{"id":8719,"date":"2017-11-08T17:25:49","date_gmt":"2017-11-08T16:25:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=8719"},"modified":"2017-11-12T19:05:20","modified_gmt":"2017-11-12T18:05:20","slug":"john-wedgwood-clarke-landfill-reviewed-by-ian-pople","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=8719","title":{"rendered":"John Wedgwood Clarke, Landfill<\/em>, reviewed by Ian Pople"},"content":{"rendered":"
John Wedgwood Clarke, Landfill<\/em> (Valley Press, \u00a310.99).<\/h5>\n

John Wedgwood Clarke\u2019s first full collection, Ghost Pot<\/em>, came with encomia from Carol Rumens, Penelope Shuttle and Michael Symmons Roberts. On its cover, Bernard O\u2019Donoghue called the book, \u2018a masterpiece\u2019. Over the years, his poems have appeared in a range of prestigious journals including, Poetry Ireland Review<\/em>, PN Review<\/em> and Poetry Review<\/em>. To that extent, it is surprising that Wedgwood Clarke\u2019s work is not better known. Perhaps his recent television appearances will raise his profile. <\/p>\n

Ghost Pot<\/em> contained a range of poems concerned almost exclusively with the natural world. That natural world was often to be found in and around Yorkshire, where Wedgwood Clark was living and lecturing at universities. But it needs to be emphasised that his poems have never been \u2018academic\u2019. The poems in Ghost Pot<\/em> are closely observed and often sensual evocations of the world. One such is the lovely \u2018Grey Mullet\u2019, the ending of which I\u2019ll quote at length,<\/p>\n

they just hovered
\nBy the steps, around green chains,
\nscaling the distance between boat and shadow
\noblivious, as they listened out
\nfor someone to arrive, enthralled
\nby a sound on the edge of their hearing.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Post Ted Hughes, it is often difficult to \u2018characterise\u2019 fauna and flora in ways which do not seem precious or sentimental. However, Wedgwood Clarke not only observes carefully but moves that observation, of the mullet hovering in the water, into a personification which emphasises the selfhood of the fish even while still using the human sense of hearing to personify. <\/p>\n

Wedgwood Clarke\u2019s new book, Landfill<\/em>, explores that natural world more in terms of environmental concerns, as might be gleaned from the title…and the cover, Wedgwood Clarke\u2019s own photo of landfill. In this book, too, that concern is held within a closely observant and quite impacted style. These are the first six lines of \u2018Waste Oil Tank\u2019,<\/p>\n

Its black gullet swallows oil\u2019s swooping tongue,
\nlightness pouring up the arm.<\/p>\n

The terminal barrel winks and gleams,
\ngorgeously sun-warmed like a holiday wall<\/p>\n

under contrails unravelling
\ntheir white intestines into almost cloud.<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

In \u2018Waste Oil Tank\u2019, there is something of the kind of personification which we have seen in \u2018Grey Mullet\u2019 above. That first line not only creates a suitably oleaginous image, but there is also the sense of oleaginous movement too; and also something more disturbing with that sense of the gullet swallowing the tongue. That disturbance is then followed by the \u2018lightness pouring up the arm\u2019, so that transformations become more surreal. The waste oil tank becomes revealed to the reader\/viewer as almost having its own sense of disturbing agency. And yet, the disturbance is ameliorated by the image of the sun-warmed holiday wall. Here, Wedgwood Clarke\u2019s powers of observation and simile allow the reader some momentary comfort; until the contrails in the sky, with that image of literal viscera, impress that even in the air above us further pollution is taking place. <\/p>\n

However, environmental concerns do not quite dominate this book. Towards the end of Landfill<\/em>, Wedgwood Clarke offers us \u2018Suite for Artificial Voices\u2019. This is a sonnet sequence of four first-person monologues. Perhaps Wedgwood Clarke\u2019s actor training at the Guildhall informs this sequence because they do jump off the page and beg for performance. These poems, too, have a surreal feel to them. This is the end of the second of the sonnets, \u2018Laryngectomy\u2019, <\/p>\n

But thank you for trying to measure muscle into me.
\nYou have found a way to make a pause
\nthat is not a comma, and so is like
\nthe white space in which the throat bleeds
\nwhen it cannot bandage it with words.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Wedgwood Clarke is reaching into the body here, as he has done with \u2018Waste Oil Tank\u2019, but here the body is the body. There is a \u2018you\u2019 who, we might presume, is the surgeon treating the patient. But Wedgwood Clarke\u2019s imagination is both vivid and quick enough to have the throat \u2018bandag[ing]\u2019 a white space, which we might imagine is both the hollow tube of the throat but also the space left when there are no words. Perhaps Wedgwood Clarke will write more of these \u2018speeches\u2019 in future volumes. <\/p>\n

Ian Pople<\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John Wedgwood Clarke, Landfill (Valley Press, \u00a310.99). John Wedgwood Clarke\u2019s first full collection, Ghost Pot, came with encomia from Carol Rumens, Penelope Shuttle and Michael Symmons Roberts. On its cover, Bernard O\u2019Donoghue called the book, \u2018a masterpiece\u2019. Over the years, his poems have appeared in a range of prestigious journals including, Poetry Ireland Review, PN […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[13,283],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nJohn Wedgwood Clarke, Landfill, reviewed by Ian Pople - The Manchester Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=8719\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"John Wedgwood Clarke, Landfill, reviewed by Ian Pople - The Manchester Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"John Wedgwood Clarke, Landfill (Valley Press, \u00a310.99). John Wedgwood Clarke\u2019s first full collection, Ghost Pot, came with encomia from Carol Rumens, Penelope Shuttle and Michael Symmons Roberts. On its cover, Bernard O\u2019Donoghue called the book, \u2018a masterpiece\u2019. Over the years, his poems have appeared in a range of prestigious journals including, Poetry Ireland Review, PN […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=8719\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Manchester Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-11-08T16:25:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-11-12T18:05:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/i63.tinypic.com\/34pxbat.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ian Pople\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ian Pople\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=8719\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=8719\",\"name\":\"John Wedgwood Clarke, Landfill, reviewed by Ian Pople - The Manchester Review\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-11-08T16:25:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-11-12T18:05:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/1e4c20066db3d71097155619e6d443a9\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=8719#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=8719\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=8719#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"John Wedgwood Clarke, Landfill, reviewed by Ian Pople\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/\",\"name\":\"The Manchester Review\",\"description\":\"The Manchester Review\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/1e4c20066db3d71097155619e6d443a9\",\"name\":\"Ian Pople\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif\",\"caption\":\"Ian Pople\"},\"description\":\"Ian Pople's Spillway is published by Anstruther Press.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?author=21\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"John Wedgwood Clarke, Landfill, reviewed by Ian Pople - The Manchester Review","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=8719","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"John Wedgwood Clarke, Landfill, reviewed by Ian Pople - The Manchester Review","og_description":"John Wedgwood Clarke, Landfill (Valley Press, \u00a310.99). John Wedgwood Clarke\u2019s first full collection, Ghost Pot, came with encomia from Carol Rumens, Penelope Shuttle and Michael Symmons Roberts. On its cover, Bernard O\u2019Donoghue called the book, \u2018a masterpiece\u2019. Over the years, his poems have appeared in a range of prestigious journals including, Poetry Ireland Review, PN […]","og_url":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=8719","og_site_name":"The Manchester Review","article_published_time":"2017-11-08T16:25:49+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-11-12T18:05:20+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/i63.tinypic.com\/34pxbat.jpg"}],"author":"Ian Pople","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ian Pople","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=8719","url":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=8719","name":"John Wedgwood Clarke, Landfill, reviewed by Ian Pople - The Manchester Review","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-11-08T16:25:49+00:00","dateModified":"2017-11-12T18:05:20+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/1e4c20066db3d71097155619e6d443a9"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=8719#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=8719"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=8719#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"John Wedgwood Clarke, Landfill, reviewed by Ian Pople"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#website","url":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/","name":"The Manchester Review","description":"The Manchester Review","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/1e4c20066db3d71097155619e6d443a9","name":"Ian Pople","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif","caption":"Ian Pople"},"description":"Ian Pople's Spillway is published by Anstruther Press.","url":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?author=21"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2PuXo-2gD","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8719"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8719"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8719\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8723,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8719\/revisions\/8723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}