Re-Enchant: Poetic Experiments For A New World

 
A Cockpit & Emergence Production


RE:ENCHANT - Poetic Experiments For A New World

Live literature every third Sunday at 5.00pm. 

A poetry and spoken word session: we welcome extablished writers as well as new work and new performers to challenge us and shake us all out of our complacency.

Re-Enchant is run by poets - but it’s not for poets. We don’t want to talk to ourselves. Poetry, if it’s to survive and develop as an art form, has to be about communication. If we are only talking to ourselves, then we’ve failed. Poetry began as an oral form – the Vedas, the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Odyssey. We don’t claim the same brilliance but we do want to document our history and challenge the narratives of our times.  

We have entered an era when progressive values we fought for are being bulldozed into reverse. In days like these, creative work can seem futile and irrelevant. Re-Enchant is a commitment to the idea that words can change things. Poetry is a place where we have the chance to play with concepts, explore new forms of thinking and discuss other ways of living. Poetry is a commitment to experimentation. We want to hear from new voices - we want to hear from the voices that are always shut out from the arts. We want to dethrone the laureates. Come and join us. As The Jam once sang “If we communicate for two minutes only/It will be a start.”

The world changes: we make new poetry to vandalise literary forms or retrieve those we need to renew.  We make new poetry to hybridise new species of understanding and reframe consciousness. 

We make new poetry to have a good time.

Readings, recitations, incantations and events from established and upstart poets, word artists, ranters, spell-casters, rappers......and you if you want. 

To apply for the open mic slot click here.

Curated and introduced by Nick Moss in collaboration with The Cockpit

Sundays in 2025:

19 January, 5:00pm
16 February, 5:00pm
16 March, 5:00pm
20 April, 5:00pm
18 May, 5:00pm
15 June, 5:00pm
 

BOOK TICKETS

 

 
16 Mar
On Stage
Re-Enchant: March

An Evening Of Radical Poetry

20 Apr
On Stage
Re-Enchant: April

An Evening Of Radical Poetry

18 May
On Stage
Re-Enchant: May

An Evening Of Radical Poetry

15 Jun
On Stage
Re-Enchant: June

An Evening Of Radical Poetry

"Stage poets - there is still a deep cultural apathy to your artform. Don't buy into it.  The discourse of "poetry" has little capacity to appreciate or support the oral tradition. Few educational or arts establishments back poetry as a performing art. So - please - don't forget....

We are living through a mental health and loneliness epidemic. The artful application of poetry on the live setting is more urgently needed than ever. The bardcraft of applied poetics is not just entertainment. It is education, facilitation, activism, rhetoric, healing and consciousness modulation.
You are a front line against disenchantment and isolation. You are a vanguard of Beauty and Joy. You are a vibe holder, a hypnogoge, a spirit lifter and an engineer of collective empathy.
If you stop (because there is no money, you're "too old" or the scene is full of imposters) we all lose zeal, eldership, raw experience and poetry.
Its really hard right now, so its really important to keep the lifeblood of spoken word pumping. Be the micro-economy of poetic Beauty and collective Joy. Build your own stages. Build your own collectives. Start your own nights. Do it in a living room, a back yard, a pub basement, a holiday. Keep going"

Pete The Temp

Past events:

2024 festival:
Olayinka Sobitan-Solomon, Guy Kelton Jones I & The Brixton Chamber Orchestra, Sarah Lasoye, Matthias Moret: Spit In My Face, Pete The Temp & The Vibe Mechanics, Comedy Kitchen (Barbara Brownskirt | Kitchen Man Nori Valentine), Sip + Rhyme hosted by Joly Licks with S-Bars and Kofi Achina, John Hegley: Peace, Love & Potatoes, Out-Spoken Press Takeover with Anthony Anaxagorou, Fran Lock, lisa minerva luxx & Rachael Allen.



2023 festival: 
Pete The Temp, Jasmine Gardosi: Dancing To Music You Hate, Pen-Ting Poetry: Experiments In Flow, Arnie the Beta, Zena Edwards, El-Nino, Sky God, Francis-Xavier Mukiibi, Kid Anansi, Emmy the Harp, Hally Kelly, Hannah Silva, Mellow Baku, She Drew The Gun, Ruby Wednesday