In the “Boogie Nights” era of the 1970s, Betty Browning and her lover, boxer Malcolm Miles, travel from the fog-anchored grime of Halifax to sunburnt Corpus Christi and back, meeting tragedy and bloodshed along the way. This verse novel smoulders with forbidden lust and blazes with brutality. With his trademark artistry, Clarke fearlessly ignites the grotesque and repugnant. Then, in a breath, he carries us “. . . to a hedonistic Eden, A wide largesse of green and flowers, And the unaccustomed gilding of light Granting everything a gold crust.”
“One of Canada’s most important and readable poets.”
– TORO Magazine

“The poetry itself is the thing, the overflowing energy of the language in this book — a profusion of rhetorical tropes and schemes and a breathtaking array of literary and cultural allusion. . . . Truly an original creation. It was probably fun to write; it is certainly a pleasure to read.”
“Clarke marches and dances and stomps and skates (but never ever shuffles) all over the story. Don’t even think about trying to put this musical novel down. Betty Baker Browning &#91is&#93 the sweetest alter ego this side of Bedford Basin. Or in this life, oh sweet life.”