CRASH is taking over the Flute & Tankard for one evening this month to showcase quality poets with an added open mic poetry session
CRASH is a brand new poetry night coming to Cardiff happening at the end of this month, offering an evening of experimental poetry with set performers and an open mic session.
The free event is on 30 November at the Flute & Tankard on Windsor Place and promises attendees an evening of surreal, playful, dark and perverse poetry.
There will be five poets performing on the night, followed by an open mic session. Those interested must perform work that fits with the experimental theme.
It was masterminded by Matthew Haigh and Alex Stevens, poets who felt that the scene in Cardiff was sparse, so have decided to take the plunge and start their own event. CRASH hopes to be the first of many in the city.
Matthew, 34, said: “The idea is for it to be an evening of poetry that would fall under the banner of experimental, avant-garde, imaginative, fantastical, sci-fi, weird and surreal.
“However, having said that, we don’t want it to be too prescriptive because we don’t want to impose too heavily as it can stifle people.”
He added that the name of the event came from the book by JG Ballard. It was an inspiration because the event wants to be an explosion of the perverse, erotic and technological. Matthew and Alex wanted to hint at boundary-pushing, while having something eye-grabbing that stuck with people.
Poetry has become increasingly popular, with sales hitting an all time high in 2018. It is thought to be due to the rise of Instapoetry which was popularised by the likes of Rupi Kaur and Nikhita Gill and has allowed for the form to have a fresh appeal with young people. This new desire for poetry is what has sparked a demand for more events.
CRASH is planned to be a quarterly event, as as time is needed between each event to gather together poets of real quality.
More information about CRASH can be found online through their Twitter.
