Author: Marius

Community poem October 2023

They are all in the Vortex

I live in a dustbin littered with gold
You can tell its art-my Grandfather said- because there are no people in it
I was watching Line of Duty

Drop, beat, drop, beat, drop

Time flies
The beautiful smallness you feel when gazing up at the sky and realising, somewhere
up there, is a boat that never moves
Its behind you

Drop, beat, drop, beat, drop

Love is a verb
Gravy
Clit
Ramen
Telling talk from mutter is like telling Stork from butter

Drop, beat, drop, beat, drop

On the bad days, please read this
Your legacy is not yours-
I think about profiting from your death more than I probably should

Lou Reed- As I entered a lock on my Satellite of Love !!! narrow boat xx
I am begging Mars to write a line, I tell them, the poem needs them, he needs you
satellite circling a satellite of love.

LOOK UP!

Home » Archives for Marius

CHIMES OPEN MIC

12th December The Bell Inn Walcot Street Bath
Doors Open at 7pm Entrance £4
Open mic slots book on the door

Headliner Leilah King

Leilah King is a half-Iranian queer footballer, mental health advocate, and stand-up poet. Her debut poetry collection Midnight Picnics in Tehran was published by Burning Eye Books. Her new collection We Are Hungry for Androgyny is recently out with Polari Press.

She is the co-founder and host of Time of the Month Open Mic. A nurturing and supportive performance space for female/ trans/nonbinary/GNC performers in Bristol
Leilah’s poetry is inspired by her Iranian heritage. Leilah’s mum is from Shiraz. Her grandfather was a notable Ayatollah, writer and poet. Leilah spent many childhood summers in bustling Tehran and wandering the beautiful parks in the city of poets, Shiraz. Today, Leilah’s work interweaves themes of patriarchy, discrimination and mental health, in reference to her experience as a gender non-conforming queer woman.
Home » Archives for Marius

Kat Lyons

No Comments

Kat is a Bristol-based writer and performer, working mainly in the field of spoken word poetry. They are the curent Bristol City Poet (2022-2024) and were nominated for the Jerwood Poetry in Performance Award 2022. Kat has performed at poetry events and festivals across the UK, including WOMAD, Shambala, Lyra: Bristol Poetry Festival 2020 and the Eden Project. Their poetry has been featured in Under the Radar, Ink Sweat & Tears and Bath Magg and their debut collection Love Beneath the Nails is published by Verve Poetry Press. Kat has recently finished their UK tour of Dry Season – a multi-year spoken word theatre show/project exploring age, identity and menopause.

Home » Archives for Marius

Make A Poetry Film Workshop with Helen Dewbery

Start 2024 learning how to make a poetry film!

Who is this workshop for?

The workshop is for anyone who is interested in poetry film or who is wanting to take their first steps towards it.

Online via Zoom over two Saturday mornings 10am to 1pm

Dates: Saturday 13th and 20th January 2024
Cost: Full price £28. Pay-what-you-can also available

What will the workshop cover?

On this two half day workshop we will:

 Get inspired by looking at some of the many different styles, genres, and types of
poetry film.
 Identify similarities between film and poetry and what putting these together can
offer.
 Discuss in detail how to make a poetry film and then have a chance to make your
own.
 There will be lots of practical hints and tips as well as detailed handouts.

Helen Dewbery has taught poetry film extensively, in person and online. Her work has appeared internationally at poetry and film festivals, where she has also presented talks and curations. For seven years she delivered a programme of poetry film events at Poetry Swindon Festival, including events in the community and an outdoor projection.

Editor at Poetry Film Live and poetry film editor at Spelt Magazine

Jenny Mitchell. SOL Headliner October 2023

Jenny Mitchell won the Gregory O’Donoghue Prize 2023 for a single poem, and the Poetry
Book Awards 2021 for her second collection, Map of a Plantation, which is on the syllabus at
Manchester Metropolitan University.

The prize-winning debut collection, Her Lost
Language, is One of 44 Poetry Books for 2019 (Poetry Wales), and her latest collection,
Resurrection of a Black Man, contains three prize-winning poems and is featured on the US
podcast Poetry Unbound.

She’s won numerous competitions, is widely-published and has performed at the Houses of Parliament. Her latest publication is the pamphlet shared with Zoë Brigley and Roy McFarlane called Family Name.

Her Lost Language
Map of a Plantation
Resurrection of a Black Man

Community Poem September 2023

There once was a man from Nantucket
Who often thought well then (……………NO, NO I’m not going there!)

Peace to all here tonight
The whole world is in our hands
Newspapers all tell us the Earth is dying, but really its hoping and sighing.
Light-hearted skipping souls
This paper is sodden as is my heart
Whilst cultivating exclusively coloured socks just for you.

The Zebra’s tonsils swung like a metronome click-clacking-
And, what’s more, the gull that shat on my head, on the way to the show, did not stop me from
reading a poem.
We bade farewell, with a bourgeois bon soir- I blew a kiss, it missed!

Home » Archives for Marius

Community poem August 2023

No Comments

Poets who can’t count also seem to have no sense of proportion as 2 tiny poems GROW…… and require lengthy introductions!!!

One Day I will write something clever, but until then……
carry on, there is plenty of time.
Thankfully in the meantime, I like beans, purple edibles
and Blue Duck eggs!

I used to be indecisive but……..
now I’m not so sure
It’s everything and nothing-
I know nothing and that’s something ha ha.

Sorry about the curtain
with me draped head to toe in full length lammentta
the dandelion forgot the time, knowing
Unity in the community, presents an opportunity.

On waking I found I’d lost my identity
And yet…..we thrust onward….
Even the birds are ambivalent as they carve their way through air
made solid with industrial smoke and smell.

Colin is dead, with his fuzzy camel face.
So sad…….., but I am valued, I am love.
You ask if I’m emotional?
Fuck yeah!

Jemma Hathaway 27th September 2023, on board The John Sebastian Lightship

Jemma Hathaway. Photo by Sam Cavender/@samsnapsalot

Jemma Hathaway likes to put words next to one another and see if they hit it off. Her poems have been featured on BBC Radio Bristol, BBC iPlayer and she was the 2020 Hammer & Tongue slam champion for Bristol. She has supported Joelle Taylor, performed at the Royal Albert Hall and appeared on Sky Arts Life & Rhymes hosted by Benjamin Zephaniah. She is a Button Poetry Short Form contest winner and in 2021 self-published her first poetry pamphlet, January.

Last year she won the Hip Yak Poetry Shack slam at Frome Festival and performed her first festival set at WOMAD and this year she has been lucky enough to support Roger McGough.

Her poems are a sticky dancefloor for the ongoing dance-off between her head and her heart. She hopes you like her moves. She is currently working on her first full collection.

Photo by:

Sam Cavender/@samsnapsalot 

News of poetry festivals and other literary related events.

​WELCOME to ARTPORT | HOME of PORTISHEAD ARTS FESTIVAL.

ArtPort is a vibrant, multi-arts festival that takes place annually in the unique and historic location of Portishead, on the North Somerset coast. Now in our third year, we continue to grow, this year adding classical music, spoken word, specially commissioned original film and much more to our roster of events.

ARTPORT IS A FREE FESTIVAL
​

Home » Archives for Marius

Community poem July 2023 -The Toolbox

No Comments

We rummaged in the toolbox but only found
The hammer.

We rummaged in the toolbox but only found
Cascades of silver glitter, 
Shimmering ghosts.

We rummaged in the toolbox but only discovered
My anatomy;
It smells of curry
It wasn’t very nice
But the dog ate it anyways. 

We rummaged in the toolbox but only found
Ferry boat Margaret
Swinging low with rats,
Boats, 
And rainbow oil. 

We rummaged in the toolbox but only found
A city in levels 
Like a Victoria spongecake. 

Love finds itself,
Rummaged in the toolbox,
Walking through the city’s dark history
Everything is black and white 
Except in the dead of night. 

We rummaged in the toolbox but only found
The last poem
Of the last dug dazzled. 
We rummaged in the toolbox but only found
Purple pen pushes words from my mind. 

We rummaged in the toolbox but only found
Barbados to Bristol and back. 
Reimagined in dance & verse
Choreo poetry curiosity, hoping
To bring on the flow in me. 

Speak your own truth. Love me
So don’t scare me of all these pomp & circumstales.