‘Poet? What’s that? Someone who skips round with a butterfly net’. So said John Cooper Clarke when accused of being one.

Performance poetry was given a new power and passion by punk, and one of the other original godfathers of that scene, Attila The Stockbroker, still tours, still relevant and still very funny.

David Rovics is a singer/guitarist who brings that same spirit but from the American anti-globalisation movement. Taking the huge sweep of things affected by globalisation, he is not only angry and radical but also warm and humane, having a clear eye on what he’s fighting for as much as fighting against.

Penny Broadhurst - Well know on the live music scene in Leeds Penny Broadhurst's poetry takes on urban alienation and rebellion. "There's fire in Broadhurst's belly and bile in her brain, while her fiery spoken witticisms rock and roar. You can't mosh to poetry, but if you could, then you'd mosh to this." NME

Claire Fauset bounces around the stage two parts fizz to one part fury, firing sharp inspiring poetry drawn from her life as an activist.

Hollow Horse have been performing together for 12 years and mix folk, punk and pop to deliver vibrant and thought provoking songs. They were described by the NME as 'A Simon and Garfunkel of the Loaded generation.' Their song 'John Pilger says' looks set to become a classic of the protest movement.

The gig is the Leeds book launch for 'This Poem Is Sponsored By...', Corporate Watch’s new vibrant and powerful anthology of anti-corporate poetry that features Attila, Rovics Broadhurst and Fauset. Other poets from the book will also be making apearences, including Rapunzel Wizard, Spencer Cooke, Merrick and Alan McLure.



"I love these dark, subversive, thrilling, transgressional poems. Sometimes you need a poem to show you what you were seeing but not noticing. It's a brilliant collection."
George Monbiot, Journalist

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