Author: GBJM_57

SOL Community Poem, February 2025

Catalytic Converter For Sale


Blackthorne is the Wrongbow, Thatchers rules!
One drink away from being an overly-ambitious power bottom
Yet in the tunnels of love, I will choo choo should
you need the shove.

A low January sun and everything is edged in light
head buzzing like a broken fridge
Unhand me at once you buffoon!
Somewhere a lemon is growing

I saw the cat with something
she said  paint me like one of you French girls
red-raw like the table cloths

Hand dryer eclipsing the words of the bards
mustn’t mute the muntering Munson
snog the mic so it picks you up.

Lurchers? They’re always plotting something
don’t be a hero, be a massive twat, Elon Musk salute
were I a brew crew crusty my dog upon a rope

I’d like to learn more languages
not eat your viral sandwiches.
If Welsh is the answer what is the question?
Does the Pope shit in the woods?

Mary Berry is crocheting a beanie in a sex dungeon.

Satellite of Love: Lyra Open Mic (+ Bertel Martin)

Wednesday 30th April at the Loco Klub
Doors open 7pm Open Mic 7.30pm
Event finishes 9.30pm

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Join Satellite of Love for the biggest open mic event at Lyra Festival 2025, with an extended open mic and a headline set from local legend Bertel Martin. Sign up on the door to perform on the night, or come along to enjoy an evening of local talent.

Bertel Martin:

Founder of Bristol Black Writers Group, Bertel has been active in Bristol’s writing scene for over 25 years, as a writer, performer and producer. Promoting Caribbean and African writers in Yardstick and with the British Council.

A co-founder of Word of Mouth (now Blah, Blah, Blah). Former Director of Plymouth International Book Festival and Director of City Chameleon, a publishing company specialising in poetry and short stories. Bertel has been published in a number of anthologies. Performance highlights include performing with Lee Evans, Benjamin Zephaniah, Attila Stockbroker and Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze.


Entry requirements: no age restrictions

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SOL Presents: Aidan Andrew Dun – Excommunications

Book Launch and Open Mic

Wednesday April 16th on The John Sebastian Lightship
Doors open 7pm event starts 7.30pm Close 10pm

The Lightship does not have step free access

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Aidan Andrew Dun will be reading from his new collection of 108 modern sonnets titled Excommunications.

Aidan A D has read at the Royal Albert Hall (for the launch of his epic poem Vale Royal in 1995) the Festival Hall, the Ledbury, Cheltenham, and Swindon literary festivals and he has lectured at the British Library on the Kings Cross Mysteries.

Other published works include:

India Cantos -Universal 2002
The Uninhabitable City 2005
Salvia Divinorum 2007
McCool 2010
Unholyland 2016
Excommunications 2025

AAD’s triad installed at Granary Square, Kings Cross, reads: “Kings Cross, dense with angels and histories, there are cities beneath your pavements, cities behind your skies. Let me see!” This triad was originally spray-painted on the walls of Battle Bridge just before it was demolished. The developers noticed it there and asked AAD if they could install the poem in Granary Square.

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Satellite of Love April Headliners: Bradley Taylor & M. L. Walsh

Wednesday 23rd April 2025
On the John Sebastian Lightship
Doors open 7.00pm. Open mic starts 7.30pm – Close 10pm

The Lightship does not have step free access

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This month Satellite of Love Open Mic returns to the Lightship for one last time.


Bradley Taylor is an award-winning performance poet born and based in Birmingham. In 2024 he won the Roundhouse Poetry Slam, the night of which was the biggest poetry slam in history, and in 2025 he releases his debut collection ‘You Missed The Best Part’ with Verve Poetry Press. Bradley is also the co-host of The Big Gay Poetry Night alongside M. L. Walsh, which has featured poets such as Joelle Taylor, Kandace Siobhan Walker & Sanah Ahsan.

Bradley has appeared at the Hay Festival, Cheltenham Literature Festival, The Inspirational Youth Awards, on BBC News and on BBC Radio 6 Music as part of Craig Charle’s ‘Class of 2024’, in which Craig Charles described him as ‘A brand new voice and a fresh perspective on the art of poetry and performance’.

Bradley’s work has appeared in Gutter Magazine, Shooter, Strix and across Birmingham train stations as part of Birmingham Hippodrome’s collaboration with photographer Paul Stringer’s project The City That Spoke To Me.

He writes for, and about, people.

M. L. WALSH is a performance poet specializing in comic absurdism and the construction of narrative through voice and characterisation. Since finding her form in the poetic monologue, she has experimented with the translation of performance poetry from stage to page, and how theatrical technique (and its removal) can modify a text. Her debut collection My Dog Has Never Read This was released in March 2025 with Verve Poetry Press.

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Entry requirements:   Anyone under the age of 14 must be accompanied by an adult 21+ years old.

Satellite of Love Hosts: Poetry Film Club

On Board The John Sebastian Lightship

Tuesday 18th March. Doors 7pm Screening 7.30pm

March’s Poetry Film Club, on the day after St Patrick’s Day, is a Celtic Special! We will be looking at poetry films made by filmmakers from Wales, Ireland and Scotland. 

There will be films in the Welsh language presented by Steffan Phillips, poetry film from Ireland by Grace Wells, Pat Boran, Colm Scully and James Kelly, and a selection of films from Scotland by Barry Hollow, Steven Smart and Rachel McCrum.

Our discussion will be how different areas of the UK respond to the creation of poetry film and whether or not there is a ‘Celtic’ style of poetry film.

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Community Poem November 2024

Safeword

Harry and Kate went to masturbate,
loving the vibration of love,
a slow, slinky ooziness.
A sausage, a hole and Vinted.
Breathe in, said Kate, exhale the fire of living.
The bag was bulging.

We need to establish a safeword, said Harry
I’m thinking of a line, said Kate, but it’s not happening,
the only thing that comes to mind is a thousand fucking doves.
Harry suggested: I love Ian Beale…?
Chocolate coins? said Kate Time is a construct!
Dare you! Dare you! Double dare you?

The naughty little mouse nibbled my member, said Harry
Well, your compliment wasn’t good enough, said Kate,
asking to see my anus on Instagram is not a love poem.
An ode for a misplaced hip flask? said Harry.

I hate loving you, you love hating me, said Harry,
and the postage was paid in Northern Ireland.

Days are unequal in the struggles of the dead, said Kate
What is stopping ants from taking over the world? Democracy?

I hope this line is read out of context
like Leda, like Persephone, like women, women, women. 
On this pirate ship poetry pandemonium,
we’re all just twatting around in the glitter.

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Satellite of Love Headliners: Jo Bell & Carlo Hornilla

Wednesday March 26th 2025
Loco Klub doors open at 7pm open mic starts 7.30pm
Evening finish at 10pm

Jo Bell

Jo Bell is a well-loved poet who has appeared everywhere from Glastonbury to Buckingham Palace, by way of running the UK’s National Poetry Day and winning major poetry prizes. She runs award-winning poetry communities, she writes best-selling books including 52 and How to Be a Poet. Catch her on a rare Bristol visit, before she hits the road with her memoir Boater, out in June with HarperNorth.

Carlo Sebastian Hornilla

Carlo Sebastian Hornilla (They/Them) is a Bristol-based Filipino queer artist, illustrator, workshop facilitator, creative consultant, spoken word poet, organised chaos, lover or lists, ticker of boxes and awkward human being.

They use fun, play and conversation as a platform to explore introspective feelings, interpersonal connection and the complexities that exist within them.

They will say a bunch of words and you might listen to them. Maybe you will laugh, you might cry (only if you want to). Maybe it doesn’t matter… Either way, they hope you have a perfectly average and tolerable time.

Entry requirements:   Anyone under the age of 14 must be accompanied by an adult 21+ years old.

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Satellite of Love: Headliners February 2025

February 26th at the Loco Klub. Doors open 7pm open mic 7.30pm

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Helen Ivory & Martin Figura

Martin Figura’s collection and show Whistle were shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award and won the 2013 Saboteur Award for Best Spoken Word Show. Shed (Gatehouse Press) and Dr Zeeman’s Catastrophe Machine (Cinnamon Press) were both published in 2016. In 2021 he was Salisbury NHS Writer in Residence; the resulting pamphlet My Name is Mercy (Fair Acre Press) won a national NHS award. A second pamphlet from Fair Acre Press Sixteen Sonnets for Care came out in October 2022. His collection The Remaining Men ( Cinnamon Press) was published in 2024. He Lives in Norwich with Helen Ivory and sciatica.

Helen Ivory is a poet and visual artist. She received a Society of Authors Cholmondeley Award in 2024. She edits Ink Sweat and Tears and teaches for the National Centre for Writing Academy. Her chapbook Maps of the Abandoned City was published by SurVision in 2019 and the poem The Square of the Clockmaker is riding the rails as one of the Poems on the Underground. She has work translated into Polish, Ukrainian, Croatian, Spanish. Wunderkammer: New and Selected Poems appeared from MadHat in the US last year. Constructing a Witch (October 2024) her sixth Bloodaxe collection is a PBS Winter Recommendation.

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Community Poem October 2024

Helen Sheppard
You’d think after 30 years I would have learnt how to sleep
When candles melt, the fuck does the wax go?
Seriously where does the wax go when the candle burns? Help!
So shall I fetch you
The dog Star
He always thought the dog was his friend
Ducks and penguins aren’t always friends.
The cat was not amused
Daddy told me I should have cleaned up after that donkey crapped all over my forehead!
Later in the car dad will insist it was ketchup and I will wonder if he thinks I’m stupid.
Is anger counterproductive?
I saw a photo of this ship moored down at King’s Street today, 40 years ago. I don’t want to move that slowly.
Bro it’s only two inches, chill
I wanna get railed
I have legs and I love them
But I don’t know if I like it
I have to build a relationship but not for sex, all for your best interests
I love you but I want my nipples back
I’m in a booby prison
Even moderation is good in moderation
Life is about balance: 50% Namaste. 50% Fuck off!
It’s all about the midfield
The death of words is not a tragedy.
I’m feeling stressed my bum is itchy
Should I stop trying to make my brother turn gay?
www.solpoetry.org.uk
The trees reabsorb their chlorophyll and make autumn fire
They sang this on Glee.
Don’t let the fiery leaves fall and quietly fade without truly noticing their artwork
To Dads and Nans and Friends in ships
Your bed becomes a crucible for my dreams
The ginger beer bubbles scratch my throat, it feels almost as good as an orgasm

Satellite of Love Hosts: Poetry Film Club

January 14th 7pm on the John Sebastian Lightship

New Year. New Makers. New approaches. This month’s poetry film club showcases some new poetry film makers, Tara Arkle and Stacey Pottinger from Bath Spa University. We will also be screening some films in the Welsh language.

As usual there will be plenty of opportunities for discussion and sharing.

Entry requirements: no age restrictions

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