Hi Cantabbers, and wow! We had quite the night last week. The energy was absolutely electric from before our sold-out show even began, which became even more noticeable as thunderous cheers and applause were prevalent throughout the opening spiel alone.
There were so many highlights, so bear with me. Kai and Logan reprised their group piece from NorthBeast last year, which was made extra special by both of their moms being present to hear it. Ruby did an empowering poem on anti-fatness. There was a poem that may have broken the record for number of dad jokes told in poem form within three minutes. First-timer Meredith debuted with a Sisyphus poem on the express lane. Maura did what I will describe as an instant blackout poem, where she read from a text while blacking out portions of it with a sharpie along the way, then reading the leftover lines as a blackout poem. So impressive!!
Also, remember how I mentioned we were sold out? A line to get into the show remained well past 9 pm, and one of the folks waiting to get in was so eager to see the show that he may have offered $200, cash-in-hand, to the bouncer. Officially, we do not condone bribery in any form. Unofficially, that was kind of rad.
The ✏️Line of the Wednesday✏️ is from Keaton, with “I am worth the soreness in your mouth in the morning”
We then had our Tag Team Slam, consisting of duos who each did an individual poem, then coming together for a group piece in the final round. We heard heart-wrenching work from Will and Mary, poems ranging from childhood emotional trauma to absurdist ice cream sandwiches from Amy and Aparna, the deeper meanings of niche anime plotlines from Youssef and Sara, but in the end, Otto and Alex took the win! Like their group piece, we were celebrating their names for the rest of the night :) Congrats to Otto and Alex, thank you to all the slammers and judges, and to Michael F. Gill for coming up with the idea for the slam! THIS WEEK! We have the incredible poet laureate of San Francisco – Tongo Eisen-Martin! Edit: Due to unforeseen circumstances, we are saddened to announce we are postponing Tongo Eisen-Martin’s feature that was supposed to take place tonight. We will keep you posted on when this incredible feature will be rescheduled.
In the meantime, DO NOT FRET! We will be having a last-minute haiku-themed night! First, Jade Kleiner will be running a pre-show haiku workshop at 6:30 pm. Suggested donation $10. Workshoppers will also have first access to the open mic. Then, in the feature slot, Jade will be doing a spotlight haiku set, which will be followed by a series of mini haiku slams!
See you then!
– Amy ✈️
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