Publications

You can order copies of my two pamphlets,The 3-D Clock and The War with Hannibal, individually from the publishers, using the links below.

Alternatively, I’m offering signed copies of both pamphlets to UK buyers at the combined, discounted price of £11.00 (plus postage). Please click on the PayPal button below to order them, or use the “Contact Me” page to arrange another method of payment.

1. The 3-D Clock

My pamphlet, “The 3-D Clock”, was published by Dempsey & Windle in 2020. It’s available from their website, https://www.dempseyandwindle.com/stephen-claughton.html, and costs £8.00.

“The poems in this pamphlet will be familiar territory for those of us who have lost a relative to dementia. Stephen Claughton traces his mother’s descent into the nightmare of forgetfulness with wit, affection and considerable skill and these are powerful, moving poems, all the more effective because of the simplicity of form and language. We glimpse the relationship as it used to be and move with the writer into a reluctant acceptance of the changes brought about by this devastating illness. It brought a tear to my eye.”

Carole Bromley

“This moving sequence of poems documents the painful everyday life of a woman with dementia as seen through the eyes of her son. Claughton shows us what it is like to navigate the landscape of this illness, this fragile world where ‘everyone makes sense of their own reality’. He does so with honest poems that gain in power as you read on and resonate like aftershocks once you’ve closed the book.”

Abegail Morley

2. The War with Hannibal

Poetry Salzburg published my first pamphlet, “The War with Hannibal”, in 2019. It’s available from their website http://www.poetrysalzburg.com and costs £6.50 (+ £1.50 p&p).

“Stephen Claughton has a voice that is quite rare in contemporary poetry. You actually enjoy reading him; you enjoy exploring his landscapes, which might be a Latin lesson with restless schoolboys, a subway with a modern Orpheus, or memories of a grandfather who knew Elgar. I can recommend this pamphlet to any reader.”

Merryn Williams

“Stephen Claughton is a poet with something to say, whose poems are always accessible, engaging and eloquently expressed. Shot through with his own brand of deadpan humour, he seems nonetheless, like Larkin, to be a poet who ‘will forever be surprising / A hunger in himself to be more serious.’ Whether he is describing his ‘devout Sabbatarian’ grandfather, his Latin teacher, or tragic artists like Munch and Flannery O’Connor, his portraits of failure and frustration exude a kind of bruised wisdom in the face of mortality and neglect: ‘We are where we are […]. That’s how things look from here.’ And yet, however clear-eyed and stoical his vision may be, this is a poet who entertains and delights us with consummate ease.”

David Cooke

 

Reviews of “The War with Hannibal” and “The 3-D Clock”

“Claughton is a sympathetic and accurate observer and a good story-teller with a facility for conveying human emotions in a few words.”   ” . . . affection, understanding and generosity are predominant qualities of Claughton’s very accessible poetry.” (Thomas Ovans, reviewing both pamphlets in London Grip, 28 April 2020)

“I can say with absolute certainty that these are all poems to which I’ll return, again and again. Since your editor is essentially quite a simple soul, he has a special fondness for poems written in everyday language that exhibit the virtues of absolute lucidity, but which shoot with arrow-like precision right into the reader’s heart (a much more difficult trick to pull off than many practitioners of the art realize).” (Kevin Maynard, reviewing both pamphlets in Ver Poets Poetry World, Spring 2020)

“. . . these poems are remarkable for their clarity and lucidity. I would recommend this warm and humane collection as a gift, if you think the recipient would appreciate it, that might help carers and relatives through this very challenging passage of life.” (Greg Freeman, reviewing “The 3-D Clock” in Write Out Loud, 26 September 2020)

“The poems here are straightforwardly anecdotal, relating aspects of his mother’s increasing dementia, how he deals with the loss of himself in her receding memory, while capturing the poignancy of all else lost. Having worked on geriatric wards, and said a similar goodbye to one parent, I can vouchsafe the accuracy of his down-to-earth observations.” (Sam Smith, reviewing “The 3-D Clock” in The Journal #61, October 2020)

“In his previous pamphlet, The War with Hannibal (2019, Salzburg Poetry), Claughton revisits his boyhood and family memories, evoking school days and the legacy of his father and grandfather. The male side of the family heritage is delineated in well-paced lines and harmonious sounds that convey a sense of balance and understated wit. In the poems, keen observations and irony coalesce with unexpected final twists that surprise the reader. A similar attitude is developed in The 3-D Clock, with special attention being paid to his mother’s condition and his caring for her . . . The poems in the collection are remarkably consistent in theme and tone, revealing in evocative and precise lines Claughton’s intense and tender affection for his mother, whose illness affected their relationship in the last years of her life. However, dementia did not spoil their rapport; on the contrary, it became stronger and more significant during his efforts to accept her condition and during his attempts to help her . . . The poems are a remarkable testimony to the link between mother and son that transcends illnesses and incomprehension.” (Carla Scarano reviewing “The 3-D Clock” in the Tears in the Fence blog, 24 August 2022)