A NEW spoken word and poetry night has started in Salisbury.

For more than a dozen years, Poetika has been the poetry and spoken word highlight in Salisbury’s literary calendar.

These meetings have become less frequent due to organisers’ other commitments, but regulars have set up a new night to fill the gaps.

The New SaRhyme nights are the latest offering.

One of the organisers, John Bruce, said: “We thought we’d find a name that suggested the full range of contributions we’d seek – from rhyming poetry to blank verse and spoken word, from short pieces of prose to songs and acoustic music – but in the end, we couldn’t resist a bad pun!”

The meetings are held in the Shoemakers Hall above the Pheasant Inn, Salt Lane on the fourth Wednesday of each month from 7.30 to 9.30pm.

John says this venue is a quieter environment than Poetika, which would allow a broader range of performance styles.

Incidentally, Edwin Hopper, another of the organisers, under his pen name Colwell Hopper, included a scene in the Shoemakers Hall in his spy novel “Salisbury Sleeper”, inspired by the Skripal events.