John Cooper-Clarke

[normsk1963]

I was reminded of this persons work recently by Swampy Bob's post 'A Mans Man'. Not being a poet, I was interested in the opinions of those with more knowledge of this art.

As suggestions, 'Beasley Street' is one of his more serious pieces, contrasted by his humour in 'Tw*t' (if you don't mind the word). They are all readily available with a quick <insert favoured engine> search of the webinet.

He is from a different age and some of his stuff could be considered offensive. However, my question is how does he rate as a poet?

< for John, he does it for me >

[Brett]

'I tell you now and I tell you firmly,
I never wanna go to Burnley.
What goes on there don't concern me;
why would anyone make the journey?'

Works for me.

'Twat' I think was, and still is, a fantastic piece of satire that has a gut and rage to it we seldom see in much contemporary poetry (sadly).
He may have been of a different time but he stated his beliefs in a distinct voice and in well crafted and, more importantly, entertaining poems.

Offensive? I'll let others discuss that.

Cheers

Brett

[martin shaw]

He's Punk... always has been, and lives on, more than Bolan

[normsk1963]

He does indeed, as he is not dead and Bolan had a problem with trees. I wonder what Bolan would have been like now?

I saw JCC a few years ago in London and have seen him many times. At his stand up gigs he comes across like a working mans club comic. Everyone knows all the words and there is a lot of joining in. It is all very amicable. Not the personfication of punk, at least not now. Didn't see him in the day.

I didn't do punk full on, didn't dress the part, but I was there and remember how it captured us. I am very lucky to have seen such a revolutionary time I think.