“Anyone who has seen me before will be aware that I’ve been piling on the pounds recently.”
The wild hairline may be shifting back a little, but Dr John Cooper Clarke is still stick insect thin, and his love of verbiage has not left him.
When he spoke to The Guide earlier this year he said he had been writing more than ever before.
And the evidence was clear to see at the Theatre Royal Brighton show as he unveiled a series of new poems – including a pair of UK premieres in Psychedelicate and Kamerad Klaak.
While his support acts Mike Garry and Luke Wright delighted in long political pieces – frequently preaching to the converted it seemed – Clarke’s poetry was characterised by its humour and brevity. He even threw in haikus and a two-line poem - the shortest a rhyming poet could do.
When he dipped into his longer form back catalogue it was delivered at breakneck speed, to the point he occasionally tripped over his own tongue on Beasley Street and Evidently Chickentown.
At times the hour-and-a-half set turned into an extended stand-up routine.
But even there Clarke’s love of wordplay was clear to see, from his explanation why generalising ensured mankind outlived the dinosaurs to the Scots’ obsession with mahogany at New Year.
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