What a night! It was a joy to welcome team slam back to the Cantab, just in time for summer: last night, two established slams and two local presses mixed it up for a wildly satisfying show. After four rounds of literary battle, we’re excited to congratulate pizza pi press on their big win! pizza pi operates directly out of a pizza and produces gorgeous illustrated chapbooks, as well as the seasonal pub maps for teeth. Our next pizza pi author feature will arrive on July 24 when Melissa Lozada-Oliva is in the house.
Our runner-ups last night were your very own home team: Joshua Elbaum, Arianna Monet, Terah Ehigiator, and Zeke Russell. The team pumped up tender new performances of their work in their home room for a solid second-place finish: in an glorious coincidence, by the way, we are pleased to announce that these four all-stars will all be pizza pi mini-book pressmates by this fall.
Coming in close behind were the glorious authors from Game Over Books, including some first-time visitors to the venue making waves with our regular listeners. Here’s how tight this slam was: this team actually put up the highest scoring individual piece, shaking up the first round and setting the bar high for everyone scrambling to follow. Interest in joining up with this incredible stable of authors? You’re in luck: Game Over’s open submission period begins on June 17!
And, last and best in the show of our hearts, our fourth and final team of the night came from Slam Free or Die in Manchester, New Hampshire, an hour north but in the very center of our hearts. Our partner NorthBEAST slam, SFoD holds all-ages events every Thursday and occasional Wednesday workshops in the back room of the Stark brewpub, often sharing out-of-town features and community with the BPS. And, cool news: last night’s pick-up team wants you to know that SFoD will be selecting their representative team in the fall, so you still have time to head north and win an open slam to get in the mix!
That’s all they wrote for this slam, folks! But wait: we’re back next week? At 5:30 for a prompt 6:00 workshop from James Merenda? You betcha: and our doors open at 7:15 as usual to welcome folks for the 8:00 open mic, followed by a full feature from James.
Boston Poetry Slam Online