Write or print out an older poem of yours that you’ve let out into the world, but that you think could use some updating or editing. Create a new poem around, over, and in its margins.
Cantab Workshop for July 24, 2019 with Melissa Lozada-Oliva: Not Funny Haha Haha
Arrive in advance of tonight’s event for an early-bird workshop at the Cantab Lounge before the show. The one-hour workshop has limited space and begins at 5:30, with latecomers admitted no later than 6:00. This is a generative workshop that is open to anyone who wants to write a poem and contribute to the night’s feeling of community.
Workshop leader Melissa Lozada-Oliva is the author of Peluda (Button Poetry) and chapbooks Plastic Pajaros and Rude Girl Is Lonely Girl (pizza pi press), and a previous member of the House Slam national slam team. She is an MFA candidate at NYU and lives in Brooklyn. Learn more about Melissa, who will also be the featured poet for the night, at this link.
DESCRIPTION FROM THE WORKSHOP LEADER: Not Funny Haha Haha
In this workshop we will be examining using humor in poetry & the effect it has on catharsis. We will learn how successful jokes & successful metaphors use the same formulas; examine different forms of humor (such as irony, hyperbole & meme culture); learn that confidence in performance is just illusion & how to honor our ability as poets to tell the truth. Were those the best uses of semi-colons? I truly don’t know. Ultimately, this is about how to be a good storyteller & how this involves accessing all of your charms, baby!
Cover charge is $5-$20 sliding scale, which includes admission to the evening show. We ask financially stable poets to consider contributing the higher end of this scale (or more) in order to defer costs for others and support this teaching artist’s generous donation of time to our space.
Due to the constraints of the venue, this workshop has limited space; room can be guaranteed to poets who identify as POC or queer. The best way to secure a spot in the workshop is to send an email.
The venue is 18+ and a photo ID is required. For more information on the night’s open mic, click here.
Cantab Feature for July 24, 2019: Melissa Lozada-Oliva
House favorite and pizza pi author Melissa Lozada-Oliva. Photo by Malania.
Melissa Lozada-Oliva is the author of Peluda (Button Poetry) and chapbooks Plastic Pajaros and Rude Girl Is Lonely Girl (pizza pi press). Her work has been featured in Muzzle, the Adroit Journal, Cosmonauts Avenue, Remezcla, BBC Mundo and her mom’s Facebook statuses. She is an MFA candidate at NYU and lives in Brooklyn.
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 show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $3.
Cantab Feature for July 17, 2019: Camonghne Felix
Poet and political strategist Camonghne Felix. Photo courtesy of the artist.
Camonghne Felix, M.A. is a poet, a writer, speaker, & political strategist living in New York City. She received an M.A. in Arts Politics from NYU, an MFA from Bard College, & has received Fellowships from Cave Canem, Callaloo & Poets House.
Her first full-length collection of poems, Build Yourself a Boat, was a 2017 University of Wisconsin Press Brittingham & Pollak Prize finalist, a 2017 Fordham University Poets Out Loud semi-finalist, & is forthcoming from Haymarket Books in 2019. The author of the chapbook Yolk, she was recently listed by Black Youth Project as a “Black Girl From the Future You Should Know.”
Felix’s work has been published in BuzzFeed, Poetry Magazine, Apogee, The Offing, the Academy of American Poets website, & more. She’s also been featured in New York Women’s Foundation Magazine, Brooklyn Poets, Politico, Teen Vogue digital, Huffington Post & more.
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 show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $3.
Cantab Recap for Wednesday, July 10, 2019
This week, we welcomed YesYes author, Pamet River Prizewinner, and NYU MFA Diannely Antigua to the stage. This smart and unapologetic poet plied her charisma and craft-deep knowledge of form to surprise, shake up, and delight the audience. She totally sold out of books, but if you’re looking to catch your collection up, you can get one directly from the publisher here.
Next Wednesday: the incomparable Camonghne Felix visits from New York City to take the stage. This poet, writer, speaker, and political strategist will also have her brand-new book, Build Yourself a Boat, in the house for you. See you there!
Cantab Feature for July 10, 2019: Diannely Antigua
Dominican-Massachusetts winner of the Pamet River Prize Diannely Antigua. Photo by Savuth Thor.
Diannely Antigua is a Dominican American poet and educator, born and raised in Massachusetts. Her debut collection Ugly Music (YesYes Books, 2019) was the winner of the Pamet River Prize. She received her B.A. in English from the University of Massachusetts Lowell where she won the Jack Kerouac Creative Writing Scholarship and received her MFA at NYU where she was awarded a Global Research Initiative Fellowship to Florence, Italy. She is the recipient of additional fellowships from CantoMundo, Community of Writers, and the Fine Arts Work Center Summer Program. Her work has been nominated for both the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. Her poems can be found in Washington Square Review, Bennington Review, The Adroit Journal, Cosmonauts Avenue, Sixth Finch, and elsewhere. Her heart is in Brooklyn.
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 show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $3.
Sunday, July 7, 2019: Boston Poetry Slam Team @ The Roost in Northampton
Late-breaking news, poets! Are you in Western Mass this weekend? If so: you’ve got a chance to catch the 2019 Boston Poetry Slam team in a last-minute set at The Roost in Northampton.
The 2019 Boston Poetry Slam Team is: Terah Ehigiator, Joshua Elbaum, Arianna Monet, and Zeke Russell. Photo by Tatiana M.R. Johnson.
Starting at 4:00 p.m. at 1 Market St. in Northampton, the team will read short sets, accompanied by special local guests Catherine Weiss, JR Mahung, and more! The show is free and lasts until 6:00, which gives you plenty of time to sample the café’s delicious offerings.
Cantab Poetry Slam for July 3, 2019: Team 4×4 Slam
It’s the summer of slam, folks! As one of the oldest poetry slams in the known universe, the Boston Poetry Slam holds a certain responsibility to deliver high-energy, high-quality slam to you right around this time of year; come celebrate your holiday eve with verbal fireworks on our stage.
We’re excited to welcome slam teams repping the following literary entities:
- Verbal Slap of Connecticut
- The Dirty Gerund of Worcester
- The George Abraham All-Stars (local pick-up team)
- and your very own 2019 Boston Poetry Slam Team!
This show will have a slightly shortened open mic and will sell out quickly, so we advise arriving for door time at 7:15 to catch a seat… Otherwise, you’ll be waiting until September to catch another team slam. Cover charge is $5 to help raise prize and gas money for the traveling teams.
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 slam begins at approximately 10:00. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $5.
Cantab Recap for Wednesday, June 26, 2019
Another June in the books, Cantabbers! Big ups to last night’s feature, Ben Tolkin, who withstood some good-natured “elusive” ribbing in order to bring a dynamic, wide-ranging, and literally historically true feature to the stage last night. Take notes, folks on the hook for a full feature set: if you aren’t nestling a ten-minute poem into the centerpiece of your setlist, you could be doing things Ben’s way instead.
Next week: did someone say slam? Oh, wait, it was us: we’ll be back in action with a 4×4 team slam featuring teams from Verbal Slap (Connecticut), Dirty Gerund (Worcester, Mass.) and pick-up all-star captain George Abraham, all taking on the home team. Check your couch cushions for twenty first-week-of-the-month dimes, please; it’s a $5 cover this week to put up a $100 prize for the winner and pay gas money to our traveling teams!
Boston Poetry Slam Online