Recently long-listed for the National Poetry Competition, AC Clarke is a poet who consistently delivers honest, engaging poetry. Exploring the margin, whether as text or as personal or historical experience, Clarke skilfully focusses on ways in which the centre ground and the margins can constantly shift, so that an affair outweighs vast political events or an unknown woman comes sharply into view. Poised and honed, at the heart of the collection is an affair that proceeds oblivious of the social and political context of the IRA mainland bombing campaign, whilst the opening and closing sections contain mirror poems that push us inexorably to question the margin.
