GAME of Poems at The Rum Shack

Now in its third year, the Southside Fringe is a community arts festival promoting theatre, music, comedy and cabaret south of the Clyde.

With more than 40 venues involved in this years' festival, it's yet another sign of the South's remarkable rise over the past few years.

The 2015 Fringe kicked off a fortnight ago, with an opening party at The Rum Shack.

Knowledgeable readers might remember The Rum Shack as Strathie's, an old-fashioned Pollokshaws Road pub better suited to dominoes tournaments than literary gatherings.

But change comes to us all, and now this old boozer has been decked out like a kitschy Caribbean hut.

The cheap whisky blends behind the bar have been replaced by a formidable selection of rums, and downstairs has been transformed from a dingy function room into a Berkeley Suite-style space, with DJs, MCs and reggae stars playing live on weekends.

An event like Monday's poetry slam, which took place in The Shack's basement, would have been unthinkable in these parts not long ago.

Introduced as "an epic battle to the death (with poetry)," Game of Poems showcased the best of the city's burgeoning spoken word scene.

The contestants packed their three-minute sets with wit and pathos; Cat Hepburn drew parallels between dating and consuming cereal, while Calum Rodger's (wholly fictional, of course) quest to consume every substance in his anti-drugs pamphlet drew howls of laughter.

It felt like a taste of things to come.

This young venue is still just getting into its stride, but with a bank holiday all-dayer involving the Sub Club's Dominic and Telford next Sunday, and more music and stand-up comedy events on the horizon, it's looking increasingly like we'll be spending a lot of the summer here.

Game of Poems at The Rum Shack

Q: Who's your favourite wordsmith?

1. Rebecca Kilgour, 27, Shawlands, John Cooper Clarke

2. Kevin P Gilday, 28, Shawlands, Mark E Smith

3. David Forrest, 29, Partick, Andrew Greig

Simon Herzig, 30, Glasgow, Morrissey

4. Frances McMillan, 29, Glasgow, Edwyn Morgan

David McBride, 33, Dublin, Alasdair Gray

5. Krysia Kordecki, 26, Glasgow

Favourite Club? Sub Club

Favourite Bar? The Rum Shack

Favourite DJ? Mad Alba

Favourite Band? I don't like bands

First club? The Arches

What you drinking? White wine

Describe Your dancing? Dirty, expressive, and reptilian

6. Seori Ormiston, 23, Oban, Scroobius Pip

Kimberley Hoy, 29, Glasgow, Shakespeare.

Saul Ormiston, 27, Oban, Peter Gabriel

7. Danielle Louden, 21, Glasgow, Edgar Allen Poe

Fraser Adams, 22, Newton Mearns, Joe Straynge

8. Lauren Gourlay, 31, Mount Florida, Thom Yorke

Cathy Beaton, 29, Glasgow, Holly McNish