Queer Friendly Poetry and Performance

Assorted Sporks

Assorted Sporks is a bunch of queer friendly poetry and performance events in Footscray at Mamma Chen’s.
We are fortnightly, but on one fortnight we have Musical Sporks, an open mic poetry night where you have the option of performing your poetry with a choice of five electronic music backing tracks. Hosted by Loran Steinberg. On the alternate fortnight we have an awesome feature poet, with a theme you can use a writing prompt (or not, it’s optional) plus an open mic. Hosted by Loran Steinberg.For people new to poetry or experiencing a bit of writer's block, we have a poetry writing group/workshop on the second Sunday of the month with prompts, writing exercises, and feedback. Facilitated by Loran Steinberg and Es Foong.All events are friendly, supportive and we encourage people to be as weird and experimental as they want.

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Poetry Writing Group; The Facilitators

The Assorted Sporks writing group facilitators:Es Foong is a brilliant poet, if you haven’t seen their poetry you really should, they also run solo workshops on both writing poetry and embodied performance in poetry. They are co-facilitator in the writing group and will be there for the giving of feedback and the providing of thoughtful words. I actually go to them every time I’m stuck on a poem. I find their advice absolutely priceless.
Loran Steinberg (me! who is writing this!) is good at prompts, inspiration, providing energy, impetus and encouragement, I’m also not bad at helping people find the strengths in their writing and pulling them to the front.
Es has a talent for really pinpointing the right word(s) or tone or emotion to really communicate the idea or sensation or central theme behind the poem.
These writing groups are priced to be accessible to anyone, and no one will be turned away due to lack of funds. Come along and write a poem. Search humanitix for tickets.
https://events.humanitix.com/assorted-sporks-poetry-writing-group

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Musical Sporks

Musical Sporks, or Assorted Sporks with (optional) music is an event that will be happening every other fortnight all of 2026, alternating with the feature and themed nights, so basically, every 4 weeks, you will have a chance to try out performing your poetry to music.We have a menu of 5 backing tracks for you to choose from, Angry (also works well with stressed) Sad, Atmospheric, Beats, and Horny (is mildly spicy) all of the music is by George, AKA FluxOfHumour, you can also bring your own backing track, bring an instrument, or do something experimental.To have a listen to the music click here; https://www.soundclick.com/AssortedSporks/?content=songsIf you would rather perform with no music that is also fine, the open mic is still open for you to do whatever makes you comfortable. We will try out new backing tracks over time and are happy to get some feedback on moods and music you would like to pair your poetry to in the future.
Have some fun with this!

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Assorted Sporks Feature and Theme

Coming up on February 26th we are featuring have Rosie Shute
Rosie Shute is a spoken word performer, creative event organiser, poet, experimental lyric essayist, prose writer, visual artist and creative writing honours student at the University of Melbourne reframing academia as what trans and neurodivergent people practice every day in order to make sense of being alive. Also, they think the ingredients at the back of cereal packets is a poem.
Rosie's theme is Alive Writing:
Imagine: your writing is… alive. The space between each word a set of staggered breaths, the ink we use to write a pair of tired lungs. Each line of language a neck crooked and folding through a window. A poem moving about inside a page, tasted in our gums or heard as ancient thrum. What if every story was as afraid of dying as the people that attempt to write them? What if all our essays gathered in abandoned union halls to plot collective revolution against our answers because all they ever really wanted is for us to listen to their questions? What if the best stanza you’ve ever written would rather be a ballerina, a garbage truck driver or a child sleeping on their parent’s shoulder? And, what if, right now, as you read this, the thing inside you that you’re writing is alive and dreaming, sat beside a desk just like yours, writing you?
Themes are not mandatory, they are just to encourage you to experiment with your writing and improvisation. Feel free to make it weird on the open mic!
https://events.humanitix.com/assorted-sporks-featuring-rosie-shute-theme-alive-writing

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