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.
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.
(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
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.’
Jemma Hathaway Book Launch Friday 7th June Doors 7pm for 7.30pm on the Lightship
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 @bbc on Instagram. Jemma is a multiple slam-winner, was the 2020 Hammer & Tongue champion for Bristol and is a Button Poetry Short Form contest winner.
Jemma has supported Joelle Taylor, Jasmine Gardosi and Roger McGough, performed at the Royal Albert Hall and appeared on Sky Arts Life & Rhymes. She self-published her first poetry pamphlet, January in 2021. Her poems are a sticky dancefloor for the ongoing dance-off between her head and her heart. She hopes you like her moves.
About The Book
I’ve been looking everywhere for you is full of big four-letter things – life, love, loss, time and ultimately, hope. It’s a book of hellos and goodbyes, bad days and blessings, it is a healing and a homecoming … and it hopes to come home with you.
These poems take us from melanin to mountains, from stars to submarines, from hard times to soft words and set us down somewhere in that healing space between far-off galaxies and close-up magic.
This collection longs to be read in a different light – the light of midnight porches, of torches beneath blankets, of lighthouses that exist solely to warn you away from the rocks. All the lights that say, there you are. I’ve been looking everywhere for you.
‘Big things happen in small moments, writes Jemma Hathaway, and proceeds to show us just how much life can be found stuffed in the cracks of our existence.
Casting a witty, irreverent eye over the subject of her poems, Jemma chooses a playful touch which enables her to explore serious subjects without ever feeling worthy or preachy. The collection doesn’t shy away from the world’s sharp edges- racial microaggressions, homophobia, grief and mental health are some of the things she touches upon- but remains ultimately and defiantly hopeful.
The imagery swings between the expansive and the everyday, where melanin holds light like Galileo’s telescope holds the moon and Queer lives are singing kettles. Throughout, Jemma reminds the reader that love in all its various, ridiculous, wonderful forms exists in the most mundane of places.’ Kat Lyons
‘Jemma Hathaway is a beacon of light guiding you back home to yourself. Her collection is unapologetically itself and encourages you to be the same. Metaphors and similes soar, seeking to be deciphered into insightful notes of acceptance, reminding you you’re alive, and deservedly so. A vivid, compelling and compassionate collection.’ Jemima Hughes
Jemma will be supported on the night by three fantastic poets from the South-West:
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. She was longlisted for the Disabled Poets Prize and the Outspoken Prize for Performance Poetry in 2023, 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’ is available from Verve Poetry Press.
Jo Eades Since her first performance set at the inaugural Hotwells Festival of words in 2021, Jo has become a regular on the Bristol spoken word scene. She has been featured four times on BBC Radio Upload, performed on the Milk Poetry stage at Valleyfest and was headliner for Heron Books anniversary celebration last Christmas. In 2023 she won both a Rhyme Against the Tide and Milk Poetry Slam and in April this year, won the Lyra Poetry Festival Grand Slam.
Jaidah Jaidah’s written & spoken works are undeniably compelling, ask questions of us collectively & hold the primary focus of advocating alongside promoting human welfare & connection. Jaidah’s journey into writing started 3 years ago in a sanctuary of solitude, which stimulated vastly journeying the world within herself & most importantly she has been inspired by listening to the language nature speaks. Vulnerable yet powerful Jaidah’s quiet commanding presence & delivery are outward reaching & embody a courage built through her own hard-won experience. Continuously thought provoking, her words are colourful & within those colours live the essence of divine human nature.
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.
The Satellite Of Love Community poem this month has donated lines from the Writing the City workshop that took place during Satellite Week.
Each Day ( June 2023)
The day the jaffa cakes went missing The dreich sunk its teeth into my bones. The tinsel shimmers, the light on sea, what is anything, what are we? Moments in light reflexed. The salt of sea and light of sky.
The buttercups are asking the sky, do you like butter? Do platypuses speak in platitudes Everyday you wake you may choose to be kind And she gazed around her and she saw their brilliant faces, their open hearts and she was held.
No fires will take place here tonight What is everything, who are we, where and for how long? Climb every mountain clad in lycra Get out of your comfort zone and your Nissan Micra.
I need to pee so I’m gonna rush writing this. After a while, the whole thing evaporated. I took a little look, before I had a proper gander How! How! Why! why! I feel I could die!
Community Poem June 23 – Leftover Lines – I have put into some kind of order – Enjoy !
You I Why don’t you try it my daughters said, why don’t you go instead this afternoon and do your usual and going to bed. Is there a raffle – yay, where are the toilets, please don’t call out my winning ticket while I’m powdering my nose. What happened to my gravy underpants?
4 Wines and 5 packets of crisps, sorry 4 packets, 2 cheese and onion, 1 salt and vinegar and 1 ready salted and now my friends are sorted. And the mama gave birth right here Flaff women’s mags light. But they calmed me for the battle against you. They taught me love- bonding, gaslighting and emotional abuse. And I knew you for what you were and I was not lower. I emerged victorious, clad in the driest plate of flaff. Dear Tina got her wings today, 24 th of May……love it as everything to do with it.
Life is wonderful, life is great but why does it have to be so hard! So much to do and so little time, always living on the edge. Love yourself, love each other – be kind, stay safe, love one another. I lick you paw to feel your love. Bats commute, bats commute along linear features did you know? Safe, safe away from empty space! Space, space keep me safe. Ditto, Ditto to every one’s words amazahins arghhhh . What is God? A 10p freddo Beans, beans, beans, I love baked beans on toast (with curry powder) Lush Ice Cream Put your cigarette out properly! Steep steps back…
My special sunshine dress! This scent of the candle was sweet vanilla. Where are the editors when you need them?
That walk around Bristol’s floating harbour…………
love finds itself walking through the city’s dark history a city in levels like a Victoria sponge cake discovery anatomy, it smells of curry ferryboat Margaret swings low with river rats, boaters and rainbow oil her sister Mary, a small sleek sailboat, sits as a queen amongst plastic pretenders the dark water reflected an abundance of rain rich clouds wavelets gave glimpses cascades of silver glitter, shimmering ghosts love me, so don’t scare me of all these pomp and circumstances
Satellite Of Love Previous Headliner Pete Bearder is an award-winning spoken word poet, author and comic. His work has been featured on BBC Radio 4, The World Service, and Newsnight. He is a former National Poetry Slam Champion and has performed around the world with organisations like The British Council. Pete recently released his third book ‘Garden of Madness’, described by Tom Hirons as a ‘word-heaven of praise poetry’.
I’ve not had breakfast and the dentist talks of my mortality At least we have suckable items And Brian blessed is my patronus I sat on a train that became a long, metallic fart The hopeless case of progress An aubergine between the legs Bristol’s clear air zone – are you ready? I’m not In my best, loudest football voice I said: Two squatter’s wrongs don’t make a squatter’s rights At least we have pizza Love was bird in my hand and I squeeze – splat! Which was incredibly wonderful But then we all knew turkeys aren’t a just for Christmas, they’re a way of life September rang like a scar, Left upon that creature’s pity A tourist in a resort On the fourth Wednesday of the month Ring ring goes the poet’s phone as he starts to rhyme…
I can’t write in yellow the now infamous village gimp said is that a two litre bottle of Vimto or are you just pleased to see me? Who says romance is dead? Boys night Boys night A smash of cities erupts into asphalt chunks of honesty and raw love
Though the best comedy is about serious issues humankind cannot stand too much seriousness all aboard for jolly fun, don’t make waves or you’ll fall down.
Obsessed by living the dream, I fell in love with base jumping. I love to crunch on apples, I eat noodles in church I’m a Ramen Catholic. My friend’s donkey hasn’t been to the vet in years if you like your cats alive don’t go to Crete. Badger, Badger, Badger, Badger, Badger, Badger Murder she cried, though the Aardvark was unimpressed All the superlatives: great uncles and extreme sporks Bristol fashion sparkly beard is a must I opened my eyes and everything was beautiful The only risk in life is to take no risk at all Fools rush in as winter chills, the silk of milk slid down her throat, scrambled nectar of the dogs
I slide poems under the skirting boards and then arriving shyly at the open mic, I don’t remember how words work.
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
