Cantab… upstairs? You heard that right! Because of repairs taking place in the basement over the next couple weeks, we held our open mic in the upstairs of the Cantab last week. Despite the slight change of scenery, we still had poets in the audience, poets at the bar, and poets at the mic! Kaitie Dilán read about their encounters with water recently, including a flood at not one but two poetry open mics they frequent. Cameron performed an original piece that apparently left a crowd at the Green Mill in Chicago completely silent. And “David with the New Shoes” not only debuted his new shoes, but an incredible poem as well.
This week’s ✏️Line of the Wednesday ✏️ comes from Oliver: “Black down the drain like the way your brain / Imagines even the good things you have not yet seen”
SaraEve Fermin was our feature, and it was truly such a lovely, beautiful one. There is something about her poetry that makes you feel at ease, and she accomplished that and more with her heartfelt poems about family, several insightful poems about Bojack Horseman, and more. Please check out her work!
Despite the unusual circumstances, there wasn’t a large amount of shenanigans this week, but I’ll mention another highlight: Newcomer from New York City Jennifer Martinez absolutely brought the house down with her poem on objectification, growing up in New York, and being a woman. Come back soon!
Coming up, this week we will be doing our open mic at Starlight Square (84 Bishop Allen Drive)! Please note that this show is ALL AGES and FREE! Doors 6:30, open mic at 7, feature at 8:30.
Register at the eventbrite link right HERE.
And did someone say feature? Our feature is the incredible Matthew E. Henry! Matthew E. Henry (MEH) is the author of full-length collections the Colored page (Sundress Publications, 2022) and The Third Renunciation (NYQ Books, 2023), as well as the chapbooks Teaching While Black (Main Street Rag, 2020), Dust & Ashes (Californios Press, 2020), and have you heard the one about…? (Ghost City Press, 2023). He also has a collection forthcoming from Harbor Editions. He is editor-in-chief of The Weight Journal and an associate poetry editor at Pidgeonholes. MEH’s poetry appears or is forthcoming in Cola, The Florida Review, Massachusetts Review, Ninth Letter, Pangyrus, Ploughshares, Shenandoah,and The Worcester Review among others. MEH’s an educator who received his MFA yet continued to spend money he didn’t have completing an MA in theology and a PhD in education. You can find him at www.MEHPoeting.com writing about education, race, religion, and burning oppressive systems to the ground.
See you!
– Amy ✈️
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