Cantab Feature for Wednesday, September 5, 2018: Jeanann Verlee

NEA Fellow Jeanann Verlee. Photo by Angelys Ocana.

NEA Fellow Jeanann Verlee. Photo by Angelys Ocana.

Jeanann Verlee is a 2017 National Endowment for the Arts Poetry Fellow and the author of three books: prey, finalist for the Benjamin Saltman Award (Black Lawrence, 2018); Said the Manic to the Muse (Write Bloody, 2015); and Racing Hummingbirds, silver medal winner in the Independent Publisher Awards (Write Bloody, 2010). She is a recipient of the Third Coast Poetry Prize and the Sandy Crimmins National Prize. Her poems and essays appear in a number of journals, including Adroit, BOAAT, BuzzFeed, VIDA, and Muzzle. She has served as poetry editor for Winter Tangerine Review and Union Station, among others, and as copy editor for multiple individual collections. Former director of Urbana Poetry Slam where she served as writing and performance coach, Verlee performs and facilitates workshops at schools, theatres, libraries, bookstores, and dive bars across North America. She collects tattoos, kisses Rottweilers, and believes in you. Find her at jeanannverlee.com.

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, August 29, 2018

Last night! What a super time was had with Jeremy Radin in the house, consummate actor and teacher, who started the evening by leading an early-bird performance workshop for an enthusiastic crew. Jeremy went on to put together a glorious feature, leading us from birdsong through sweet personal patter and ending with a series of poemologues (yes, we made that word up, what about it) to tug the heartstrings and maybe just a very few stars free from the sky. Jeremy’s book, Dear Sal, is still available from Not a Cult publishing house, but you can also see more of Jeremy’s work live in the NorthBEAST this week if you check your other local slams’ listings (hint: he’ll be at Slam Free or Die this very evening).

Next week: oh, boy, these Wednesdays are full of glory. We are so pleased to welcome Jeanann Verlee back to the stage, touring in support of her new book, prey. Doors open at 7:15 for you to get a seat, our open mic starts promptly at 8:00, and Jeanann will take the stage sometime after a 9:45ish break. See you there!

Tips from the Bar: A Better Horrible

Think back to (or, sorry, just look over your shoulder at) a terrible boss you’ve had, one whose actions were bad for you, your co-workers, your customers, and the culture of the business. Write the apology from them that you are owed.

Alternatively: what could you do differently if you were in charge?

Cantab Workshop for Wednesday, August 29, 2018 with Jeremy Radin

Join Jeremy Radin, the night’s scheduled feature, 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 PERFORMANCE workshop and performers of all levels all are welcome.

In this workshop, Jeremy will teach poets performance techniques learned from twenty years of acting training. Poets will learn to bring their poems to life with specificity of intention, cast off ingrained speech patterns and cadences, and give something without having to give anything away. We’ll work on the performance of already existing pieces with a focus on making an audience feel captivated, cared for, and ultimately nourished.

To get the most from this workshop, please be prepared with a poem (of any length) that is already memorized. Performers of all experience levels are welcome.

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 the artist’s 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 directly email the SlamMaster.

The venue is 18+ and a photo ID is required. For more information on the night’s open mic, slam, and feature from Jeremy, click here.

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, August 29, 2018: Jeremy Radin

Los Angeles poet, actor, and teacher Jeremy Radin. Photo by Tory Stolper.

Los Angeles poet, actor, and teacher Jeremy Radin. Photo by Tory Stolper.

Jeremy Radin is a poet, actor, and teacher. His poems have appeared (or are forthcoming) in Gulf Coast, Passages North, Cosmonauts Avenue, The Collapsar, Nailed, Sidekick Lit, Union Station, Winter Tangerine, and elsewhere. He is the author of two collections of poetry, Slow Dance with Sasquatch (Write Bloody Publishing, 2012) and Dear Sal (not a cult press, 2017). He lives in Los Angeles with his four plants and his refrigerator. Follow him @germyradin.

In addition to his feature set, Jeremy will also present an early-bird poetry writing workshop before the show. Click here for more details.

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, August 22, 2018

Wow, wow, wow, there really is no place like home. On this post-Nationals Wednesday, the Cantab was extra-glad to welcome a sweet and conversational open mic to the stage, followed by a much-awaited feature from Providence organizer Charlotte Abotsi that did not disappoint. Charlotte brought us work that is, in so many ways, the story of slam; personal narrative crafted to both give and receive from the audience, rife with figurative language in a straightforward package. Also: can we talk about that send-up of both haters and lovers of fanfic? You know Charlotte didn’t bring any product to vend you, but you should definitely follow her on Twitter for more of her wits and wit.

Our Champion of Champions slam closed the night and it was glorious and so very right to see all eight champs in the house. These poets brought genuine A-game, with work full-out performed and written for a Nationals-level (ahem) stage. The ultimate pairing came down to mortal enemies Lip and Myles: Myles Taylor took the season championship and made the fiscally responsible decision to challenge reigning champ Brandon Melendez! However, after a blistering new-poem round, the judges determined that the student had not yet (YET) surpassed the master: Brandon maintains the title and can add that $100 prize straight to his tequila fund.

Speaking of slam… If you are at all involved in, or even tangential to, the national slam community, you have likely heard of some big shake-up in the organization. The dust is still clearing over Poetry Slam, Inc., but what we know for sure is that there will be no PSI events in 2019: most relevant to you may be the announcement that there will be NO National Poetry Slam next August.

What does that mean for us? Actually, we think it means a great opportunity to restructure our slam series to better serve our audience, poets, and performance poetry community. Effective this week, our gently-attended late-night slam events will enter hiatus until further notice; instead, we will begin a showcase slam series promising more themes, more fun, and more prime-time opportunities for audience to enjoy competitive literary hijinks. It all starts with our Sestina/Sonnet/Ode Slam on September 12, and continues with a Ghost Story Slam hosted by Zeke Russell in October.

Got ideas? Got questions? Got a killer Sestina/Sonnet/Ode set you want to present on September 12, or (hallelujah) an itchin’ to judge the slam? Please email slammaster@bostonpoetryslam.com with all you’ve got, and keep watching this space, and our Facebook page, for more info about our transforming slam series and plans for 2019.

Meanwhile: our extremely hot summer series marches on, with a feature from the most excellent Jeremy Radin this coming Wednesday. Did you hear about Jeremy’s top-notch poetic AND acting chops? You can get some of that sweet sweet stage advice honey from the poet himself at Jeremy’s early-bird workshop, a rare opportunity for performance practice with a trained performer. Sign up here! See you there!

Tips from the Bar: Literally a Poem About Your Favorite Pizza

Try and find a piece of writing that stumbles over objectification of a person (or somehow makes the act of objectification seem lovely) and let it inspire you to write about something you are passionate about. Express this without mentioning a person in any way.

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, August 22, 2018: Charlotte Abotsi and the Champion of Champions Slam

FEMS champion and Providence slam director Charlotte Abotsi. Photo by Em Jiang.

FEMS champion and Providence slam director Charlotte Abotsi. Photo by Em Jiang.

A former Youth Grand Slam Champion, Charlotte Abotsi has taken on a directorship role at her home venue, the Providence Poetry Slam. There, she serves as a youth director, booking coordinator, and SlamMaster. She has competed in several international slams, and placed in the top twenty at the 2016 Women of the World Poetry Slam. Charlotte is a 2017 Feminine Empowerment Movement Slam winner. She is half of The Rush Hour Poetry Tour Collective, a collective demanding intersectionality at every avenue. Her poems have been written about in The Huffington Post and Mic.com. She is an artist and writer who lives in Providence, writing essay criticisms, poetry, and screenplays.

Tonight also marks the final night in our current 8×8 poetry slam series! Following Charlotte’s feature, eight slam winners will slam off for the season championship and the opportunity to challenge Brandon Melendez (HELLA YES), the current reigning Champion of Champions.

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 Champions of Champions Slam in the 8×8 slam series will begin at approximately 10:45. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $3.

Cantab Recap for Wednesday, August 15 PLUS the National Poetry Slam

Poets! It has been a very busy week. First off, huge ups to jayy dodd for holding down a stellar feature while the National Poetry Slam raged on a thousand miles away. Jayy’s intensely relevant, intensely tender, and intensely talented voice filled the corners of our room, hearts, and consciences. Looking for more? Check out jayy’s online store for a whole lot more poems, essays, and updates on their forthcoming book, The Black Condition ft. Narcissus. Our open slam featured some hot-take-up-and-coming new competitors, with Acapellame taking the win and the big $10 over Jim.

Meanwhile, out at the National Poetry Slam in Chicago: this year’s fabulous fivesome (that’s Neiel Israel, John Pinkham, Meaghan Ford, Allison Truj, and Sara Mae) pulled through The Toughest Bout in prelims to ride a hot streak all the way to semi-finals! Congratulations to the team, who finishes with a rank of top 20 in the nation, not to mention a well-deserved reputation for NUANCE. (Extra thanks, by the way, to anyone involved in the team’s pump-up phone call on Wednesday night that preceded their top ranking in that bout. You know who you are, and we know you are awesome.)

And, with Nationals in the rearview, some of you may have heard of some nationwide slam shake-up. Change is good stuff, folks, but we can also assure you that our weekly open mic and upcoming features will remain unaffected! Slammers invested in the competitive 8×8 series can look forward to a heckuva slam reboot in coming weeks, but here’s a hint; start flexing your poetry-promptable brains to get ready for new themes, formats, and primetime showcase opportunities coming up for the rest of 2018. (And if you’ve got an idea for a slam you wanna see/get down in? You should definitely email the SlamMaster and get talking about how we can serve our audience and artists with fresh ideas for this evolving form.)

Next week: it is time, at long last, to welcome Charlotte Abotsi to our feature stage! This deeply talented and artistically thrilling human comes to us from the Providence slam scene to educate by brilliant and riveting example. Oh, and get this: the night will finish with a Very Important ™ Champion of Champions Poetry Slam! Returning NPS competitor Brandon Melendez will take on the top contender of the last eight slam winners in an all-new-poem final round, and we definitely don’t think you should miss this one.

Tips from the Bar: Dreamself vs. You

Wait for a moment when you are completely exhausted. Try writing down a few lines, or ideas, or an outline for a piece of writing. Once you are more rested, pick up where you left off; start with these key lines or ideas and work to finish the idea.