CandleLIT Poetry Slam ft. Aish Humphreys & Jay Mac

This event brings poets together to compete in a poetry slam, PLUS sets from TWO incredible poets Aish Humphreys & Jay Mac.

The CandleLIT Poetry Slam happens on the first Tuesday of every month at the Bath Brew House, upstairs in the Tank Room!

Join us for the tense excitement of 9 poets going head to head with words, plus sets from featured artist JAY MAC and our tender and emotive headliner AISH HUMPHREYS.

Aish is a poet, host and collage maker living in Bristol. He was a host at Satellite of Love from 2022-2026 and has hosted the Queer Poetry Special as part of Lyra Festival since 2024.
They are currently making work about the trans, disabled & mad experience, through words & visuals.
His first poetry pamphlet, Saints of Golden Hour was released in February 2023 which explores soberness, girlhood, queer relationships and the gods we create for ourselves. They have also been published by T’art Press.
He is currently collaborating on the production of a spoken word theatre show called Girlhood on T, exploring transness, masculinity and friendship with Aiden McDonald.

Jay Mac’s poetry is a love letter to niche internet subculture, reclaiming identity as a trans man, and straight edge punk; doing so like he’s authoring an early 2000s emo LiveJournal post. He hopes you enjoy, because he won’t remember what he says on stage!

9 poets get the opportunity to slam each month. You can pre-book a slam spot by purchasing a Slammer’s ticket. If they are sold out there will be 3 more Slammer spots available on the door on the night, first-come first-serve! Our event doors open at 7pm, and the event begins at 7.30pm, so if you want to grab a slot be there by the time doors open for a chance.

The slam winner gets a 10 minute paid set at the next month’s slot, a trophy (of sorts), and entrance into the Grand Slam to compete for the title of Bath Slam Champion.

The rules:

• You have 3 minutes. You have a ten second 'grace period' after the 3 minutes ends. After that, points are deducted for every 5 seconds you go over. For example: -5 points at 3.11. -10 points at 3.16. Your time begins from your first word or gesture to the audience (including introductions but not including a concise content warning).
• You must be the original author of the poem (if a group poem then you must between you have created all the content).
• No AI written content.
• If you reference or quote someone else's work, it should be a very minor amount of the poem and where possible be credited unless an obvious well known quote that everyone would know isn't your work.
• No nudity.
• No props. No costumes. 
• No backing tracks or instruments.
• No hate speech, defined as disparaging a group or person with less power than you. Examples include (but are not limited to) racism, transphobia, ableism, homophobia, ageism, descrimination based on religion or nationality.
• Please use the microphone, as this is for accessibility of our audience members using hearing aids that connect to the PA system.
• The majority of your poem should be spoken. It may contain less than 25% singing. 
• Whilst you do not have to perform in English, the judges can only judge what they can understand. So we recommend having a majority of English in your poem.
• Last rule is a traditional rule within the poetry slam community: the point is not the point, the point is the poetry! Remember that by having an audience's captive attention for 3 minutes you have already won. So enjoy it!

The event organisers have the final say on disqualifications and they can disqualify any poet for any reason.

https://linktr.ee/CandleLITSlam 
https://www.thebathbrewhouse.com

We have 40% off concessions available for people who face financial barriers to the arts - please email [email protected] or DM us on Instagram for the code to apply at check out.