Happy wonderful Wednesday, Cantabbers!!
We had yet another packed basement, full of regulars, new faces, and several “it’s been a minute” readers returning to the stage! We kicked off the open mic with newcomer TJ Reynolds and a rare early-on-the-mic appearance from Eddy Martinez. This was followed by regulars, such as the hilarious work from Cameron and the adrenaline rush from Kaitie D. Overall, there was an overarching theme of death … and/or delusion from the open mic, crating a pretty ethereal atmosphere.
This week also featured the debut of the OPEN MIC EXPRESS LANE where poets with one-minute or shorter poems can perform them at the end of the mic rather than having the more ambiguous fate of the waitlist. People who didn’t get called off the waitlist also got to read in this section, and it went swimmingly!
The ✏️Line of the Wednesday✏️ is from Cameron, with “I’ve been fired from the scarecrow guild for choreographing dances”.
Our feature was the lovely Jess Rizkallah, whose beautiful set had us all completely captivated. Jess has one of those writing voices that you could listen to quite literally forever; the prose in her work goes on and on in a very comforting way while still hitting you right in the heart at times. The majority of the audience left with a copy of her chapbook in hand.
Next week! We have Philip Hasouris as our feature! Phillip Hasouris is the author of three poetry collections, has been a featured poet at many local and national venues, and represented Brockton at the National Poetry Slam in Austin Texas. He was an alternate for the Boston Poetry Slam team in 1998. In 2010 he received the Mike Amado Spoken Word Warrior Award. He has been the poetry coordinator for the Brockton Library Poetry Series 2004 – 2009 and 2017-present. Philip has created many events showcasing Brockton’s cultural and diverse community. Philip is committed to the restorative power of the arts; he is a facilitator of expressive healing workshops throughout the state for groups coping with medical crisis and bereavement. Philip has expanded the workshops to include young people, recognizing bullying and peer pressure and its effects on the stresses of everyday life, creating a non-judgment safe environment.
See you then!
-Amy ✈️
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