Write a poem with an excessively long title that serves as set-up for a punchline.
Feature for January 25, 2012: Megan Falley
Megan Falley
Megan Falley is one of just a handful of poets to be published on both Write Bloody Press and Penmanship Books. After earning her undergrad degree and representing SUNY New Paltz for four years at CUPSI, she helped found one of the largest collegiate spoken word tournaments in the country. Her publication credits include Vinyl, kill author, and PANK. She may be reached at meganfalley.com.
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, January 18, 2012
Well, we don’t call it slam for nothing; last night’s event was boisterous, rollicking, edge-of-your-seat kind of fun, all tied together with that silly scoring system we informally use to reduce art to cold, hard numbers. That’s right, the World Qualifier Semi-Finals rocked the house from beginning to end, with competing poets rolling out their highly anticipated 2- and 1-minute performance poems. Congratulations to the poets in bold, who have qualified to advance to the World Qualifier Finals on February 1:
Melissa Newman-Evans, top scorer for the night, laying down "The Shame Machine." Photo by Marshall Goff.
1. Melissa Newman-Evans 54.4
2. Mckendy Fils-Aimé 53.0
3. Meaghan Ford 51.8
4. Nate Leland 51.8
5. Kevin Spak 51.5
6. Paulie Lipman 51.3
7. Matthew Richards 50.1
8. Sam Teitel 49.0
9. Bobby Crawford
10. Sophia Holtz
11. Z
DNS: Adam Stone, Carlos Williams, Tatayana Brown, Antonia Lassar, Sean Patrick Mulroy, Brian Omni Dillon, Simone Beaubien, Christian Drake
We’ll have a quick break from the tough competition next week to bring you Megan Falley, Write Bloody author and SUNY New Paltz grad. We’ll also hold the third open poetry slam in the current 8×8 series.
Feature for January 18, 2012: World Qualifier Semi-Finals
Boston Poetry Slam
The World Qualifier Semi-Finals is one of our biggest slams of the year, and by far the wildest. Poets will compete in 2- and 1-minute speed rounds to see who advances to the February 1 finals. This unusual format is guaranteed to flush out some extraordinary and atypical writing from your favorite slammers.
Qualified to slam: Z, Carlos Williams, Sophia Holtz, Tatyana Brown, Matthew Richards, Paulie Lipman, Antonia Lassar, McKendy Fils-Aimé, Bobby Crawford, Sam Teitel, Nate Leland, Sean Patrick Mulroy, Brian Omni Dillon, Meaghan Ford, Simone Beaubien, Melissa Newman-Evans, Christian Drake, and Kevin Spak.
Doors for the show open at 7:15. The open mic begins at 8:00 and the slam begins at approximately 10:00. (There is no open poetry slam tonight.) The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $5 to help fundraise for the venue’s IWPS representative.
Feature for January 11, 2012: Scott Beal
Scott Beal
Scott Beal is a poet, educator, freelance writer, and stay-at-home father of two who grew up in Michigan, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Ohio, and earned his MFA from the University of Michigan in 1996. His poems have appeared recently in Indiana Review, Dunes Review, Radius, and in a split book with Rachel McKibbens and Aracelis Girmay entitled Jangle the Threads (Red Beard Press, 2010). He teaches poetry and fiction workshops at the Neutral Zone and 826michigan, and serves as a writer-in-the-schools for Dzanc Books in Ann Arbor and for InsideOut Literary Arts in Detroit. He recently co-authored Underneath: The Archaeological Approach to Creative Writing with Jeff Kass (Red Beard Press, 2011).
In addition to his feature, Scott will also present an early-bird workshop at the Cantab before doors open for the show.
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.
Workshop for January 11, 2012: “The Terrible Discovery and the Mechanics of Time” with Scott Beal
Join Scott Beal, the night’s scheduled feature, for an early-bird workshop at the Cantab Lounge before the show. Scott will welcome all comers to his one-hour workshop: The Terrible Discovery and the Mechanics of Time. From the workshop leader:
“The best poems don’t merely describe or explain their subject to an audience; they build a unique experience for the audience to feel and move around in. In this workshop we’ll experiment with manipulating time – slowing down, speeding up, controlling the rate at which information is withheld and disclosed – in order to recreate the experience of a terrible discovery for maximum impact. Our process will include some guided brainstorming as well as examination of poems by Frank O’Hara, Kathryn Starbuck, and Amy Gerstler before bringing to life our own brilliant and heartbreaking discoveries.”
Doors for the show open at 5:30, and the workshop runs from 6:00 to 7:00. Cover charge is $5, which includes admission to the evening show. The venue is 18+ (ID required).
Cantab Recap for Wednesday, January 4, 2012
HOLY THERESA DAVIS, CANTABBERS! We do like to start each New Year with a bang, and Theresa’s explosive Cantab feature for the first Wednesday of 2012 was no exception! What a fun, fabulous, excellent show from this off-the-hook Southern WOWPS champion. The slam was a little sparse, but turned out to be full of folks who were not fooling around: Christian Drake edged out Maya Phillips for the win in the final round.
Next week: we’re back with Scott Beal, a Michigan MFA poet touring the great northeast. Don’t miss Scott’s super-cool early-bird workshop at the Cantab before the show: doors open at 5:30 with a $5 cover (includes the rest of the show) for The Terrible Discovery and the Mechanics of Time. Cooooool.
Boston Poetry Slam Online