FOLLOWING last week's performances by Olympic poet Lemn Sissay in Thanet alongside Burns Night, Brown Ale takes a look at wordsmiths providing punters with purple prose to punctuate their pints.

Spoken word has taken off in recent years with lyricists like Kate Tempest and Scroobius Pip making waves in the alternative music scene and inspiring local open mic nights across Thanet.

A pair of pubs have started monthly open mic nights for promising poets to disperse their verse in front of a live audience.

Margate's Lifeboat and The Great Tree in Ramsgate welcome wordsmiths once a month to share their rhyme and reason over a jar or two.

Compere Paul Scuffins welcomes poets from across Kent for the Lifeboat gig and the open-house policy encourages people to create and share their work.

The idea for a regular event started at last year's 'Inscribing the Island' Literature Festival, starring acclaimed Caribbean-born poet Maggie Harris who now lives in Thanet.

Paul said: "We started the night to encourage people with a passion for poetry.

"It tends to be a welcoming crowd so people can feel confident enough to try out new work and get a good response."

The Lifeboat in Market Place, Margate, welcomes wordsmiths on the second Tuesday of the month. The Great Tree on Margate Road, Ramsgate, hosts its monthly night on the second Monday of the month, with free beer for the winning work.