Frayed Edges

Margaret Clark’s poetry moves comfortably between cosy domesticity, family relationships, art, religion and occasionally politics. She finds inspiration in simple things (a walk in the park, coffee with friends, domestic chores), which reminds us to look for the poetry in the everyday. The metaphor is wielded with great aplomb (Scotland and England as a dysfunctional couple, a mountain range as a sleeping serpent) and the love and respect she has for Australia’s impressive landscape is evident in poems such as ‘October Storm’ and ‘Namatjira’s Way’. These are straightforward, straight-talking nuggets of joy and wisdom and although Clark is not afraid to tackle the bigger issues, the pages twinkle delightfully with her quirky sense of humour. - Alison Flett

Margaret Clark’s poetry is enriched by wide life experiences and keen observations. We are transported north with apt imagery of time spent living in Alice Springs, a thousand miles from tides, where the grey green casuarinas fuss and whisper in the breeze. A woman of the outback, Clark reveals the art, the beauty and the dangers of the natural world. She recalls Cyclone Tracy, leaving a city littered with tinsel and wrapping paper. She is not afraid to confront pain and hardship; she sees the irony of feral animals shot by feral man. Poems in Frayed Edges also capture scenes from her homeland in the UK and take us on literary journeys, paying tribute to writers and poets from biblical to contemporary times. Clark is a poet of wisdom and depth, making sense of science, domesticity, history and society with a refreshing sense of grace, empathy and often humour. - Jude Aquilina

Margaret Clark’s poetry - intelligent, wry observations of places and people - is candid but elegant, gritty but lush. Patrick Allington