This prompt isn’t about writing anything: it’s for sharing! Earmark a poem you love to bring to the open mic sometime this year. Perform it if you can.
Cantab Feature for Wednesday, October 31: Dead Poets’ Slam
Some people already can’t think of anything scarier than a night at a poetry show. Why not celebrate Halloween with the world-famous Boston Poetry Slam at the Cantab Lounge? On Wednesday, October 31, the Cantab will host a real fright fest: more than sixteen dead poets will present their work in a team poetry slam in honor of Halloween night. The deceased will haunt a team-based poetry slam where members of the audience judge who is really the best of all time— at least for this year’s All Hallow’s Eve.
The slam is full, and our competitors have been assigned to teams based (loosely) on The Four Humors of Hippocratic medicine. All poets will be performing in character, and you can expect to see old favorites like Ginsberg, Plath, Dickinson, and Whitman, but also some surprise deep cuts from Kathy Acker, Deborah Digges, Wislawska Szymborska, and Shel Silverstein. Audience members are encouraged to dress as their favorite departed poet, and the night will kick off with an open mic: bring your own dead poet if you dare!
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 poetry slam performs at approximately 10:00. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $3.
Cantab Recap for Wednesday, October 24
If you were at home last Wednesday night, but suddenly were awash in a feeling that you were missing something wonderful… Let’s just say you should have been at the Cantab. Gypsee Yo gave a wonderful feature, showing off why she’s reached the top level of slam competition as well as recognition in the overall community. We were also privileged to hear the sound of some of her work in Albanian– while surrounded by a group of Cantab visitors who knew exactly what she was talking about. We thank Gypsee for the opportunity to hear some rarely-read work in a remarkable environment.
After a powerful female feature, we somehow ended up with… An all-man slam? Eight guys put on a pretty great show, with Zeke Russell taking the final round over some newer short work from Oz. Zeke takes home the ten bucks and qualifies to try out for the 2013 Boston Poetry Slam Team. Team Selection Slams for 2013, by the way, will begin in January this year: check out the series rules for evolving dates and news.
Next week: it’s time to celebrate Halloween at the Cantab! This year, we’ll be doing it with a Dead Poets’ Slam, featuring more than sixteen locals in character as their favorite poet-gone-by. The slam is full, but everyone else is encouraged to perform in the voice of a dead poet on the open mic– or dress in costume– or both! Get ready for the scariest Halloween yet: all poetry, all night.
Cantab Feature for Wednesday, October 24, 2012: Gypsee Yo
Gypsee Yo, Albanian poet from Atlanta, holds her audience rapt.
Gypsee Yo (Jonida Beqo) is a native of Albania, currently residing in Atlanta, Georgia. She is a performance artist whose work aims to blur the lines between genres. Her background includes successful projects in theatre, dance, storytelling, and an extensive spoken word and slam poetry resume. She is the regional Southern Queen of Slam (2008), Atlanta’s Slam Champion (2006–2009), a three time National Poetry Slam semi-finalist (2006–2008), and a National Poetry Slam final stage feature in Austin, TX (2007). In addition, she has ranked two times as first runner-up in the Women of the World Poetry Slam in Detroit, MI (2009), and Columbus, OH (2011).
Her three poetry collections in Albanian, I Do Not Fit Inside my Body (1998), The Last Nail (1999), and When Life Grows Roots Inside a Suitcase (2003) are critically acclaimed titles. She has toured internationally and has been recognized for her work in theatre with the Dell’Arte Diversity Award by the American College Theatre Festival and the Kennedy Center in DC (2004). Her work has been highlighted both in her native country and in the US in television and radio features, including Spoken!, Nashville’s NeoSoul Radio, and Atlanta’s Voice of the Arts.
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 poetry slam in the 8×8 series will follow. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $3.
Cantab Recap for Wednesday, October 17
Happy birthday to yoooouuuu, Boston Poetry Slam at the Cantab Lounge! Our twentieth anniversary of poetry at the Cantab fell on Tuesday, October 16, so of course we had to celebrate. To do it, the only two SlamMasters the show has ever had –that’s Michael Brown and Simone Beaubien— got together for a head-to-head double feature. The two poets started with a little back-to-back banter, but soon fell into their old ways of speaking only with poem after poem for the hour-long set. If you ever wondered who the Cantab sounds like –and why– you got your answer on Wednesday night.
We also released the Boston Poetry Slam’s first ever anthology (with a spine!) this week. Edited by Adam Stone and with layout work by Melissa Newman-Evans, The Cantab Lounge Anthology: 20 Years of Poetry contains more than 300 pages of poetry and history about the reading. You can pick one up at the bar any Wednesday night for just $20.
An anniversary and book release sure are one reason to party… But we plan to continue celebrating performance poetry every week at the Cantab Lounge! Next week, we’ll be doing it with Albanian-gone-southern-U.S. poet Gypsee Yo, as well as the next open poetry slam in our 8×8 series.
Cantab Feature for Wednesday, October 17, 2012: Michael Brown and Simone Beaubien
In celebration of the Boston Poetry Slam’s twentieth anniversary, the show’s founding and current SlamMasters will co-feature. Expect a night of classics, new work, and surely at least a few surprises from Michael Brown and Simone Beaubien.
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 features performs at approximately 10:00. There is no open poetry slam tonight due to extended feature time. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $3.
Cantab Recap for Wednesday, October 10
It was an exceptionally big night at the ‘tab last night, folks, as tons of audience turned out for our open mic, double feature, and Champion of Champions poetry slam! The night started off with some open mic standouts, including lots of slammer entourage from Portland (Maine), a least a couple of local newcomers, one visitor all the way from Los Angeles, and 2009 Boston Poetry Slam Team member Maxwell Kessler making a surprise spotlight appearance with some exciting new work. We then welcomed double-feature Meg Waldron and Robyn Bateman from Portland (Oregon) to the stage, where these two opposite-of-shy ladies put the smackdown on bowling, god, and rotisserie chickens, much to the joy of the crowd.
Finally, it looks like the Champion of Champions slam convinced lots of folks to stay out pretty late on a school night… Just about every seat was taken to watch our last eight slam winners fight it out for an opportunity to challenge the reigning champ, Zanne Langlois. With two of the slammers out of town for the week, the six-poet format meant a three-poet melee of Kayla Wheeler, Mckendy Fils-Aimé, and Ed Wilkinson, then a second triad of Michael Monroe, Bobby Crawford, and Meaghan Ford. Recently-returned IWPS rep Mckendy and Emerson Poetry Project standout Bobby both rose to the top, with Mckendy’s basketball family poem trumping Bobby’s baseball love poem by a narrow margin. As season champ, Mckendy then stood up to challenge Zanne for the Champion of Champions spot in a one-off-round featuring only new poems. Despite the cachet Mckendy had built up with the audience and (remarkably consistent) judges, his on-page chapbook reading wasn’t enough to catch Zanne’s polished and prepared piece! Zanne took the round handily, retaining her championship title and securing an invite to slam again after the next eight open events.
Whew! Think that was fun? We’ll be back next week with more: to celebrate twenty years of poetry at the Cantab Lounge, the venue’s only two SlamMasters will double-feature in an extended spot. Come see Michael Brown and Simone Beaubien give a poetic retrospective of the Boston Poetry Slam’s storied history.
Boston Poetry Slam Online