Euromancer

Since his first book, Ghost Measures, in 1987, Adrian Clarke has built a phrasal poetics so distinctive that he is regarded as a key figure in Linguistically Innovative Poetry.

Provoked by the Brexit referendum, this collection draws on the wide reach of Clarke's European imagination and returns to the central concerns of his career, working them through many forms and sequences. Tributes to Laforgue, Michaux and Celan run through the book, while the poet's own sharp line breaks and fast, hard-driving rhythms push the verse forward.

The poems look squarely at the horror of history as it weighs on Europe, and at a divided self pulled between body and spirit. The sonnet sequence Herodiad is singled out as a standout. The tone is bleak, the verse dense and luminous, and the book suits readers willing to work through compressed, experimental language.