HAVE you ever heard a poem so bad, it’s good? Say Owt Slam is proud to present the first ever Yorkshire Anti-Slam on Friday night in The Basement at City Screen.

During 2014 and 2015, Say Owt Slam held a series of high energy, sell-out showcases of talents from across the city and beyond, attracting poets from Newcastle, Hull, Leeds, Manchester and Durham, as well as York.

"We’ve been nominated for a Saboteur Award for Best Regular Spoken Word Event and we've started a podcast of our guests, but we want to try something a little different for April," says York performance poet and co-organiser Henry Raby.

"In a normal Poetry Slam, the best poet wins this quickfire live spoken word competition, but in an Anti-Slam, the worst poet wins, so we’ve challenged a selection of York’s finest poets, comedians, actors and theatre-makers to create some terrible poetry."

What exactly does Henry have in mind? "We want them to write the most cringe-worthy, soppy, slushy love poetry that would be too sickening even for a Hallmark Valentine’s Day card," he says. "We want them to write the most over-the-top bad beat political poetry that would make Che Guevara want to give up the revolution.

"We want them to come up with personas whose poetic talents lie somewhere between gratuitous garbage and revolting rubbish. We want them to fill their poems with silly stanzas, pathetic puns, idiotic imagery and mournful metaphors...and atrocious alliteration. And we’ll see which poet can write a poem so bad, it transcends bad into genius!"

Henry anticipates a "unique feast of good humour, outlandish performances and lashings of spoken-word silliness", hosted from 7.30pm by Dan Simpson, who has performed at Glastonbury, Lamar Tree Festival, the National Theatre and the BBC Radio & BBC Edinburgh Slam.

"He’s a bundle of nerdy goodness, a vibrant performer and a charmingly exuberant stand-up and spoken-word star," says Henry. "It's going to be an evening of fantastically funny entertainment. Most of our Say Owt events have sold out, so grab your ticket now from the City Screen box office."

Tickets cost £7 on 0871 902 5726 or at picturehouses.com/cinema/York_Picturehouse. In addition, Dan Simpson will lead a workshop on Saturday in York Theatre Royal's upper foyer from 11am to 1pm. "But this one will be about writing great poetry," says Henry. "It costs a mere £5; anyone welcome, any experience level."

For workshop places, contact yorktheatreroyal.co.uk or phone 01904 623568.