SAY Owt, York’s spoken word organisation, is running two contrasting poetry events in May, one featuring one of the world’s best poets, one celebrating the worst of the worst.

Billed as "The Good, The Bad and The Poetry", the 7.30pm shows will present Canadian poet Shane Koyczan at All Saints' Church, North Street, York on May 11 and York's York’s Anti-Slam #II in The Basement, at City Screen, York, on May 27.

"York's Say Owt team are joining forces with the UK’s prestigious spoken word organisation, Apples and Snakes, to bring you one of our biggest gigs to date," say co-organisers Henry Raby and Stu Freestone. "Canada’s finest export, Shane Koyczan is one of the biggest names in the world of poetry and spoken word.

"His 2012 anti-bullying poem To This Day has clocked over 20 million views on YouTube, and not just a one-hit wonder, his other YouTube videos, including live performances for Tedx Talks, track up huge viewings too.

"His poetry is wonderful immersive, stacking imagery alongside incredible landscapes of beauty, hope, humanity and neck beards. You’ll laugh, cry and emerge with a new passion for language. We're delighted to present his work magnificently amplified by the vaulted surroundings of All Saints Church."

The principal support act will be Rose Condo, a performance poet originally from the prairies of Canada but now based in Huddersfield. "Slam champion, Edinburgh Fringe veteran and nominee for a coveted Saboteur Award, Rose is sure to represent Yorkshire in all its wordy glory," say Henry and Stu, who also promise "a cavalcade of some of Say Owt’s regular faces collaborating in a unique style".

"All Saints' Church is only ten minutes from York train station and the venue is Bring Your Own Bottle, but please respect the space," add the co-organisers.

Now you have heard the best, it is time to hear the worst: York’s Anti-Slam II at The Basement. "In a normal poetry slam, the poets must use their words and wit to impress the judges and set themselves aside as the greatest performer of the evening," say Henry and Stu. "The Anti-Slam takes this formula and totally flips it, scoreboards and all. In the Anti-Slam, the worst poet wins. We don’t mean your standard half-hearted poetry.

"Last time we heard rubbish rapping, hellish homeopathy, too-cool-for-school phone-in-hand hipster words, Morse Code poetry and a foppish failure...and the audience laughed their poetry socks off."

The co-organisers invite you to "come witness the soppiest, slushiest love poetry; hear the most over-blown, misplaced and ill-informed revolutionary political poetry to make you want to get a job as a banker; experience painful personas, chaotic characters and awful acts, and cringe at poems crammed with silly stanzas, pathetic puns, idiotic imagery and mournful metaphors – and atrocious alliteration".

"It’s totally unique, totally odd and guaranteed to make you howl with laughter, and the winner (loser?) goes on to represent York in the Anti-Slam final down in That London," say Henry and Stu.

Tickets for Shane Koyczan are available at eventbrite.com/e/say-owt-apples-and-snakes-present-shane-koyczan-tickets-31878113295; tickets for Anti-Slam #2, at picturehouses.com/cinema/York_Picturehouse/film/say-owt-anti-slam-2/tickets/12453