Not gonna lie, I think the jvm integration is a big win for clojure as a language. The fact that you can pull in and interop with established jvm tools and libraries makes using a niche language like clojure a possibility for professional development.

C libraries are wonderful tools when you need a low-level library to run hot, but if you need, I don't know, a database adapter or a queueing library and you don't want to write one, I'd much prefer pulling something out of maven than trying to integrate a C library. There's just a lot of infrastructure the jvm gives you pretty easily.

If you're just messing around with fun side projects, there's nothing wrong with using something you enjoy for no other reason than your own personal enjoyment.