Cantab Recap For Wednesday, October 4th, 2023

Hi poet! Get ready to hear about an exciting, surprising, team-selecting poetry slam!! But first, there’s an open mic to cover. We had one of the fastest sold-out nights ever, selling out well before the show even started, and the audience was full of some newcomers and some long-time-no-sees. Alleliah from Tucson, Arizona read from her new book, “A HUMAN MOON,” Kai and Arielle (2023 Slam Team Members) read a GROUP PIECE called “Black Honda,” and regular Eli Kane came back to perform some new shit (“new shit!”).

The ✏️Line of the Wednesday✏️ goes to Shawn with “They say ‘be kind, do good,’
But look at what we teach”

Then commenced the slam, where the esteemed Zeke Russel hosted 8 contenders as they showed off their finest work. We had Jennifer Martinez with the jaw-dropping delivery. Then there was Rina with the short and striking pieces. And then Aparna with their signature style and delivery. At the end, after a close battle for the top, our own producer/curator Myles Taylor won the slam and the $50 prize!

But it was not just one poet who won something that night! The top FIVE slammers are our representatives heading to Slam Free or Die on November 2nd for a special Halloween slam! Congrats to the following poets:

• Myles Taylor
• Katya Zinn
• Jennifer Martinez
• Kris Cho
• Aparna Paul

Catch them in NH on the 2nd!

Coming up, the long-anticipated, MFG-hosted, multi-round HAIKU TOURNAMENT is this Wednesday! The tournament will feature a dozen past slam winners and runners up. There will be a haiku suite round, a themed round involving dirty and experimental haiku, as well as a head-to-head final round! The winner gets $170 (!) plus will be invited back to our slam team qualifiers. You do NOT want to miss this Wednesday.

See you soon!

-Amy ✈️

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Cantab Recap For Wednesday, September 27th, 2023

Hey Cantab!  We are back in the basement! We were so glad to see so many people come through for the return of some normalcy at the Cantab, as the basement has mostly recovered from the flood last month. We had several incredible newcomers at the mic, such as Ash, Kris, Jelissa, and Kristin, who spat some fire with great confidence and skill. We had heartfelt pieces from Sara H and Logan, a vulnerable, beautiful poem from Jelissa, and some more “dirty water” themed poems from Kaitie D. Adam M. the bartender tried out a new homemade blueberry syrup, chairs were arranged in a semicircle, possibilities were limitless.

The ✏️Line of the Wednesday✏️ comes from Kai, with “One can never be too careful to look backwards into the brain”

Our feature was ANTHONY FEBO, who read from a series of poems about his late father, and he expressed his grief, love, and memories using his amazing stage presence and expert use of a motif on running. He also performed poems on health, dancing, and his daughter, and our feisty audience drank up and felt every word. As a wonderful member of the community, Febo stayed after his feature for around an HOUR to talk with fellow poets about art, life, and provide great advice. Thank you Febo!

There were two “shenanigans” this week, in my humble opinion. First-timer Jelissa not only came with an entourage who graciously supported her as she performed, but they brought a SIGN! How sweet is that! The temporary semi-circle set up of the chairs allowed Amy (myself) and Aparna to perform a crowd walking piece on … walking, and it ended with the entire crowd joining in, chanting “Hot girl, keep walking!” And we did :)

This week: Join us at the Cantab Lounge for our regular Open Mic AND Open Slam! Slam rules: 3 rounds! You just need to have 3 ORIGINAL poems under 3 minutes. This open slam is to qualify for our upcoming regional slam team. BONUS: Bring Halloween-themed poems if you have them! The top four finalists will also be invited to go on a field trip to Slam Free or Die on November 2nd to compete in their Halloween slam.

See you then!

– Amy ✈️

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Cantab Recap For Wednesday, September 20th, 2023

We definitely had a starlight-studded Wednesday last week! Not only because of the superstar poets we had at the mic, but because the wonderful and gracious Starlight Square hosted us. The space was BEAUTIFUL, the staff were so kind, and it was perfect for a night of poetry. On the open mic, Cameron performed an absolute journey of a piece that combined the concept of Love with several military and weaponry motifs. We also had some incredibly moving poems, with Jennifer Martinez performing passionately about police brutality, and Keaton with a unique and powerful poem on gender.

This week’s ✏️Line of the Wednesday✏️ goes to regular Shawn Dermer, with  “We exist with the odds stacked against us / Different, but not really considered better.”

Matthew E. Henry was our feature, and he blew the non-existent roof off the place (it was an outdoor show). His background as an educator, as well as growing up black in primarily white school districts, was emphasized in his poems. He spoke on the ironies that took place all around him, stories about his students (his “babies”), and what it means to be an educator. He also had a contagious, invigorating energy (even as a car alarm from across the street would occasionally attempt to interrupt him). Thank you Matthew!

The 👩‍👦shenanigans💕 this week was 1) that it was an all-ages show and 2) that meant that Sam Bucci not only brought her wonderful son Nik to the show, but she brought him on STAGE! The two of them performed a touching poem together about growing up, motherhood, and about how Nik is “the best thing [Sam] ever did” and Nik proved it, reading with confidence that I still don’t have. 

Coming up, I am happy to say we are back in the basement! Business as usual this Wednesday, thanks to the hard work of all those who helped repair the basement after the flood.

We also have an incredible feature, someone near and dear to the community – Anthony Febo! Anthony Febo is a Puerto Rican poet, teaching artist, and new dad living in Arlington, MA. Febo has been performing and teaching poetry and theatre for 15 years in the greater Boston area. In the classroom, Febo treats each workshop as its own celebration. He draws on his experiences in theatre spaces, museums, non-profits, and art centers to provide the participants with the tools they need for their success. On the stage, he’s toured the country individually and as half of Adobo-Fish-Sauce: a cooking and poetry collaboration. His work examines what it means to actively choose joy in the face of what is trying to break you. Weaving performance into his writing, he examines issues such as toxic masculinity, family, culture, identity, and the role representation plays into a person’s development. His first full length book of poetry, Becoming an Island, can be purchased at Game Over Books.

See you then!

– Amy ✈️

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Cantab Recap For Wednesday, September 13th, 2023

Cantab… upstairs? You heard that right! Because of repairs taking place in the basement over the next couple weeks, we held our open mic in the upstairs of the Cantab last week. Despite the slight change of scenery, we still had poets in the audience, poets at the bar, and poets at the mic! Kaitie Dilán read about their encounters with water recently, including a flood at not one but two poetry open mics they frequent. Cameron performed an original piece that apparently left a crowd at the Green Mill in Chicago completely silent. And “David with the New Shoes” not only debuted his new shoes, but an incredible poem as well.

This week’s ✏️Line of the Wednesday ✏️ comes from Oliver: “Black down the drain like the way your brain / Imagines even the good things you have not yet seen”

SaraEve Fermin was our feature, and it was truly such a lovely, beautiful one. There is something about her poetry that makes you feel at ease, and she accomplished that and more with her heartfelt poems about family, several insightful poems about Bojack Horseman, and more. Please check out her work! 

Despite the unusual circumstances, there wasn’t a large amount of shenanigans this week, but I’ll mention another highlight: Newcomer from New York City Jennifer Martinez absolutely brought the house down with her poem on objectification, growing up in New York, and being a woman. Come back soon!

Coming up, this week we will be doing our open mic at Starlight Square (84 Bishop Allen Drive)! Please note that this show is ALL AGES and FREE! Doors 6:30, open mic at 7, feature at 8:30. 

Register at the eventbrite link right HERE.

And did someone say feature? Our feature is the incredible Matthew E. Henry! Matthew E. Henry (MEH) is the author of full-length collections the Colored page (Sundress Publications, 2022) and The Third Renunciation (NYQ Books, 2023), as well as the chapbooks Teaching While Black (Main Street Rag, 2020), Dust & Ashes (Californios Press, 2020), and have you heard the one about…? (Ghost City Press, 2023). He also has a collection forthcoming from Harbor Editions. He is editor-in-chief of The Weight Journal and an associate poetry editor at Pidgeonholes. MEH’s poetry appears or is forthcoming in Cola, The Florida Review, Massachusetts Review, Ninth Letter, Pangyrus, Ploughshares, Shenandoah,and The Worcester Review among others. MEH’s an educator who received his MFA yet continued to spend money he didn’t have completing an MA in theology and a PhD in education. You can find him at www.MEHPoeting.com writing about education, race, religion, and burning oppressive systems to the ground.

See you!

– Amy ✈️

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Cantab Recap For Wednesday, August 30th, 2023

A set, a slam, and a see-you-later. I wish there was a word to describe this past poetry night, but for now I’ll just mash some together and say it was … fantamazbulous. The mic was filled with excellent work as usual, including a vulnerable and moving piece by Sara H and an on-brand straight-from-the-bar poem from Arielle Gray.

This week’s ✏️Line of the Wednesday✏️ goes to Hyder, with “centuries of flotsam drifting in the aether / and my entire life tethered to an ember / blotted out by a raincloud”

Then, we of course had the spotlight feature of Jimmy Pavlick, who read from several of their chapbooks, and part of their set included an uninterrupted 10-minute reading of selections from their chapbook, The Opposite of Nothing. It was an incredible experience; we all felt immense pride for this wonderful member of our community, and we were immersed in their beautiful storytelling interspersed with killer one-liners. Thank you and good luck, Jimmy!

To end an already fantastic night, we had a SPEED SLAM!! 8 slammers competed for the top spot with poems under one minute long. We laughed, we cried, we put numbers on whiteboards. Logan performed another beautiful baseball piece, and Greg did a striking fishing-related piece (that captivated us hook, line, and sinker! *slaps knee*). The two finalists, Amy (yours truly) and Kaitie competed head-to-head in the final round, but Kaitie’s quickly spoken bars were too fire to beat, and they emerged victorious! Thank you to our host Aparna, all slammers, and our wonderful judges for a great end to a greater night. 

There were some shenanigans that Wednesday, but unfortunately, they took place in the Cantab’s water main, which soon after Jimmy’s feature broke and flooded the basement. This does mean that Poetry Night might look a little different coming up over the next few weeks, but we will keep you posted!

Coming up this week (logistics will be after the feature information):

Come one come all for your September 13th feature, SaraEve Fermin! SaraEve is a performance poet and epilepsy advocate from northeast New Jersey. A 2015 Best of the Net nominee, she has performed for both local and national events, including the 2013 Women of the World Poetry Slam, the Epilepsy Foundation of Greater Los Angeles 2015 Care and Cure Benefit to End Epilepsy in Children, and as a reader for Great Weather for MEDIA at the 2016 NYC Poetry Festival on Governors Island. Her work can be found or is forthcoming in GERM Magazine, Drunk in a Midnight Choir, and the Great Weather for MEDIA anthology The Careless Embrace of the Boneshaker, among others. She is the author of You Must Be This Tall to Ride (Swimming With Elephants Publishing, summer 2016), View From the Top of the Ferris Wheel (Clare Songbirds Publishing House fall 2017) and Trauma Carnival (Swimming With Elephants Publishing, 2019). She loves Instagram: @SaraEve41 and TikTok : @SaraEveSpacePants

LOGISTICS:

The show will be THE MAIN FLOOR (upstairs) of the Cantab Lounge. Doors at 7, show STARTS at 7:30 (not 8) and the feature will begin by 9:30. Follow our Instagram @bostonpoetryslam for the latest updates.

See you then!

– Amy ✈️

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No Show On September 6th, 2023

  • Filed under big news

  • September 1, 2023

SEPTEMBER 6TH SHOW CANCELLED

Due to a flood in the basement, the Boston Poetry Slam will be cancelling the show on September 6th. Our feature for the night, Phillip Hasouris, will be rebooked for later in the year. Our show may look a little different for the next few weeks while the Cantab fixes the basement back up, including potentially earlier start times/end times, shows upstairs, or potentially even a show not on a Wednesday (whoa!), but we promise that we will keep the poetry coming after this short hiatus. Please let us know if you have questions and we hope to see you all soon!

Cantab Recap For Wednesday, August 23rd, 2023

Hello Hello! A wonderful Wednesday was witnessed last week. On the open mic, March Penn blew everyone’s minds again, Rina performed an absolutely beautiful piece on loss, and our wonderful graphic designer Jackie read an amazing poem based on a series of unsent text messages. Just business as usual at a sold-out poetry night at the Cantab Lounge. 

It was also one of those lucky nights where we had a haiku slam hosted by our own Michael F. Gill! Poets went head-to-head and showed their wittiest, prettiest haiku, resulting in a couple near-ties. It came down to Christine, whose last haiku was an improvised combo of her first two, and Eddy Martinez, veteran haiku slammer. It was incredibly close, but Eddy emerged victorious to win the $17 prize! Stay tuned for out haiku slam semifinal competition coming later in September!

After the open mic and haiku slam, we had our feature, Courtney LeBlanc, who read touching, relatable, and cathartic poems. Everyone in the audience was guaranteed to find a connection to one of her pieces, and we loved the storytelling in between. Good luck on the rest of your tour, Courtney!

This show would not be complete without some 😊Shenanigans🪄. This week, Will Flores got called up from the wait list, but when he went up to the mic he spontaneously handed off his slot to a fedora-wearing Mike who read an absolutely ~magical~ piece that took us all on a journey.

This week’s ✏️Line of the Wednesday✏️ goes to our very own social media manager Kat Anderson, with “Everyone loves the ocean but nobody loves her depth”

Coming up this Wednesday! We have TWO things going on at the Cantab, and it is going to be one of the most packed shows of the YEAR, so get in line early, folks! After our lovely spotlight feature, we are going to have a 🏎️💨SPEED SLAM🏎️💨! Buckle up poets, and come ready with your ONE MINUTE OR LESS poems to compete in a head-to-head style slam, with the winner gaining early qualification for our next slam team as well as a $50 prize. 

But before that, we will have our feature. And not just any feature, no, this is a spotlight feature of our wonderful staff member, website-maintainer, host-extraordinaire, and overall amazing person and poet Jimmy Pavlick! Jimmy is sadly leaving us to go on other adventures, so it will be a bittersweet night indeed. See Jimmy’s bio below:

Jimmy Pavlick (any pronouns) is an alloy of bad wordplay and worse ideas sitting near Inman Square in Somerville. They practice martial arts, think a lot about comics, play multiple mobile phone games at the same time, and sometimes write and draw. They love Spinoza and being surprised by media. Their work has been published in the Vassar Student Review, and one online venue that, much to their chagrin, vanished from the internet. Their website is forthcoming.

Jimmy (also known as Jimmy!) first came to the Cantab in autumn 2019, was told by Myles to stay for the feature, and did. They haven’t left the building since. Jimmy now co-hosts for the open mic; their specialties are frequently lying about the audience to their faces and telling prophetic tales of the woes that befall those who stand on the fire lane stairs. You can find them on Wednesdays shouting in disbelief that there’s more than one Wednesday. Or, if not in the basement, waiting in the pizzeria upstairs for their chicken finger dinner to finish cooking.

See you then!!

– Amy ✈️

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Cantab Recap For Wednesday, August 16th, 2023

Hello!

I am unofficially titling this recap “Oops – All Bangers!” because that is exactly what transpired in the basement of the Cantab Lounge last week. Everyone, and I mean all 39 poets on the open mic, waitlist, and staff section had certified fire bangers. It was incredible to witness. 

We had first timers heating it up, including birthday-girl Kim opening up the mic with a piece on heartbreak (happy birthday Kim!) and Isaiah closing out the open with an incredible Pokémon poem. 

We also had a lovely piece by March Penn, who read their poem on gender expression/gender void from the back of the room while new regular Rina took to the mic simultaneously and provided gorgeous backing vocals! And Oliver and Kai read 😉 totally normal 😉 poems about their house and their dentist, respectively. Nothing inappropriate at all!

This week’s ✏️Line of the Wednesday✏️is from Tay: “Does it matter the color of his eyes or only that you keep looking”.

Our feature was Joshua Nguyen, who was not only an amazing poet but truly such a kind soul – it did not go unnoticed that if you asked him to sign a copy of his chapbook, he made a point to get to know you and write something personalized. He provided us with a gorgeous set of poems spanning from fish sauce to getting mistaken for a male stripper, demonstrated how Vietnamese poetry translates to English, and all-around lit up the room. Thank you Joshua! 

Pssst! Did you know that we live-stream the majority of our features on our Instagram? Check out @bostonpoetryslam to see if your favorite poet has their feature posted! 

Our 🎤 shenanigans 🤩 this week was … 🥁*drumroll* 🥁 we got to EVERYONE ON THE WAITLIST!! And this is no ordinary feat, we had a sold out show, a full mic list, AND a full wait list. Talk about a packed night! Thank you everyone for keeping your work under 3 minutes!!

Coming up this Wednesday – we have Courtney LeBlanc! Courtney LeBlanc is the author of the full-length collections Her Whole Bright Life (winner of the Jack McCarthy Book Prize, Write Bloody, 2023), Exquisite Bloody, Beating Heart (Riot in Your Throat, 2021) and Beautiful & Full of Monsters (VA Press, 2020). She is a Virginia Center for Creative Arts fellow (2022) and the founder and editor-in-chief of Riot in Your Throat, an independent poetry press. She loves nail polish, tattoos, and a soy latte each morning. Find her online at www.courtneyleblanc.com. Follow her on twitter: @wordperv, and IG: @wordperv79. 

See you soon!

– Amy ✈️

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Cantab Recap For Wednesday, August 9th, 2023

Happy Wednesday from the basement of a dive bar! I felt a very strong sense of community this week, as I’m sure several others did. We had some amazing highlights as usual: Amaliena read a very pretty piece on changing seasons, Daniel read an astounding poem about growing up in Honduras, first-timer Kyle read passionately about espresso martinis, and previous feature Katya Zinn returned to read a wonderful poem about a dog in a graveyard. Energy was even more hyped for newcomers Mina and Morgan (the latter of whom moved to Boston five days prior) who both brought the house down. We hope to see you back!

This week’s ✏️Line of the Wednesday✏️ goes to Kaitie Dilán with “when I go, I want to become a tree” 

Our feature, touring poet and New Jersey native Damian Rucci, brought some absolutely killer energy to the stage, telling nostalgic tales, performing anti-capitalist musings, and sharing with all of us the reason why he probably will never step foot in Missouri again. Thank you for bringing some of the most boisterous, positive energy we’ve seen in a while!! 

The week would not be complete without some 🚪shenanigans 🤺! We have been having some trouble with one of our bathroom doors recently, and during the smoking section, it appeared we had finally lost the battle with it: the door would not open despite multiple attempts and keys/coins stuck in the lock. But no fear! Eddy Martinez showed the door no mercy, kicked it down, and now both bathrooms are useable… at least, until the next battle. 

Coming up at the Cantab we have Joshua Nguyen! Joshua Nguyen is the author of Come Clean (University of Wisconsin Press, 2021), winner of the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry, the Writers’ League of Texas Discovery Award, and the Mississippi Institute of Arts & Letters Poetry Award. He is also the author of the chapbooks, American Lục Bát for My Mother (Bull City Press, 2021) and Hidden Labor & The Naked Body (Sundress Publications, 2023). He is a Vietnamese-American writer, a collegiate national poetry slam champion (CUPSI), and a native Houstonian. He has received fellowships from Kundiman, Tin House, Sundress Academy For The Arts, and the Vermont Studio Center. He has been published in Wildness, The Texas Review, Auburn Avenue, and elsewhere. He is a humor editor for The Offing Mag, the Kundiman South co-chair, a bubble tea connoisseur, and loves a good pun. He received his MFA/PhD from The University of Mississippi. He currently teaches at Tufts University.

See! You! There!

– Amy ✈️

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Cantab Recap For Wednesday, August 2nd, 2023

Hi everyone!

A wonderful Wednesday was had, once again. Highlights of our very full open mic list included Hallie performing a cover of “What I Mean When I Say Truck Driver” by Geffrey Davis, a heartfelt piece from Kai, Amaliena returning with a short but very sweet poem, and Jade performing a work that takes a very new perspective on the monster Grendel.

This week’s ✏️ Line of the Wednesday✏️ belongs to Alex Kist, with “But that even if my body is my house / I don’t have to be home all the time.”

This week’s 🎶Shenanigans🎸were in the larger than normal amount of music themed performances. Eddy Martinez gave us a powerful, emotional cover of Saint James Infirmary Blues, Logan went into detail on Hot Chelle Rae’s impact on his life, and M-Zilla informed us all of the infamous, fictional life of music artist Weasel Montgomery Jones. 

The feature this week was Billy Tuggle, longtime slam veteran currently on tour for his next book, “A Tree Falls in the Hood” coming this winter. Billy graciously told us some stories from his times slamming and his memories from the Cantab. His poems were passionate pieces on hip-hop, street art, and growing up on the south side of Chicago. A transportive performer and poet, I could feel the impact of his work in the room after every piece. Really puts the “awe” in “audience” ;) Thank you Billy!

Coming up, all the way from New Jersey, we have Damian Rucci! Damian is a touring poet and the author of nine books of poetry. He is the founder of the NJ Poetry Renaissance and focus of the PBS documentary Voices in The Garden. A twice resident of the Osage Arts Community in Missouri, Damian has spent the last ten years bouncing around the country performing in universities, bookstores, dive bars, basements, and tattoo parlors. He is the host of ten poetry series including Puff Puff Poems and Poems & Punchlines. 

See you Wednesday!

– Amy ✈️

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