the realms of high art.
Further listening:
A Very Private School
Charles Spencer, William Collins, 7hr 57min
The ninth Earl Spencer, brother of Diana, Princess of Wales, narrates his memoir documenting the abuse suffered by him and many others during his five years of boarding school.
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The Color Purple
Alice Walker, Audible Studios, 8hr 7min
The Orange is the New Black actor Samira Wiley narrates this landmark novel about Celie, a young Black girl from Georgia suffering under male tyranny and abuse.