Hey Cantab!! We had a jam-packed Wednesday last week, in which we sold out twenty minutes before the show even started! Beforehand, we had a fabulous workshop by Alex Kist that made people think about home, creatively visualize their feelings, and turn it into a poem. During the mic, there were impassioned poems such as Ilse’s poem on Aerosmith cancelling their farewell tour and newcomer Shy absolutely blowing us all away, not just with their top-notch craft, but by informing us that there are no good guavas in Texas! Additionally, there was a more somber note to the night, with loss, nostalgia, family trauma, and illness all showing up in different ways in peoples’ poems. Goes to show how comfortable folks are expressing the range of what we all experience at points in our lives, and it made for a very well-rounded and reflective night.
The ✏️Line of the Wednesday✏️ is from Will, with “I’ve been my own savior too many times to believe Jesus ever was”
Our feature was Amelia Díaz-Ettinger, who walked—or should I say “flew”—us through her poems across several books, most of which pertaining to birds. It was a calm, thoughtful, and caring reading, with Amelia weaving in anecdotes throughout, whether they were about her own unique backstory, historical facts about the island of Culebra, or, of course, several facts about birds. The poems were insightful and clever, making for a peaceful end to very full night at the Cantab (both emotionally and physically).
Tonight, get ready for another feature from across the country: RJ Walker is a performance poet and voice actor from Salt Lake City, Utah. RJ Has performed at the national poetry slam numerous times, representing Salt Lake City, and Sugar House Utah. At the Individual World Poetry Slam he was a showcased poet on final stage and placed 6th overall at the 2017 Individual world poetry slam. RJ won the NPS Spirit of the Slam award for organizing the first Compliment Deathmatch event. The next year he placed 4th at the National Poetry Slam with the Salt City Unified team. He is a winner of the Button Poetry video contest. Locally, RJ is the host and operator of The Greenhouse Effect Open Mic, SLC’s longest running open mic style event. RJ is a TEDX SLC speaker and is the creative mind behind Lords of Misrule Theatre Company.
See you then!
– Amy ✈️
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