Nols Nathankski gets spiritual with Chloe Smith a South Londoner who fell in love with reading and words 8 years old by reading the magical far away tree.

Chloe then discovered poetry through substitute teachers at school. She was published as a young writer in primary school. As a teenager she navigated hormones and layers of identity through journaling, leaning towards song lyrics, leaving poetry alone. It was only hitting 30 when she revisited poetry and braved the open mic scene. Curating her own night in Croydon (@skibabble, which is on a hiatus) putting together day festivals and holding safe spaces for the community to express and progress.

Chloe is a spiritual seed, who loves the art of good questions and longs to press through the veil of what is known to comprehend the great familial unknown.

Chloe and Nols make poems with prompts from Adam RW of Storytime London.

Get Chloe's book here;

https://www.londonpoetrybooks.com/?s=Small+pockets+of+mischief

Fresh from our Hold Space Poetry Festival in the Crypt Gallery @nolsnathankski was given tickets for @spitnights biggest ever show @theroundhouse in Camden by his friend the sensational poet Hebah Aboud. @hebah_a

Nols decided to make some guerrilla radio by gauging audience reactions to a sell out night of spoken word & improv jazz in front of 1500 in a legendary venue.

The response from the crowd was overwhelmingly positive, but the night was a bit too big and loud for Nol's tiny neurodivergent brain and this episode also celebrates the peace that comes from smaller and quieter spaces.

The night was headlined by superstar poets @georgiejones @maureenonuwali @caitlinoryan and @harrybaker - who it turns out Nols weirdly went to school with, something he obviously couldn't stop telling bemused interviewees.

This episode is a series of chaotic field recordings interviewing members of the audience and staff at the roundhouse who nols forgot to make notes of the insta handles of- please tag yourselves!

Friend of the show @that1thea makes an appearance!

Nols did get 3 poems from a SUPER SPECIAL GUEST POET at the end of the night - live outside the Roundhouse! Listen until the end to find out who it was...

Prompt: Write a poem to perform in front of 1500 people.

To support Hold Space Poetry Festival's return in October and keep it Free entry please come to one of our pay-what-you-can fundraiser open mic nights at HWK throughout summer!

HOLD SPACE: OPEN MIC Tickets | Multiple Dates @ HWK LONDON, London | Pay What You Can | OutSavvy

@makepoetryweirdagain

www.makepoetryweirdagain.com

Nols Nathankski flys through the sky with Jo Morrigan Black (They/Them/It)

Jo is a Paris-born writer, visual artist and performance poet. They have worked with indigenous leaders in Colombia, left stray feathers in Berlin and stalked the streets of Dublin as a vampire. Their stage performances combine Spoken Word, physical theatre and surrealist costuming to celebrate the queer and the unknowable in us all.

Jo’s writing dwells in journals such as Poetry Ireland Review, Abridged and The Storms, where it was nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Their work has been commissioned by the Runoviikko Festival in Finland, presented by the Irish Writers Centre and archived at The Linen Hall, Belfast.

Showcased by Culture Ireland at Edinburgh Fringe 2025, their self-produced drag poetry show CARPET MUNCHER was shortlisted for the Binge Fringe Queer Performer’s Award and chosen as a Snack Mag Storytelling Top Pick. Jo was awarded a place in Island Of Many Voices 2026.

Bio — Jo Morrigan Black

@mothpoet - instagram

Jo made this Paris open mic documentary: https://youtu.be/Mg5vTTrPDFk?is=dlneTUaUJokRdif6

The song referenced All the Trees of the Field Will Clap Their Hands: ​https://youtu.be/JHul8vzXsV8?is=qfjTCMjhf3Ua_4bQ

Jo is currently Reading: Marlon James, Moon Witch, Spider King

Jo and Nols make poems with prompts from Stevie Grant @steviepoems

Keep this podcast flying

www.Ko-fi.com/makepoetryweirdagain

www.patreon.com/makepoetryweirdagain

Nols sits down on a rainy February day with Jake Nathan a poet and artist, from East London. They talk about mental health, masculinity, social justice and being working class in England.

The show explores how Jake went from hip hop to open mic and the challenges of open mic burn out.

Jake is a multiple-time poetry slam winner and grand poetry slam champion. Based in Essex, he performs his poetry and teaches workshops across the country.

Jake has featured at the Faversham Literary Festival, Essex Writers’ House Festival, Margate Bookie Festival and the Medway River Lit Festival. His poems have been featured on BBC Radio and various podcasts. His page poetry has been published by Anti-Heroin Chic, Thanet Writers and elsewhere.

A Life in the Day of Nathan Jake (Incomplete) is the debut pamphlet from Jake . Combining two of his passions, the pamphlet is composed of poems written to the titles of hip-hop songs.

A Life in the Day of Nathan Jake (Incomplete)

Nols and Jake make poems with prompts from Kestral Gaia.

Keep this podcast runnin' on the patreon

www.patreon.com/makepoetryweirdagain

Nols Nathankski provides all you need to know about the Hold Space Poetry Festival.

A sober gift to the London Open Mic scene in collaboration with the Crypt Gallery running from the 1st - 7th April 2026.

A festival dreamed up and produced in only 2 weeks to run during the most sacred days of the Christian calendar. Of course it begins on APRIL FOOLS DAY!

After an open call fifteen poets will take up residence in The Crypt Gallery underneath St Pancras New Church for seven whole days during Holy Week 2026. Yes, its a crypt. Yes, there are 557 departed souls down there. Yes, it's going to be SEVEN days of back to back open mic.

A week of free experimental poetry, workshops, open mics, and a zine built page by page across the week. Entry is free throughout. Workshops are mainly free with some paid and pay what you can with booking.

1–7 April 2026 · The Crypt Gallery, 165 Euston Road, London NW1 2BA

What's on:

Wed 1 Apr — Residency opens. Set-up, intentions. Opening Ceremony & Open mic from 6pm

Thu 2 Apr — Podcast recordings. Scary Stories workshop with Stevie Grant. Open mic from 6pm

Fri 3 Apr (Good Friday) — Live podcast recordings. Writing from the ashes workshop with the Trashfire poet. Zine Day. Good Friday Open Mic.

Sat 4 Apr (Holy Saturday) — Penance tea ceremony and workshop. Podcast recordings. Open mic from 6pm

Sun 5 Apr (Easter Sunday) — Sensual Small Poem workshop with Alexia Chrysostomou. Open mic from 6pm

Mon 6 Apr — Saying the Unsayable workshop facilitated by Nols. Zine workshop. The River Returns Home immersive performance fundraising for Ukrainian charities + Open Mic.

Tue 7 Apr (Easter Tuesday) — Zine assembly and distro. Closing performances + Open mic.

The resident poets — give them a follow:

Pia Fajelagutan / The Piss I Call Art — Abu Dhabi-bred word wrangler, debut collection Whiskey For The Uninitiated. Feral charm, unfiltered verse.

Emma Keun — London-based, published in Kite String II–IV, four honourable mentions from Dark Poets Club.

Luigi Coppola / The Only Emperor — featured at Glastonbury, Tate Modern, Southbank Centre. Slam champion. Debut from Broken Sleep Books. linktr.ee/PoetryPreacher

Maria Cohut — Romanian writer in Brighton . Debut collection Multiple Exposures out 2026 on Flight of the Dragonfly.

Maddy Kilsbury McMurray — non-binary poet, neurodiversity advocate, LGBTQIA+ community stalwart.

Oscar Rodriguez — Salvadoran American poet. Diaspora, generational trauma, noise music, queer liberation. Does it all at once.

Em Cosgrove / Girl Can't Sing Well — spoken word artist. The body, decay, rebirth, and campy humour. Hyper-visual.

Bee Wylie — witchy wordsmith from the West Midlands. Debut book Dream Weaving coming through Hay House. Exploring spirituality, grief, love.

Tadgh Haran — trans poet, London. Work in Anthropocene, Scab, Perverse, Tentacular. Writes out of anger and curiosity. Sobriety anchors everything.

Jordan Minga — Afro British, first-gen Ugandan, from Peckham. Poet and visual artist. Self-identity, spirituality, intergenerational discourse. Refuses to ask permission.

Tom Bland - Tom has published Camp Fear and The Death of a Clown, with Bad Betty Press. His work has been nominated for the Polari Prize and have been on Dennis Cooper's yearly Fav Books List. He writes on the relationship between language and sexuality, trauma and liberation

Leatrice — originally NYC, now UK. Memory, obsession, mental illness. Co-hosts Oxford DIY Pride. Debut collection Yearbook Signing.

H Phillips — started performing poetry in early 2025 and has not stopped. Surreal social satire, tranquilised emotions, characters. @haitch_speaks

Byuka Makodru — trans, disabled, migrant writer. Mixing immersive performance, ritual, visual art. Writing with ash. Poetry as liberation.

Get tickets for all events here: OutSavvy - Make Poetry Weird Again tickets and events. Book tickets instantly via the OutSavvy app or website for Make Poetry Weird Again

Find us:

Instagram: @makepoetryweirdagain

[email protected]

Nols Nathankski makes a very chaotic field recording of day 4 in the Crypt gallery London during the February residency. Expect all kinds of phantasmagorical goings on.

Nols made poems with N00mi, Rosie Reed Gold, Jo Delvauney, Pid'Or, Choral Poetique and Tanyeli Taze.

The episode is endurance art and some have said impossible to listen to!

You be the Judge!

Give the poets a follow;

@n00m_i

@rosiereedgoldartist

@tanyeli.taze

@choralepoetique

@ptplays

@sweetamanita

@pollyannaknight_

@chi.laferla

Keep nols doing this @makepoetryweirdagain

Nols Nathankski sits down to tell stories with Adam RW, a poet, writer and literary tour guide based in London. Adam runs Bookmarked, a literary walking tour company, and Storytime, a weekly storytelling night. His first poetry collection was published in December 2023.

Adam and Nols discuss the creation of Story Time, and it's unique place in the London Open Mic Scene. They talk to what makes a good story and make plans on how to get George Saunders, Karl Ove Knausgard and Nikolai Gogol (RIP) to perform at Story Time.

Nols and Adam make stories with prompts from Maddy Kilsby-McMurray.

The next story time is at Galeria Objets in London on the 18th March 2026 Hosted by Kofi Achina & Adam, stories from Georgie Jones, Takunda, Tony Bell & open mic spots.

Storytime at Galleria Objets: Live story-telling night Tickets, Wednesday, Mar 18 from 7 pm to 10 pm | Eventbrite

Follow the @TheAdamrw and @storytimelondon

Nols Nathankski sits down with Maddy Kilsby-McMurray a non-binary poet & writer based in Southend-On-Sea, UK. Maddy describes writing as their therapy, a way to process a world that is too harshand too fast for their queer, disabled heart. Nols and Maddy talk 'Trash fire poetry' written in haste and often destined to be burnt. They fortunately burn less poems now.

Maddy and Nols make poems from Teresa

Check out Maddy's work - www.trashfirepoet.com

Instagram - @trashfirepoet

Maddy shouts out

southend pride - @southendpride

Transpire - @transpire_southend

St Mark's Church - @stmarkschurchsouthend

South Street Coffee house - @southstreetcoffeehouse

RJ Learmouth - @j.learmouth.art

Dangerous Poetry Night

Pride Poetry

Keep this podcast's fire alive

www.patreon.com/makepoetryweirdagain

Nols Nathankski makes poems in the crypt on Day 2 of the Make Poetry Weird Again Residency.

No other poets show up so Nols has a bit of an existential crisis about the project and works through a series of prompts. Does his pages and meditates on what a successful residency is. Mainly he speaks his poems to walls and ghosts.

The prompts are below.

Write a poem that erodes. What is it made of ? What does it degrade into?

Make a poem for the departed

Make a remembrance poem for someone you wish you knew better.

Make a poem for the last day of judgement.

Make a poem with an echo that you have to tell to be quiet.

Make a poem of several rooms - tell us about them.

Make a poem that resonates - end in a great hum!

Come to the crypt and keep Nols company on the 19th and 20th February 3-6pm.

Keep us from the wolves.

www.patreon.com/makepoetryweirdagain

Nols Nathankski sits down in the Crypt gallery with Teresa Rendell, a poet and creative director based in London. Teresa makes sense of the world in fairy tales and nursery rhymes. Her poetry deals with very serious themes of childhood trauma, listener discretion is advised.

Nols and Teresa speak to the London open mic scene and how to put together a one person show. @choralpoetique provide songs in the background.

They make poems with prompts from the crypt residency on Day 1.

Teresa shouts out the following poets and open mics.

Wordspace

Steve Tasane White Feather Poetry

Kofi Achina Heart of the Community Chelsea Beechwood

Krystal Sisodia

Echoverse

t’ART @t_tartpress

If Poet’s Ruled the World

Ted Temple host of spitnights and groove verse

Cosmic Pumpkin

Camden Women’s Writing Festival Tickets for the show (the three poems we did on the podcast are part of the show)

https://www.citizenticket.com/events/etcetera-theatre/a-year-in-the-life/

A YEAR IN THE LIFE

Written & Performed by Teresa Rendell

“Actually really enjoyable, but obviously horrid” - a close and supportive friend

“Very impressive” - my therapist

Teresa’s debut spoken word show, A YEAR IN THE LIFE, reflects on (an imprecise) calendar year through poetry and one hell of a yap.

This collection is full of pathos, dark humour, deeply personal stories, and

pseudonyms. Teresa captures the realities of processing a sexual assault, while grieving the death of her dad.

It’s been a rough ride, so buckle up, for 45 minutes on the dangers of public

transport, a nightmare full of spiders, and just how frustrating recovery can be.

Keep Nols making poems

www.patreon.com/makepoetryweirdagain