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First published in 1994, Flung Clear collects John Wilkinson’s poems of the late 1980s and early 1990s, written in Birmingham and Cairo. Now recognised as a central English work of the period extending from the Miners’ Strike to the first Gulf War, Flung Clear combines political urgency, self-invention and poetical scope. The collection includes the pamphlets Hid Lip, Bones of Contention, The Speaking Twins, Stages along the Lichway and The Nile.
‘“John Wilkinson’s Effigies Against the Light for its sheer verbal inventiveness and unheard-of melodies made much contemporary poetry seem straightforwardly pedestrian”’ —Adam Phillips
‘“John Wilkinson’s taut, precise poems, in which lyric grace and ethical urgency move together but never comfortably mix, amount to one of the most significant bodies of work in contemporary poetry.”’ —Patrick McGuinness
‘“John Wilkinson’s a powerful and intent poet whose language is densely charged with energy-traces: it’s rich with verbs, the sense of happenings, deeds, potentialities, necessities, results.”’ —Roy Fisher