It’s that time of year again.
Join us at the Fabulous Loco Klub for an evening of poetry and performance
as fifteen poets compete against each other.
To be in the draw for the slam please email satelliteoflovepoetry@gmail.com
before 10am on 01/08/2025.
The winner of the slam will be paid a fee of £60 to perform as the support act for Jasmine Gardosi at our September open mic on 24/9/25.
Holly Winter-Hughes is especially passionate about using writing to express the stories we hold in our bodies. This comes through in both her poetry and her facilitation. Her work has been commissioned by various organisations including Apples & Snakes, Live & Local and Arvon. She has performed extensively across the UK including at Ledbury Poetry Festival, for Raise the Bar, for Cheltenham Poetry Festival and for the BBC. She is passionate about raising the voices of underrepresented people and as such, is the founder and CEO of The Word Association CIC (who have published over 30 anthologies from marginalised communities). She is currently studying for a Masters degree in Creative Writing for Therapeutic Purposes, and is a member of LAPIDUS. She is also planning her PhD in restorying the body. Holly is a widely published writer, most recently appearing in Clarion and Impossible Archetype, and upcoming in Ink, Sweat & Tears, Atrium and Tears in the Fence.
Spoz also goes by the longer name of Giovanni Esposito. He is an award winning performance poet, singer / songwriter, film maker, playwright and is the poet-in-residence at Birmingham City FC. He has been seen on BBC and Central Television, has written for and been heard on BBC Radio Four, Radio Five Live, Radio West Midlands, Radio Coventry & Warwickshire and Capital Gold.
Spoz has performed at the Glastonbury Festival, Shambala Festival, Larmer Tree Festival, Cheltenham Literature Festival, Oxford Literature Festival, Warwick Words Festival, Ledbury Poetry Festival, Wenlock Poetry Festival and Verve Festival of Poetry & Spoken Word.
Spoz was ‘crowned’ Birmingham’s eleventh poet laureate in October 2006. He continues to work extensively in schools, lifting the appeal of writing and performing poetry to hitherto, unseen heights.
Izzy Grace is a poet from Cardiff, who graduated YESTERDAY (22nd) from Bath Spa. She was a member of the BSU UniSlam team who are all absolute legends. She might have done other things at one point in her life but she can’t be arsed to write them down. Be prepared for themes of grief, childhood, identity and more strange, strange bollocks. Be warned for mention of the sad times, the good times, and the extremely strange and downright absurd times… and hamsters. Enjoy!
Entry requirements: 14+, any under 18s accompanied by 21+ adult 1:1 ratio
Well there it is…
Friends are friends for just a season-
Who the fuck is Alan?!
8000 days of pain, just you left,
whatever you do don’t anger the old Gods!!!
Lord drug my mind,
your salad won’t save you
I like words and CHOCOLATE!
Brexit worked so well,
I didn’t mean the previous line!
eeny meeny miney bollocks
Piss, liquid of life
It’s all a little to the left-
Urine, liquor of my soul,
each hand gestures to its own goblin
Birds’ nests from breakage
wee wee, source of my joy!
I want to dance naked under the disco ball
plush sofas, kush loafers, a quest for the best-
my parents voted me ‘Worlds best organ doner!’
They sent her in a Pringles can
with a couple dreamies love for the road
cinnamon cream cuts cinema kindly to taste,
soft laughing caking in sick time ‘cough’
I bought my car off vinted for €2.50,
one day I came home at lunch time and I heard a funny noise,
why do you keep talking about your hard wood floors
and why are socks so hard?
your mom.
Dee Dickens lives on a mountain in Wales with their husband and two shedding familiars. Autistic with ADHD, they write from the margins to give the marginalised a voice. They are very, VERY fond of ribs.
Kathryn O’Driscoll is a spoken word poet, writer and activist from Bath, England. She is the 2021 U.K. Poetry Slam Champion and a World Slam Finalist. She talks openly about disabilities, mental health, LGBTQIA+ issues and joys and gender politics in her wide range of poems. She is the co-Founder of the Bath spoken word event The Poetry Spa.
She was longlisted for the Disabled Poets Prize 2023. She was longlisted for the Outspoken Prize for Performance Poetry, and the Saboteur Award for Best Spoken Word Artist in 2022. In 2021 she was one of the featured poets on the (BAFTA winning) Sky Arts spoken word TV show Life and Rhymes.
Her debut collection ‘Cliff Notes’ was released by Verve Poetry Press in February.
Now you listen here, biscuit boy!
Compassion is the basis of morality.
I am a reusable cup, please return me
Floating through the dimensionless afternoon
I need to sit down. Where do the fish go at suppertime?
He was the bargain bin otter at the sperm bank,
Then his mouth dropped open and a vole popped out.
Who is Alan, what is he for?
Wonderings through witchcraft and struggles to remain men.
Sunsets and moonshine and hobbled, Robbled shoes.
I left my keys on the kitchen table…
Bazinga-zinga Bazinga-zeng
Every middle name is a character in Thomas the Tank Engine
Patchwork pattern, puzzle quilted
Life is too short to wait 10 minutes for a gin + tonic
0110001100 When you wave at the computer, your soul waves back.
There is an aging tortoise using face cream?
A line behind a line behind a line behind a line, how many words make up a line, how many letters behind one another lined up together line a line of loves.
The vivacious cat and a suitably startled rat.
Who is Alan, what is he for?
Bridget Hart (they/them) is a working class writer based in Bristol. Known for their cutting wit and quietly heart-breaking poems, Bridget has been performing for over a decade across the UK at festivals and events including Shambala, Boomtown, Hit the Ode, Say Owt and Edinburgh Fringe.
They have published two collections of poetry: Chewing Gum (Small Press, 2021) and Better Watch Your Mouth (Burning Eye, 2017). Bridget has poems and short stories published by Comma Press, Ink, Sweat & Tears, Late Britain, Bluebird Anthology and more.
Elena Chamberlain is a poet from the Midlands. She has shared writing on local and national stages and in pages. In 2023, El was longlisted for the Outspoken Prize for Poetry (2023), they are an alumni of Apples and Snakes’ Word’s A Stage 2.0 (2024), and a participant of Apples and Snakes’ Future Voices (2023), representing the South West.
Until she retreats into the woods, Elena can be found on Instagram @arspoeticel
Entry requirements: 14+, any under 18s accompanied by 21+ adult 1:1 ratio
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.
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
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.
