Cantab Recap for Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Before you ask, folks… Yes, tonight’s Moonlighting show is on, but our venue has changed! Please see the info at the bottom of this post for more details.

Happy New Year, Boston Poetry Slam fans! Thanks so much to everyone who came out to celebrate with us and Stevie Edwards, a truly lovely performer, poet, editor, and educator from Cornell. Stevie helped us purge our old demons and gird ourselves for whatever 2014 has to offer.

Our slammers that night had a similar idea, many of them traveling many miles to be with us for the show! At the end of the night, though, it was two locals left standing: a valiant and poignant effort from Emily Carroll, however, was not enough to defeat a locked-on Oz for the final spot in next week’s Champion of Champions slam.

Next week: that’s right, Tom Slavin will be defending his title against the last eight slam winners! And and AND, as though that were not enough, professional badass and pull-no-punches real-talker Casey Rocheateau will be our featured poet. Excellent!

Of course, if you are craving more poetry just this minute, there’s always our Moonlighting show with Corrina Bain tonight! We did hear about that little snowstorm thingy, but Corrina was already on the way here, so we’re thrilled to host this poet at a NEW, CHANGED, AND PRIVATE VENUE in the JP/Dorchester area. For directions, please see the link above, or check out our Facebook event. Stay warm, poets!

Tips from the Bar: Why the Long Face?

A horse walks into a bar. Now what?

Moonlighting: A Queer Open Mic and Reading Series Featuring Corrina Bain on Thursday, January 2, 2014

ALERT! ALERT! VENUE CHANGE! THE SHOW WILL GO ON!

Due to the inclement weather this evening, Fazenda Coffee Roasters is closed. However, as Corrina had already begun the journey to Boston when the news came in, we will still be offering a show from this remarkable poet.

The venue has changed to a private space in the JP/Dorchester area. Please see the Facebook event (click here) for precise location details and bus/subway directions.

If you are planning to head out tonight, please use caution and good sense! We strongly recommend that you avail yourself of public transportation; Boston has declared a snow emergency, which restricts parking in some areas. Stay safe and enjoy the night!

This reading is part of our monthly LGBTQ series, Moonlighting. Click here for more information about this recurring show.

The featured reader for January 2 is Corrina Bain.

Corrina Bain, Moonlighting feature for January 2, 2014.

Corrina Bain, Moonlighting feature for January 2, 2014.

Corrina Bain is a gender-nonconforming writer, performance artist, educator, and wearer of suspenders. He has an extensive background in poetry slam, and has performed at venues as varied as the Coronet at the Largo Theater in Los Angeles and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York. Published in anthologies and journals including RATTLE and the Everyman’s Library book Villanelles, he has also been nominated for the Pushcart Prize three times. He lives in Brooklyn and is a social worker in emergency psychiatry. More at corrinabain.com.

This show in our monthly Thursday LGBTQ series takes place on this one night only at a private residence Fazenda Coffee Roasters, 3710 Washington St. in the Jamaica Plain area of Boston. An open mic begins at approximately 7:00 p.m. and the headliner follows the open mic. The show is all-ages and a $3 donation is requested.

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, January 1, 2014: Stevie Edwards

Stevie Edwards, poet, editor, and educator.

Stevie Edwards, poet, editor, and educator.

Stevie Edwards is a poet, an editor, and an educator. She’s currently a Lecturer in the English Department at Cornell University, where she recently completed her MFA in creative writing. Her first full-length collection of poetry, Good Grief, was released by Write Bloody in 2012 and recently received the Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY) Bronze Prize for Poetry and the Devil’s Kitchen Reading Award. Her latest chapbook, Atomic Girl, is forthcoming from Tired Hearts Press. She is the Editor-in-Chief of MUZZLE Magazine and Assistant Editor in Book Development at YesYes Books. Her poetry has appeared in Verse Daily, Rattle, Indiana Review, Devil’s Lake, PANK, Vinyl, Aim for the Head: An Anthology of Zombie Poetry, and elsewhere.

This show in our weekly Wednesday series takes place at the Cantab Lounge, 738 Massachusetts Ave. in Cambridge. Doors for the show open at 7:15. The open mic begins at 8:00 and the feature performs at approximately 10:00. An open slam in the 8×8 series will follow. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $3.

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, December 25 — NO SHOW

There is no poetry show for Wednesday, December 25, 2013.

Please enjoy the night off. We’ll return to our usual schedule on January 1, 2014!

Cantab Recap for Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Cantabbers, for the last Wednesday show of the year, we were super-proud to bring you a feature from a not-so-long-ago local favorite, David Winter. Now a resident of New York City, David returned home for the season and brought us the impeccably crafted, carefully delivered poems that have always landed so beautifully in our listening room. What an excellent reunion to celebrate the end of the year.

Following David’s feature was our first-ever Sestina Slam– a two-sestina, all-form competition that brought in eight hard-thinking writers and five very serious judges, including special guest celebrity judge Tom Daley. Emily O’Neill and Chloé Cunha kicked in the door as a dual sacrifice to get the judges in the mood for the sestina sound; Chloé also kicked in the clock with a wicked time penalty, assessed to the angry dismay of a vastly entertained crowd. Some exceptional work came from all of our readers, including Gemma Cooper-Novack (an early sign-up for the slam and one of the event’s inspirations), Jade Sylvan (right in the midst of a sestina-writing frenzy for a related project of her own), and Patrick S. (who’s been successfully slamming sestinas for years).

Some of the night’s most memorable moments commuted to us from Slam Free or Die locals: Mckendy Fils-Aimé made the strategically questionable but admirably nerdy decision to slam a sestina about Pokemon battling, whereas Christopher Clauss achieved the second round only to be eliminated after his nuanced piece about the Mandela memorial sign language interpreter. The big story of the night, however, had to be Jonah Comstock and Nathan Comstock: after drawing one another in the last pairing in the first round, each presented carefully crafted work about Mos Eisley and Harry Potter… Only to tie and be called back to the stage to present two more sestinas.

Nathan took the first round win and eventually advanced to the final round, where he met up with a crowd-walking Sean Patrick Mulroy in the final dramatic pairing. Nathan won the title for most poems read (four to Sean’s three), but Sean took home the high score and the $10. What a night!

We’ll be on break for the 25th of December this year, but don’t worry: the Boston Poetry Slam will be back with a vengeance (not exactly like Die Hard, which is Carlos Williams‘ favorite Christmas movie, by the way) before the calendar year is over. You can catch Kevin Spak producing our evening show at First Night on Tuesday, December 31… Then swing by for the return of our Wednesday series on Wednesday, January 1 with Stevie Edwards… And finish ringing in your New Year right with Moonlighting on January 2. Looks like a grand year for poetry already!

Tips from the Bar: No One Is Saying That Adam and Simone Are Now the Same Person

…we’re just saying it’s been three weeks since anyone has seen Adam and Simone in the same bar.

Related to our staff’s absences: write about your worst road trip.

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, December 18: David Winter and the Sestina Slam

David Winter, Boston-gone-NYC poet.

David Winter, Boston-gone-NYC poet.

The first time David Winter performed his poetry was at the Cantab Lounge in 2004. In 2013, his chapbook Safe House was published by Thrush Press. His writing has also appeared or is forthcoming in Four Way Review, Atlanta Review, and For Some Time Now: Performance Poets of New York City. He is an MFA student in Creative Writing at The Ohio State University and an Associate Poetry Editor for The Journal.

David’s feature will be followed by the SESTINA SLAM, an open poetry slam in the 8×8 series requiring at least two sestinas from each participant. All standard poetry slam rules will apply and the slam will run in the standard 8×8 format linked here. In addition, each participant must have at least TWO SESTINAS and one additional form poem: round one of the slam will require a sestina, round two may be a form poem of any type, and round three requires another sestina. You may peruse the writing rules for a sestina on Wikipedia.

Due to the specific nature of the slam, advance signups will be taken by email. There is ONE SACRIFICE SPOT remaining, but the slam is now full! Confirmed participants: Nathan Comstock, Gemma Cooper-Novak, Sean Patrick Mulroy, Mckendy Fils-Aimé, Jade Sylvan, Jonah Comstock, Patrick S, Christopher Clauss, with Chloé Cunha as sacrifice.

This show in our weekly Wednesday series takes place at the Cantab Lounge, 738 Massachusetts Ave. in Cambridge. Doors for the show open at 7:15. The open mic begins at 8:00 and the feature performs at approximately 10:00. The Sestina Slam, which will also serve as an open slam in the 8×8 series, will follow. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $3.

Cantab Recap for Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Sure, maybe Radio Boston told you all Suzi Q. Smith was going to be a great feature, but we at the Boston Poetry Slam are especially glad to see how many investigative folks trekked out to our basement on a cold night to see for themselves! As predicted, Suzi rocked the mic, opened some eyes, and even brought us a new form poem (in chapbook format) to try. Thanks so much to our excellent open mic, too, packed with newcomers, old friends, and good work all around.

With just a few open slams left until Team Selection Preliminaries, competition is really heating up during the late-night part of the show! This week was no exception, as Omoizele “Oz” Okoawo battled against Chris Lee in the final round, ending with a dynamic performance by Chris that netted him the win.

Next week: as the New Year draws to a close, we often welcome back poets who have moved away. This year will be no exception, as our feature will be the much-missed David Winter. Our slam that night will be our first-ever Sestina Slam– the roster is already full, but if you’d like to hear a whole buncha six-pointed poems slammed, this is your night! It’ll also be our last show of 2013, so come hang out with us and maybe knock back some drinks at the bar for auld lang syne.

Tips from the Bar: Prompt from Afar

Are you a morning person? Imagine the night so good that you cheat on the morning.

(Night owls should reverse this prompt for similar, or perhaps opposite, effect.)