Send us feedback anonymously or via email
We had another sold-out show this past Wednesday, with an open mic that simultaneously showcased how well the fun and mournful side of poetry can co-exist…3 minutes apart from each other! Donovan and first-timer Elizabeth brought us poignant odes to their LA homes amidst the ongoing fires, Max opened the mic with a moving tribute to his late friend and coworker Butch, and Sue Savoy devastated with a poem about the seemingly unassuming things she has said to people, and what they actually meant. Hunter brought us an excellent piece on being a restaurant server that worked its message through customer-server dialogue alone, and we got to hear revisions/reprises of earlier work from Kaitie D, Kelsey, and Isaiah.
Kat started a hosting bit that included reading quotes from the reality show Jersey Shore before introducing the next reader, which led later hosts Briana and Brynna to delve into own reality TV knowledge, and drop some fire quotes of their own. Will there be a reality TV found poem on the mic in 2025? Stay tuned! At the end of the open, we had Season 3, Episode 1 of our monthly Haiku Slam series, which was won by the outrageous Gel, who edged out an extremely cute and meta haiku series by Kai.
Our feature was Caleb “The Negro Artist” Rainey who gave us a selection of nearly all-memorized poems to savor slowly. A poet with a real skill for writing and sculpting poems about race relations with no excess, Caleb let the content speak for itself while also letting us into the genesis of his writing process between pieces. Highlights included an interactive piece that resituated playing the party game Taboo as a poem, a piece his mother asked him to write about his own family, and work from his “Poem Potluck” series, where community members volunteer a set of words that must all be included in a new poem. Thank you Caleb!
THIS WEDNESDAY: We’ve entered one of the most fevered and exciting times of the year — TEAM SELECTION SEASON! Over the course of February we will be selecting our 2025 Boston Poetry Slam Team, with the first preliminary slam happening this week! 17 poets will be vying to make the 5-person team, and tonight’s slam will feature the following poets:
Kelsey Kessler
Kaitie Dilán
Jennifer Martinez
Will Leonard IV
Keaton Howl
Jarvis Subia
Logan Lopez
March Penn
Be sure to get here early this month as these shows often sell out fast! Open mic is at 8 pm, slam starts around 10!
See you soon,
– MFG 🚪
Our upcoming features
First timer? Looking for show info? Check out our Frequently Asked Questions!
Sign up for our Newsletter
Boston Poetry Slam Online