Ian Shircore

Ian Shircore's mission is to rescue Clive James's poems from the "poetry ghetto" and bring them to people who would never normally read poetry (and would certainly not pick up a book about poetry).

Clive wrote some real duds - not surprising in the course of a 60-year career and more than 300 poems. But he also hit some wonderful highs. And like every other writer, musician or artist, he deserves to be remembered for his greatest work, rather than some dull, actuarial average. Would you choose to judge The Beatles by Run For Your Life, Octopus's Garden and Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey, or by their finest creations, like Strawberry Fields, Blackbird and Please, Please Me?

Some of Clive's best poems are already well known. The Book of My Enemy Has Been Remaindered is still going strong, 37 years on, and Japanese Maple is loved all over the world. But there are others, like Use of Space, At Ian Hamilton's Funeral and The Falcon Growing Old, that are just as moving. All I want is for more people to discover them and share the joy.