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
Tag: Bristol
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
Satellite of Laughs: January 22nd 2025
Our headliner this month: Tim Munson on the Lightship
Support: Samuel L Cohen
Doors open 7pm. Open mic starts 7.30pm
Tim Munson regularly performs in and around the seedy under belly of Bristol’s poetry scene. And can often be found looking bewildered and checking his emails whilst stood in the rain outside cancelled poetry gigs.
His work tackles heavyweight subjects, such as:
Can pork scratchings really be considered food?
Is my father in law actually a Nazi?
and the age old existential question
Will primula cheese bring about the next mass extinction?
Tim has the dubious honour of coming third in almost every poetry competition in the south west of England.
Entry requirements: no age restrictions (under 18s to be accompanied by an adult over 21yrs, 1:1 ratio)
Samuel L Cohen is a multidisciplinary Theatre Maker, award-winning Poet and Instigator of Bristol’s cabaret night RIOT ACT.
An erstwhile scholar of Ancient History led astray by his love for clowning, he is fascinated by the hidden stories (both real and imagined) that underpin
everyday life, and crafts work which celebrates the timeless absurdities that make us human.
A high-octane lyrical raconteur of the hilarious, the unbelievable and the downright outrageous, Sam joyfully discovered in poetry a means to interrogate and finally understand life’s great many true stories which defy
rational explanation. High literary and magical realist worlds collide with the everyday grit of modern urban life as he as he attempts to make sense of the senseless, armed only with a microphone and a flair for the irresistible riotous humour of his native Bristol.
Most recently, he has founded RIOT ACT- a
multidisciplinary club night of open mic fun, with the joint missions to celebrate the people of Bristol and their
stories whilst finding new ways to stick it to The Man with laughter.
Buckle up.
This is poetry to party to. The more raucously, the better.
Satellite of Love: January 22nd 2025
We kick off the new year with
Satellite of Laughs
Further details coming soon.
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