Clarke's work addresses the experiences and history of the Black Canadian communities of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, creating a cultural geography coined "Africadia."

Clarke has described the group's sound as "a mash-up of southern-fried blues and saltwater spirituals, with Nashville guitars, Mi’kmaw-and-“African” drums, Highland bagpipes and Acadien fiddles.

His work draws upon a range of literary and artistic traditions (both "high" and "low") and is inclusive of political, historical and spatial themes.

"[8] Clarke has stated that he found further writing inspiration in the 1970s and his "individualist poetic scored with implicit social commentary" came from the "Gang of Seven" intellectuals, "poet-politicos: jazz trumpeter Miles Davis, troubadour-bard Bob Dylan, libertine lyricist Irving Layton, guerrilla leader and poet Mao Zedong, reactionary modernist Ezra Pound, Black Power orator Malcolm X and the Right Honourable Pierre Elliott Trudeau.

"[10] Clarke found "as a whole, the group's blunt talk, suave styles, acerbic independence, raunchy macho, feisty lyricism, singing heroic and a scarf-and-beret chivalry quite, well, liberating.

"[10] His poetry and scholarship address and challenge historic encounters with racism, segregated areas, discrimination, hatred, forced relocation and a loss of a sense of identity and belonging experienced by the Black populations of Canada.

In his anthology, Fire On The Water, Clarke uses a biblical timeline stretching from Genesis to Psalms and Proverbs to Revelation to present Black writings and authors born within a specific period.

These names reflect the Africadians’ and other Black peoples’ forebears and the first singers' own preferences for singing "the Lord’s song in this strange land.

A seventh-generation African Canadian, Clarke is descended from African-American refugees from the War of 1812 who escaped enslavement in America and were relocated to Nova Scotia.

On January 16, 2008, Clarke was made an honorary Fellow of the Haliburton Literary Society, the oldest literary society in North America, at the University of King's College, Halifax; and in 2009, he was a co-recipient of the William P. Hubbard Award for Race Relations from the City of Toronto for his achievements and commitment in making a distinct difference in racial relations in Toronto.

[21] In 2022, Clarke was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal for his significant service to the province of Nova Scotia in the field of the Arts.