After a long, snowy weekend, Cantabbers reconvened once again for a great Wednesday full of poems! There were a considerable amount of new faces on the open mic, and highlights included Jarvis’ stirring ode to the history of their body, Danny Riordan’s immediate response poem to Jarvis, and March Penn’s excellently-titled “Do I Have Imaginary Friends Or Did I Just Imagine Having Them.” We also had to take a couple moments to recognize not just one, but TWO birthdays this week. Myles and Nayeli are both incredibly appreciated and loved by this community, no matter which side of the Aquarius/Capricorn cusp they identify with!
After the open mic was the anticipated 20 Questions slam, hosted by Myles, where each of the slammers wrote a 20-line poem describing something without explicitly stating it. Scores were based on whether our judges could guess what that something was. We had some beautiful poems accompanied by some crazy guesses, with one poem producing guesses of both “Penis” from one judge and “Hennessy” from another. At the end of the slam, the winning spot was awarded to both PK Kleiner and Meredith, for their poems about the wind and “stripper Santa” respectively.
This Week: If you thought we were done slamming for the month of January, you were wrong – we have an open slam this Wednesday! The top two slammers will also be eligible to compete in our team selection final, so we encourage you to bring your best poems! See you then!
– Amy ✈️
Upcoming features!
January 25th, 2023 – Open Poetry Slam
You need at least 3 poems to compete. $50 prize for the winner! There will also be an open haiku slam, with a $17 prize for the winner.
February 1st, 2023 – Mariama Savage
Boston-bred poet and Brave New Voices vet Mariama Savage will feature for us!
Further down the road:
2/8 – Dominique “Mo” Durden
2/15 – Valentine’s Day feat. Dirty Haiku Slam (More details to come!)
2/22 – Chen Chen
3/1 – Open Poetry Slam
3/8 – Ricky Orng
3/15 – Jarvis Subia
3/22 – Catherine Weiss
3/29 – Gabriel Ramirez
All shows take place at the Cantab Lounge, 738 Massachusetts Ave. in Cambridge, with one flight of stairs to access the basement room (click for directions and accessibility information). Doors for the show open at 7:15. The open mic begins at 8:00 and the feature performs at approximately 10:00. The show is 21+ (ID/Proof of Vaccination required) and the cover charge is $3.
Boston Poetry Slam Online