We kick off the new year with
Satellite of Laughs
Further details coming soon.
Satellite of Love: January 22nd 2025
Author: GBJM_57
Community Poem September 2024
The clitoris of a mature woman can be a word or compilation, the path chosen and choices she made determine what she wants to write.
Oh, fuck a duck
The lobster laughed.
I butchered my poem
And then it changed colour and fell off
and they never grow back properly
You outrageous bastards
I hope I’m not just an open micer to you guys,
but also a subject for your next confused wet dream
I wish I were a fairy
This too will pass
A hot water urn full of lukewarm piss. Disappointing on both counts
For someone who heard so little he deduced so much
Wait where is this all going?
Something stupid, something like… Turbo island glitter ball
Fill your guts with star shaped Hernia Discopline stick
Like a moth to a flame Eve was not the only one tempted
where there’s smoke there’s fire. And it all fades away
I despise the man, the father I envy. You had the life I wanted.
Train-wreck into the blue, never thought I’d be here without you
Does the middle brick in the tunnel know about the light?
Live, laugh, triangulate
barking dogs don’t bite
I dream of love. Now love dreams of me
I’m doing a good job reading this on stage.
I am brave. Give me applause please.
Satellite of Love Presents: Back to the Fuschia
Book Launch Wednesday 11th December 2024. John Sebastian Lightship
T.S. IDIOT presents a very special evening of punk-tinged poetry in celebration of their debut collection, BACK TO THE FUCHSIA. Featuring a special selection of their very favourite Bristol poets and a unique improvised collaborative set with musician Louie Newlands (Mildred Maude, Eva May, Double Pelican).
Although known for his high energy, humour laced performances seen at comedy nights, punk gigs and poetry shows across the UK, this collection shows a more intimate side of T.S. IDIOT. Written between 2019 – 2022, these poems document a fictional 12 hour window as the poet walks through 3 years worth of grief for lost friends, broken relationships, mental breakdowns – and ultimately, the scraps of love, resilience and belonging found along the way that might just help us get through this.
Books will be available for sale at this event!
Doors are at 19:00 with entertainment starting at 19:30.
The event finishes at 22:00.
Community poem July 2024
Love is a poet’s omelette
hidden beneath trench coats
and full brim fedoras.
We’re going to get you
Out of here, all right?
I give myself to you
Nice to meet you… Again!
Are the voices louder to drown
Out the internal monologue
Enough of this silly posturing
I wanted it to be smoothed down…
I reversed my anger into the space
I’m tired of asking why It
stinks of oil here.
A pointless pen.
They used to use black slugs
As carriage wheel lube.
There is an eyelash somewhere
that carries a wish…
Unhand me, you oaf!
Old Books, new poems and J not I,
Weaving Kayaks, Mountains, trees
and histories into a fabric of words!
July’s poem should have
been called Helen High-water…
Satellite of Love Hosts: Poetry Film club
Images and Film 19th November 7pm on the lightship
This month’s poetry film club looks at the relationship between images and words.
In the first half we are all going to make a poetry film by adding words to ‘Seven Risings’, a film created by artist Ben Glatt and composer and musician John Pendlington. This is going to be a fun and interesting way of understanding how the words work with the images!
In the second half we will view the new film and also a trio of poetry films made in collaboration with Lucy English and various filmmakers for her Book of Hours project. All these films were inspired in someway by visual images.
As usual there will be time for discussion, and creative exchanges.
Satellite of Love: Wendy Allen & Catherine Balaq. November 27th
This November Satellite presents a headline double bill
Doors open on the John Sebastian Lightship at 7pm, open mic starts 7.30pm
Wendy Allen
Wendy Allen’s debut pamphlet, Plastic Tubed Little Bird, was published in 2023 by Broken Sleep. She is a PhD candidate at Manchester Metropolitan University. Her pamphlet, Portrait in Mustard will be published in October 2024 by Seren.
Catherine Balaq
Catherine Balaq is a writer and body psychotherapist. Her work has been shortlisted for the Bridport Prize and nominated for the Pushcart and Forward Prize.
In 2022 Catherine was a recipient of The Poetry School MA scholarship. Her poetry play ‘Fuck the Moon’ was commissioned by Paper Nations and short-listed for the Bristol Old Vic Open Sessions 2019.
She is co-editor of Black Cat Press. Her debut collection ‘animaginary’ was published in July 2023 and was nominated for the Seamus Heaney Prize for first collection and the Pen Heaney Prize. Her second collection ‘Deathless‘ is published with Verve. Catherine also writes novels.
Community Poem June 2024
If They Hadn’t Written This Would You Have?
(Shouted) Derek! They’ve stolen the geraniums again
that’s the biggest I’ve ever seen
You’ve snatched the world up of precious solitude which you have been craving for so long and realised it was in fact loneliness
A life of collaborative A Level anxiety
Isn’t it rude to leave at the interval after you’ve read every fucking time
leaving behind nothing but the faint whiff of an old fart?
Liberation for Palestine is liberation for us all. Ask yourself what you are doing at this moment
If I hadn’t written this would have you?
I spent the day horizontal in the park
Please improvise this line and don’t just read out this
To be cringe is to be free, apart from if you’re me right now in this exact situation
There is nothing so bloody wonderful as genuine warmth and encouragement, and there is so much love here
Rim Tim Tag I dim
But to see you again would destroy the memory
Marz
Satellite of Love: Headliners October 2024
Lily Redwood and Jay Macdonald
Wednesday October 23rd 2024 John Sebastian Lightship
Doors open 7.00pm. Open mic starts 7.30pm. Finish 10.00pm.
Lily Redwood lives off-grid in South Wales with her husband and two children. She writes about the everyday extraordinary from the political to the poetical. Lily combines spoken word with tender verse, which comes alive through her live performance. She has recently been Cheltenham Poetry Festival Slam Finalist and the Bristol Milk Poetry Slam winner.
Most of her poems are written on the notes app hiding in the toilet from her two children, or scribbled on the back of a shopping list, whilst burning the dinner.
Lily’s debut pamphlet, You Make Me Think of Swifts, is an unflinching and raw voice for motherhood, it is out now with The Collective Press.
Lily’s work has been described described as: “visceral, loving and brave”.
You can find lily online – @lilyredwoodpoet
Jay is a straight edge poet who writes on neurodivergence, gender, and the love of hardcore punk; doing so like he’s authoring an early 2000s emo LiveJournal post.
Since starting to perform in the spoken word scene a year ago, he has competed in UniSlam and Lyra Fest; and frequently haunts poetry events across Bath and Bristol
Satellite of Love: Joelle Taylor, Bradley Taylor
September 25th 2024 at the Loco Klub
Doors open 7pm open mic starts 7.30pm
VENUE CHANGE
This month Satellite of Love’s open mic and headliner session is relocating to the Loco Klub at Temple Meads. The venue is fully accessible.
A Tale of Two Taylors
Joelle Taylor is the author of 4 collections of poetry. Her most recent collection C+NTO & Othered Poems won the 2021 T.S Eliot Prize, and the 2022 Polari Book Prize for LGBT authors. C+NTO is currently being adapted for theatre with a view to touring. She is a co- curator and host of Out-Spoken Live at the Southbank Centre, and tours her work nationally and internationally in a diverse range of venues, from Australia to Brazil. She is also a Poetry Fellow of University of East Anglia and the curator of the Koestler Awards 2023. She has judged several poetry and literary prizes including Jerwood Fellowship, the Forward Prize, and the Ondaatje Prize. Her novel of interconnecting stories The Night Alphabet will be published by Riverrun in Spring of 2024. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and the 2022 Saboteur Spoken Word Artist of the Year. Her most recent acting role was in Blue by Derek Jarman, which was directed by Neil Bartlett and featured Russell Tovey, Jay Bernard, and Travis Alabanza. Blue sold out its run across the UK and more dates are expected for the future.
Bradley Taylor
Bradley is the winner of Satellite’s recent Summer Slam.
When we asked Bradley for a bio, all he wrote was:
‘Bradley Taylor (he/him) is a poet from Birmingham. Apologies.’
Satellite of Love: Summer Slam
Join us on the 21st of August 2024 for Satellite of Love’s second ever poetry slam. Twelve competitors will put their words to the test in a battle of who-can-impress-three-selected-poets unlike anything you may have seen before*.
The winner of our slam this year will receive a paid 10 minute feature slot at our event on the 25th of September, supporting UK poetry legend, Joelle Taylor.
Entry requirements: 14+
*if you have been to a poetry slam before it will be exactly like something you may have seen before.
Doors & Bar open – 7pm
Night starts – 7:30pm
Night ends – 10pm
The John Sebastian Lightship, Cabot Cruising Club, Bathurst Basin, Redcliffe, Bristol BS1 6SG
Meet the Judges
Sophie Shepherd
Sophie is a performer and poet based in Weston. She runs the Rhyme Against the Tide poetry slam in Weston and recently hosted to South West Showdown (Weston v Bristol v Clevedon v Exeter) at the Wardrobe. She is a poetry slam enthusiast and can’t wait to see what the poets at Satellite of Love have in store.
Emma Taylor
Emma Taylor is a multi-slam-winning spoken word artist, event organiser, and performer based in Bath. She is a Bristol Slam Champion, Coaches SLAM 2024 winner, and placed 2nd in the Farrago UK Slam Championship 2023. Her debut pamphlet, ‘Bed and Breakfast’ launched on the 25th April 2024 and is available via her website & and in selected bookstores now!
Emma has failed her driving test seven times. She maintains that she is simply ‘too bisexual to drive’.
Kathryn O’Driscoll
Kathryn O’Driscoll is a queer, disabled poet, mentor and editor from Bath. She was the 2021 U.K. Poetry Slam Champion and a World Slam Finalist and has been a judge for the U.K. Slam Finals for the past three years.