Bankstown Poetry Slam is hands down, the most welcoming and inclusive arts/cultural/creative space in Sydney. BPS finds the common  – intercultural, intergenerational and intersectional – ground effortlessly.

It gives a leg up to the shy, the curious and those testing the sound of their own voice. It holds the space for the disheartened, the heart-broken, the fighters, the survivors, the thrivers, the achievers, the thinkers and the imagineers all at once.

And the poetry… sometimes rough and raw; sometimes polished and precious. Always honest, authentic and biting. The themes last Tuesday night included: mental illness, abandonment, love, loneliness, borders, war, fragility, gender inequality, sexuality, racism, private schools, privilege and politics.

I think I’ll be making the monthly pilgrimage from here on.