Jackson
A melancholy sleepwalker with a penchant for Gitanes and dominatrices, Jackson skulks on the fringes of society, flirting with unimpressed waitresses and 'weaving a subtle magic'. Following this unlikely hero through a range of tragicomic scenarios, the poems see Jackson drive 'deeper down / into the purgatory of himself'. Nonetheless a warm vein of human sympathy runs through this collection, from the description of Jackson's lover Frances, who 'wore her wooden leg well' at his funeral, to the image of a torn up lover letter floating on the shoreline.
The collection's sense of precarious romanticism is all the more winning given that it's wrought out of Cleary's bleak gallows humour. The poems consistently conjure stark images and unforgettable phrases which resonate long after you close the final page.
ISBN 0-9542443-2-X
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JACKSON AT THE SHORLINE
(extract)
Hurling into the waves
the paper of his promises
with a sideways grin,
thinking just too painful.
So the water will collapse
on the sorrow of Jackson.
