Andrew K. Clark

Andrew K. Clark
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Born	1970s Mountains of Appalachia, North Carolina
Nationality	American
Occupation	Poet Novelist Short story writer Performance artist

Andrew K. Clark is an American poet, novelist, short story writer, and performance artist known for his contributions to the literary and social media communities. He is credited with advancing the genre of shitposting with lewd and lascivious depictions of witches, holymen, mad monks, and other societal outcasts.

Academic assessments of Clark’s work have been mixed and often contradictory. On one hand, he is best known for his delusions of grandeur and the beliefs that he is both the reincarnation of Rasputin and has the ability to time travel to and from 19th century Russia. However, established authors have a more grounded view of Clark, praising his literary prowess as “...a work of brutal splendor, in which single pages carry the weight of whole novels…"[Taylor Brown] and as "...an author at the top of his talent, in beautiful form.”[Markus Amaker]

Early life

Andrew K. Clark was born to modest means in the mountains of Appalachia, North Carolina in the 1970s. A child of divorce, he was raised by zealot evangelicals. This upbringing nearly lead him to life as a preacher, but his love of literature, spiritual seeking, and Playboy magazines eliminated his candidacy for a career in the church.

As a teenager, Clark would lose himself in literature in order to escape the confines of poverty and domestic instability. Like Rasputin, he toiled as a peasant farmer. While working in tobacco fields, he would pet wild horses that went feral, earning him the reputation as an animal empath.

By the late 1900s, Clark had taken additional inspiration from Rasputin’s life, and developed a circle of followers, primarily women, who prayed with him on Sundays and followed him to a barn loft near his house where he’d also shovel large amounts of excrement. He became known as the poet laureate of the Whispering Pines Trailer Park. He discovered words could charm his conquests, even amidst hay allergies and the rank odor of horse urine and feces, a skill that he would hone over the course of his life.

Education

Clark was considered an outcast for his love of education and search for knowledge. He would go on to earn several degrees in psychology,[1] philosophy, English literature, business administration, and fine arts in fiction and poetry.

Rise to prominence

Rise to Prominence: Heavily influenced by a wide range of musicians such as Prince and Leonard Cohen, Clark began experimenting with creating his own compositions. In 2021, Clark established Analog Wake [Citation] as his musical identity. His songs heavily focused on synthesized drum beats mixed with electronic and spoken word elements. Muzzle is one early example of this work, which was created with a Roland TR-8S, Volca Drum, Sequential Pro 3, Yamaha MX61, Moog DFAM, Logic Pro X, Arturia Prophet X and features samples from public domain records of T.S. Eliot reading “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufock.”

Clark would go on to arrange and perform a full album, Drones and Flowers, comprising ten tracks over 37 minutes.

In 2022, Clark collaborated with Japanese-born poet Miho Kinnas to produce “Unfamiliar Body,” once again combining rhythmic drum beats, electronic elements, and spoken word.

2018 marked the entry point in Andrew K. Clark’s literary career with the publication of the short story, “Tangled Limbs” [citation] which was a runner up winner in the Beyond the Norm, 2018 Scribes Valley Short Story Anthology. Clark published his seminal work, Jesus in the Trailer,[citation] a book of poems the same year. This work explores themes of love, sex, longing, regret, memory, and family.

Controversy:

Andrew K. Clark is viewed as a controversial pseudo-religious leader credited for forming the Cult of Threaderati. As the guru known as The Mad Monk, Clark rejects traditional ascetic practices, advocating that his followers express more progressive attitudes to sexuality and stream of conscious thought. His appeal to men, women, and non-binary citizens across the literary diaspora cannot be understated, as his preference for engagement does not discriminate based on gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, or other psychosocial constructs.

Clark’s activity and charisma began to spread on social media outlets such as Threadsin 2023. At this point he began to develop multiple facets of his marketing persona, the first was the kilted poet. Born as the brainchild of a fictional TikTok featuring a kilted poet reading and reviewing poetry and literature, Clark’s “Off Kilter” segment started as a bet. Once manifested, the kilt became one of Clark’s signature looks. Gaining attention for his muscular calves, he soon developed an addiction to attention and began in earnest to collect cult followers. He encouraged ruttish women, witches, men and non-binary persons who enjoyed the often outrageous, sometimes annoying, and frequently debauch content that sprang from this endeavor to lavish comments and purchase poetry. A diverse community of creatives, writers, admirers, and sycophants soon followed.

The second, and most important, personna that sprang from Clark’s social media obsession was The Mad Monk. To compliment his sartorialist fashion sensibilities, Clark incorporated cassocks with kilts, ties, sports coats, and colorful socks into his photos and content. Soon, the line between Clark and Rasputin began to blur, and as the cult following grew, Clark’s identity began to merge with The Mad Monk until he began to believe that he was, in fact, the reincarnation of the holyman. His sway over his followers brought considerable status and power as he held virtual court. Devotees soon encouraged this delusion voluntarily joining the Threaderati, Clark’s newly formed cult, in droves. Book sales are predicted to be forthcoming.

Literary praise

Andrew K. Clark's Jesus in the Trailer is a work of brutal splendor, in which single pages carry the weight of whole novels and redemption flickers in the blood and hay of childhood memories. Clark sounds the gothic rhythms of old-time religion and devil's blues, alternately exhorting and confessing, calling us to burn bright and sleep deep -- to hold close the ones we hold dear.

          —Taylor Brown, author of Gods of Howl Mountain  and Pride of Eden

Jesus in the Trailer is an intimate and sobering look at the South, at faith, at youth and aging. Clark’s poems are as tangible as red clay, with an appreciation for the rustic and a reverence for time. From start to finish, this is a truly captivating collection. You'll return to it again and again.

         —Ariel Felton, writer and contributor to the New York Times, the New Yorker, Washington Post, etc. ​

Clark’s honed poems bite and leave us questioning our natures; we can’t hide in religious fervency or thru unzipped exploits. His poem "Rebel Mama" sears our conundrum, “and I know you, can’t get away from you.”

           —Tim Conroy, author of Theologies of Terrain and co-founder of the Pat Conroy Literary Center

​ ​These poems pulse with conflict — desire and regret, tenderness and violence, hypocrisy and spirituality. “Red Lights” jolts us straightaway: “Sinister red Christmas lights / in the window of the trailer glow. . .” Clark explores childhood trauma and sexual awakening, adult relationships, drug and alcohol abuse, and, ultimately, the sustaining grace of the natural world and love, as in “Frost Moon”: "where in the summer we lay / letting the green moss / grow over our bodies…” Deftly crafted and compellingly honest, Clark’s debut collection is impressive.

           —Eric Nelson, author of Some Wonder  and Terrestrials

​ This is a work about moths, Savannah, teeth, Prince, lipstick, churches, tombstones and everything in between. This is a poetry book that will take you places you don’t expect, with precise language. This is an author at the top of his talent, in beautiful form.

           —Marcus Amaker, Poet Laureate of Charleston, SC, and author of The Birth of All Things

​ This book of poems is an invitation to fall in love with the poet’s presence in his time and place, whether you are, or are not, from the South, wishful or heart-broken.

           —Miho Kinnas, author of Today, Fish Only and Move Over, Bird​

Publications

BOOKS:

Jesus in the Trailer: Poems – Main Street Rag Press, November, 2019

Where Dark Things Grow: A Novel – Cowboy Jamboree Press, Fall, 2024

SHORT FICTION:

“Tangled Limbs” – runner up winner, short story, Beyond the Norm: 2018 Scribes Valley Short Story Anthology.

POETRY:

“slackjaw”, “equine | canine” – Coffin Bell Journal (2022)

“Pollination” – Watershed Review (2021)

“beautiful screaming” – The American Journal of Poetry (July 2021)

“Treebeard” – The Appalachian Review (Fall Issue, 2021)

“so many rocks” – Pioneertown Journal

“Origin Story” – The Rappahannock Review

“paper dolls” – fall / lines

“An Ode to Slow Moving” – IWN Reflections

“Winter Breeds Nothing” – IWN Reflections

“The Woodsman” – IWN Reflections

“Rebel Mama” – IWN Reflections

“Red Lights” – NO:1 Journal

“Frost Moon” – NO:1 Journal

“Jesus in the Trailer” – Good Juju

“Things your Father Did” – Good Juju

“Two Squares” – These Fragile Lilacs

“Revival” – The Literary Nest

“The Word Box” – UCLA’s Out of Anonymity

“Ceremony” – UCLA’s Out of Anonymity

“Careless” – Zingara Poetry Review

“Revival” – The Literary Nest

“Winter Garden” – The Pregnant Moon Review

“Four Priests” – The Pregnant Moon Review

“Rainwalking” – The Ogeechee Literary Journal

“Failing to Listen” – The Miscellany

“Lovegroaning” – The Miscellany

Esays / Creative NON-FICTION / BOOK REVIEWS:

“A Church for All” – The Wrathbearing Tree

Even as we Breathe by Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle, book review. South 85 Journal (2021)

Maybe Today: Poetry by Barry Dickson, book review, South 85 Journal (2021)

Select Media Appearances:

Poet Andrew K. Clark – Mountain Xpress, Asheville, NC – 07/06/2023

Interview – Mountain Xpress, Asheville, NC – 01/08/2020.

Contributor Spotlight: Andrew K. Clark – The Rappahannock Review – Fall 2019.

Contribute Your Verse Podcast – 2020.

Interview on Blue Ridge Public Radio / NPR – 01/07/2020.

Book Feature: Jesus in the Trailer – The Laurel of Asheville – 01/01/2020

Discography:

Muzzle

Drones & Flowers: Album:

Body Paint

Bootlegger

Drones & Flowers

Raven Thicket

Pocketwatch

Paper Dolls

Hide & Seek

Temple Road

Phonograph

Wildflowers

Unfamiliar Body

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