SAMUEL Taylor Coleridge once said that prose is “words in their best order”, but poetry is “the best words in the best order”.

And Dr John Cooper Clarke, professional poet, believes this too – and that those words have to rhyme of course.

John shot to prominence in the 1970s as the original ‘people’s poet’. But he realised his love for poetry from the age of 12 - it was something he was good at.

Being part of a group called The Chaperones, John nominated himself to be the lyricist. After a few songs the group didn’t get far but John was left with a lot of left over lyrics, so he decided to use them in the way he knew best – through poetry.

He said: “I always intended to be professional – quite how I didn’t know. I had a few friends who went to Art College for commercial art and I thought there might be space in that area for poetry.”

“Most people were discouraging but I was convinced that if you achieved a certain level of expertise, then you could become the go-to-guy. I definitely saw a future in the jingles for adverts.

“What makes it a poem if it doesn’t rhyme? Why rebel against tradition? I just give the people what they want.”

Although traditional, John’s poetry has now been included on national curriculum syllabus and he has a huge affect on modern music.

He has collaborated with the Artic Monkeys and Plan B, resulting in two recent global number one albums, with The Arctic Monkeys putting one of John’s best loved poems, I Wanna Be Yours, to music on their critically acclaimed A:M Album.

Now, John is touring the world with his latest show – The Luckiest Guy Alive – which is a mix of classic verse, extraordinary new material, hilarious ponderings on modern life, good honest gags, riffs and chat.

He added: “My show is exactly the same as it always has been, I haven’t added any special effects – it is just me. One man, one microphone and lots of poetry. Poetry, like all art, is useless. If no one wrote poetry again, the world wouldn’t change.”

Dr John Cooper Clarke will be at The Tropicana in Weston-super-Mare on December 2 at 7:30pm. For more information visit www.johncooperclarke.com