Watch John Cooper Clarke perform 'I Wrote the Songs' from his new poetry collection

Performance poet John Cooper Clarke performs a poem from his first collection in thirty years.

With a career spanning over forty years, from opening for bands including The Sex Pistols and Joy Division in the 1970s and ‘80s to inspiring artists from the Arctic Monkeys to Plan B, punk performance poet Dr John Cooper Clarke is as relevant and vibrant as ever. The Luckiest Guy Alive is the first collection from original people’s poet in thirty years, and here he gives a barnstorming performance of 'I Wrote the Songs'.

The Luckiest Guy Alive

by John Cooper Clarke

Book cover for The Luckiest Guy Alive

The Luckiest Guy Alive is the first new book of poetry from Dr John Cooper Clarke for several decades – and a brilliant, scabrous, hilarious collection from one of our most beloved and influential writers and performers. Cooper Clarke’s status as the ‘Emperor of Punk Poetry’ is certainly confirmed here, but so is his reputation as a brilliant versifier, a poet of vicious wit and a razor-sharp social satirist. Effortlessly immediate and contemporary, full of hard-won wisdom and expert blindsidings, The Luckiest Guy Alive shows one of the most compelling poets of the age on truly exceptional form.