No. 25

On Geraldine Clarkson's previous chapbook: Joseph Brodsky wrote joyously about W.H. Auden's range of diction, claiming that Auden ladles from every puddle. Reading Geraldine Clarkson's astonishing debut pamphlet, Declare, invites the same response. Clarkson takes words from every conceivable field and makes them happy bedfellows. The risk of this highly-wrought, hyper-inventive approach is that it could become obscure or overly self-conscious. With Clarkson, neither of these is the case. The poems are sharply honed wonders of meditation that serve the subject and make powerful, complex sense. ... With a pamphlet this rich in brio, skill, and originality, Clarkson has the potential to be a significant and original voice in British poetry. Daljit Nagra, PBS Bulletin See more