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John Cooper Clarke

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 John Cooper Clarke
Has his poems on the
National curriculum now
Too late for me
But I envy those who have his
Salford metaphors in a classroom
As a reason to pick up a book
And read to discover that someone somewhere
Feels the way you feel
“Words on the page” Leavis said
The “Felt” experience
Dear Christ forbid that we should enjoy poetry
Lets dissect disrupt disperse despair
Oh Frankie your elitism still bores and alienates me
Long live Popular Culture (bless you Stuart Hall)
Leavis he must be horrified at the rise of Football
Look at us writing poems about football
“The best that has been written and thought”
About football…
Matthew Arnold, that other sacred cow
I bet he’s spinning in his grave now
All the way down Beezley Street.

Notes

ParryMaguire (2004)

Bogged down with literary theory at college at the moment….the attitudes and ideas haven’t changed since compulsory education more years ago than I care to remember.

Source: https://footballpoets.org/poems/john-cooper-clarke/