Cantab Recap for Wednesday, July 29, 2015

This past Wednesday was one awesome night at the Cantab– and we aren’t just saying that because the air conditioner was back in commission. NYC poet Aziza Barnes absolutely rocked the house with an all on-page, all super-smart, all all-powerful set of beautifully crafted work touching on the familial, the sacred, and the mundane. Although many of her pieces were relatively new to the world and not yet available in a chapbook, you can get me Aunt Jemima and the nailgun (2013, Button Poetry) online any time.

The slam that followed the feature was, to quote one of the participants, “a bloodbath” –although this is surely a figurative assessment, you can only imagine how raucous an event must have come to the stage to finish up with a final pairing of two 2015 Boston Poetry Slam Team members: Bobby Crawford vs. Mckendy Fils-Aimé! In a tight finish, Mckendy took the $10 home and becomes the second current BPS team member to qualify for next year’s slam team.

Next week: we’re back with more air conditioning and so, so, so many poets! Our feature next Wednesday will be the 2015 Boston Poetry Slam Team in their last appearance before departing for the 2015 National Poetry Slam in Oakland, California! Start rolling your pennies this weekend, folks, because it’ll be a special $5 show to see 5 incredible poets in an hour-long set. Mckendy Fils-Aimé, Marshall Gillson, Bobby Crawford, Sophia Holtz, and Sean Patrick Mulroy will also have their team chapbook, Nothing Left Unholy, available for purchase and autographs.