John Cooper Clarke
English performance poet and punk-era poet from Salford, known for his rapid-fire delivery, incisive social commentary and poems such as "Evidently Chickentown"; prominent in the late 1970s Manchester scene and associated with The Invisible Girls.
Books
This list of books are ONLY the books that have been ranked on the lists that are aggregated on this site. This is not a comprehensive list of all books by this author.
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1. Ten Years In An Open Necked Shirt
A hard-hitting collection of rapid-fire, performance-ready poems that use punk-inflected rhythms and razor-sharp wordplay to sketch the grit and humor of urban life, offering vivid portraits of drifters, eccentrics and nightlife scenes while delivering satirical barbs at class, consumerism and social hypocrisy, tempered by moments of rueful tenderness and human vulnerability.
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2. I Wanna Be Yours
A compact collection of punchy, rhythmic poems that fuse wry northern humor, raw working‑class observation and tender, often startling declarations of love. The pieces move between biting social commentary and pared‑down love lyrics, delivered in economical, performance‑ready lines that mix sarcasm, warmth and melancholy. The result is streetwise, immediate verse that captures urban life and longing with wit, bluntness and a distinctive rhythmic voice.
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