We didn’t write down Adam’s actual prompt for this week, so here’s one that he reminded us of instead: write a poem about your ex-boyfriend (alternatively, make it about one you never had). If possible, use a quotidian yet highly complex metaphor.
Cantab Feature for Wednesday, March 27: Cam Awkward-Rich
Bay Area performance poet Cameron Awkward-Rich.
Cameron Awkward-Rich is a weirdo and a graduate student who sometimes also sends poems off into the abyss for the hell of it, a habit he developed early but honed at Wesleyan University where he co-created a queer art magazine and his senior project –a collection of poetry –won the Dorchester Prize for best thesis submitted to the English Department. In 2012, Cam was a member of both the Bay Area Unified and Stanford University slam teams. He is currently pursuing a PhD from the program in Modern Thought & Literature at Stanford.
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 speed slam in the 8×8 series will follow. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $3.
Cantab Recap for Wednesday, March 20
It might be blizzarding too hard to get out of Logan this week, but we booked sweet sweet California to come to us. Last Wednesday, Sam Sax heated up the room with some just-right sexy work, showing off his writing chops to a rambunctious crowd that included a great bunch of first-time readers. The speed slam filled up fast and zipped by at a blistering pace, leaving six poets in its wake. The final round came down to newcomer Sam Rush and old-timer Tom Slavin: Tom walked away with the ten-dollar prize, but not before joining in to give Sam the biggest round of applause of the competition. Awesome!
Next week: we’re keeping it West Coast with Cam Awkward-Rich, the second half of the Gay Pride Poetry Tour– he shares a book with Sam, so if you bought it and loved it, you’ll want to come out to see him perform, too. We’ll finish off the night with the sixth slam of this 8×8. Come early if you want a spot!
Cantab Feature for Wednesday, March 20: Sam Sax
Sam Sax, Bay Area slam champ.
Sam Sax is a Bay Area based writer, educator, and performer. He’s the first-ever Bay Area Unified Grand Slam Champion and Oakland’s first two-time queer Grand Slam Champion. Sam curates ‘the new sh!t show’, a reading series in San Francisco aimed at producing new poetry, and is the poetry curator for The Modern Times Bookstore. He has toured internationally, performing at universities, slams, basements, alleyways, and amphitheaters. Sam is currently leading writing and literacy workshops for queer at risk youth. You can
find some of his other work in Rattle, Muzzle Magazine, The Evergreen Review, The Orange Quarterly, The Nervous Breakdown, DeComp, 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 speed slam in the 8×8 series will follow. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $3.
Congratulations to the 2013 Boston Poetry Slam Team!
Ed Wilkinson, Omoizele Okoawo, Jade Sylvan, Nora Meiners, and Sean Patrick Mulroy held down the top five scores at the end of the nine-poet, three-round Finals. Excellent! Many thanks to our judges and fabulous audience. (Full recap forthcoming.)
Cantab Feature for Wednesday, March 13: Team Selection Finals
The Cantab’s Team Selection Slams are the venue’s biggest, wildest poetry slams of the year. This March will mark the earliest that the venue has ever selected a team, which gives them extra time to prepare as the home team for this year’s National Poetry Slam in Boston.
FINALIST UPDATE: want to hear about how our finalists got here? You can check out the premiere episode of SlamCenter, a sports-style recap of our February 6 semi-finals. It’s hosted by Kevin Spak and Zeke Russell and features some of your favorite all-stars, and you can find the audio right here.
Announcing our finalists! The top nine poets from Semi-Finals on February 6 will be fighting it out tonight in three rounds, each of them looking for a top spot to achieve the NPS-bound 2013 Boston Poetry Slam Team. Appearing in this order in the first round:
1. Meaghan Ford
2. Sean Patrick Mulroy
3. Jade Sylvan
4. Adam Stone
5. Ed Wilkinson
6. Nora Meiners
7. Mckendy Fils-Aimé
8. Omoizele Okoawo
9. Melissa Newman-Evans
sacrifice poets: Marshall Gillson and April Ranger
After four previous rounds in the last two months, plus with a new poem requirement each of the poets must have fulfilled, you can expect hot competition, tense strategic moves, and the mostly finely-polished performance work of the slam season.
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. A SHORTENED open mic begins at 8:00 and the slam begins at approximately 9:00. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $5; proceeds will go toward funding the National Poetry Slam this August in Boston.
Announcing the World’s First Serial Sporting Slamcast!
It’s an idea whose time has come, folks: a sports-style accounting of the ins, outs, and overtimes of poetry slam strategy. Boston Poetry Slam host Kevin Spak, along with Mill City SlamMaster Zeke Russell, bring you the on- and off-stage stories of all the biggest slams in town in the inaugural episode of SlamCenter.
Launched just in time to prepare for the 2013 National Poetry Slam, SlamCenter hits the ground running by recapping the Boston Poetry Slam Team Semi-Finals, including scores, analysis, poem sound-bites, and behind-the-scenes interviews. Check it out!
Cantab Recap for Wednesday, March 6
The Association of Writers and Writing Programs is in town, and you know what that means… 10,000 writers want to get into the Cantab, that’s what! Our co-founding SlamMaster Patricia Smith was back for a visit last night, and she brought about ten AWP folks along with her who are just as comfortable on the slam stage. The house regulars rocked a two-part open mic, then Patricia performed with her own posse, including Angel Nafis, Anis Mojgani, Daemond Arrindell, Jon Sands, Sara Brickman, Jan Beatty, Lauren Alleyne, Tyehimba Jess, Glenis Redmond, Saeed Jones, and Tim Seibles. HOLY HECK, that is an amazing line-up! And they’re all here in town for the week at AWP, so if you missed your chance to buy a book straight from the author, you can head to the free session of the book fair on Saturday and track ’em down.
Of course, some of you may have felt something was missing from last night’s open. Where were the judges, you asked? The heckling and high-pressure performance? The seemingly random numbers assigned to valuable and personal art after each round? Well: as much as we’d like to welcome some of last night’s features to our 2013 Boston Poetry Slam Team, there are only nine finalists qualified to take the stage at next week’s Team Selection Finals. It’ll be a slightly shorter open mic and a $5 cover to see three rounds of the hottest competition this side of the National Poetry Slam.
Oh, but there’s more: want a preview of the poets performing next Wednesday? Need your member jogged about the triumphs and tragedies of the February Team Selection Semi-Finals? Never fear, SlamCenter is hear! Hosted by Kevin Spak and Zeke Russell (and produced by a crack team of other poets you know), this is the first release of an all-poetry, all-slam sportscast that will be featuring full coverage at the 2013 National Poetry Slam. Check SlamCenter out here, and check back next week for the recap of Finals!
Boston Poetry Slam Online