Happy Wednesday from the basement of a dive bar! I felt a very strong sense of community this week, as I’m sure several others did. We had some amazing highlights as usual: Amaliena read a very pretty piece on changing seasons, Daniel read an astounding poem about growing up in Honduras, first-timer Kyle read passionately about espresso martinis, and previous feature Katya Zinn returned to read a wonderful poem about a dog in a graveyard. Energy was even more hyped for newcomers Mina and Morgan (the latter of whom moved to Boston five days prior) who both brought the house down. We hope to see you back!
This week’s ✏️Line of the Wednesday✏️ goes to Kaitie Dilán with “when I go, I want to become a tree”
Our feature, touring poet and New Jersey native Damian Rucci, brought some absolutely killer energy to the stage, telling nostalgic tales, performing anti-capitalist musings, and sharing with all of us the reason why he probably will never step foot in Missouri again. Thank you for bringing some of the most boisterous, positive energy we’ve seen in a while!!
The week would not be complete without some 🚪shenanigans 🤺! We have been having some trouble with one of our bathroom doors recently, and during the smoking section, it appeared we had finally lost the battle with it: the door would not open despite multiple attempts and keys/coins stuck in the lock. But no fear! Eddy Martinez showed the door no mercy, kicked it down, and now both bathrooms are useable… at least, until the next battle.
Coming up at the Cantab we have Joshua Nguyen! Joshua Nguyen is the author of Come Clean (University of Wisconsin Press, 2021), winner of the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry, the Writers’ League of Texas Discovery Award, and the Mississippi Institute of Arts & Letters Poetry Award. He is also the author of the chapbooks, American Lục Bát for My Mother (Bull City Press, 2021) and Hidden Labor & The Naked Body (Sundress Publications, 2023). He is a Vietnamese-American writer, a collegiate national poetry slam champion (CUPSI), and a native Houstonian. He has received fellowships from Kundiman, Tin House, Sundress Academy For The Arts, and the Vermont Studio Center. He has been published in Wildness, The Texas Review, Auburn Avenue, and elsewhere. He is a humor editor for The Offing Mag, the Kundiman South co-chair, a bubble tea connoisseur, and loves a good pun. He received his MFA/PhD from The University of Mississippi. He currently teaches at Tufts University.
See! You! There!
– Amy ✈️
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