Death Rides a Unicorn

Death Rides a Unicorn is an arts non-profit that focuses on producing original spoken word and storytelling shows. The shows we are currently producing include Famous Last Words, Liars of Orpheus, The Seventeen Syllable Slam, Under the Rooftops of Vancouver and the Were-People Poets of the Weird which is debuting in Vancouver January 2027.

Famous Last Words is the first event we created at Death Rides a Unicorn. The show itself involves poets participating in six rounds of a faux competition where they create new work to 'compete' in a series of poetry related events that are in turn, 'judged' by our host (with input from our audience and our mascot Uni the Unicorn).

These games include poems written in unusual forms (haiku, sonnet, limericks, etc.) or on silly themes (love poems directed to someone in the room) or with funny addendums (poems must be written from the perspective of a puppet and must be read with said puppet). There are 25 potential games that can occur during any episode of Famous Last Words thus no two shows are exactly the same.

Liars of Orpheus is a show that revolves around writers attempting to lie their way through faux lectures. Each of the four writers will produce work that are made entirely of lies on a given topic. The audience will decide who is the best liar at the end of the evening via voting. The winner of this month’s competition receives a tiara and on occasion, some chocolate.

The Seventeen Syllable Slam is a short poem poetry slam where 16 writers go head to head for cash prizes and of course, a tiara.

Under the Rooftops of Vancouver is an erotica poetry evening that includes feature writers and either an erotic open mic or an erotica poetry slam. We usually have sex shop sponsor who gives out free nifty gifties at these shows.

The Were-People Poets of the Weird is an experimental show involving persona poems from the perspective of unusual animals and a carnival barker who claims to have trained animals to present poetry.