Cantab Feature for Wednesday, September 13, 2017: Simone John

Testify author Simone John. Photo by Stephanie Lamb.

Testify author Simone John. Photo by Stephanie Lamb.

Simone John is a poet, educator, and freelance writer based in Boston, MA. She received an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College with an emphasis on documentary poetics. Her poetry and essays have appeared in Wildness, The Pitkin Review, Public Pool, and the Writer in the World. She is a contributing editor at Gramma Poetry.

Testify (Octopus Books) is her first full-length book of poems, released in August 2017. Find her online at simonejohn.com or on twitter @simoneivory.

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, September 6, 2017

September has sprung, Cantabbers, and with it comes the slow and spiraling fall of many perfectly good college students to the depths of our slammy little basement. Welcome and welcome back to our thoughtful and skilled open mic poets, who put on a great show for us on Wednesday, all as preview for a rawly honest feature and narrative from Al Gundy that included a bit of Walrus Walter, a bit of Super Grover, a bit of family-back-and-forth improv, and a truly genuine helping of Al’s sincerity. The six-poet slam started out casual, but progressed through friendly competition to a fierce head-to-head between finalists Kieran Collier and Meaghan Ford. Meaghan reigned supreme in the final round, earning $10 to go and sending Kieran off to slam (or host) another day.

Next week: we are exceptionally proud to present Simone John, an extremely strong local writer beginning the fall leg of her tour behind TESTIFY, her first full-length book of poems. For those interested in testing their own strength, we’ll have signups open for the fifth poetry slam in this season’s 8×8 series.

Tips from the Bar: The John Ashbery Prompt

Write the narration track of a nature documentary for an animal with ennui.

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, September 6, 2017: Al Gundy

Whimsical rhymer Al Gundy. Photo by Jon Beckley.

Whimsical rhymer Al Gundy. Photo by Jon Beckley.

Al Gundy is a Boston-based performer of rhyming poetry, and a frequent flyer at the Boston Poetry Slam. His work delights with its elaborate language, musical meter, and whimsical tone.

Al also enjoys cartooning, and for very young audiences, he makes funny faces.

You can follow his work at algundy.com and on social media.

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, August 30, 2017

Welcome to September, poets! Last Wednesday, we said goodbye to August with an open mic packed with newcomers and with polished slammer Liv McKee in the feature slot. Liv brought us a sweet selection of thoughtful narrative, personal story, and punchy haiku in a beautifully performed feature; visit Liv and the crew up at Nitty Gritty Slam on a Tuesday in Albany sometime for a taste of one of our not-so-distant neighbors.

The slam that night was a solid four-poet affair with a strong Emersonian lean: the final round came down to one-time teammates Evan Cutts versus Myles Em Taylor. Evan took the final round win and the $10, leaving outgoing 2017 team member Myles to slam another day.

This coming Wednesday: we’ll feature local rhymester and favorite Al Gundy, as well as the coveted fourth open poetry slam in the series.

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, August 30, 2017: Liv McKee

Capital Region NY poet Liv McKee. Photo by Robert Cooper.

Capital Region NY poet Liv McKee. Photo by Robert Cooper.

Liv McKee is a queer spoken word artist, dancer, musician, and farmer living in the Capital Region of New York. Liv has featured and organized poetry events at venues all over the Northeast and currently competes with Albany’s Nitty Gritty Slam. She placed 33rd out of 100 poets at the 2016 Individual World Poetry Slam in Flagstaff, AZ this past year, and took 1st at the 2016 Emily Dickinson Slam in Amherst, MA, the 8th Annual QEW Regional Slam in Buffalo, NY, the WordxWord Women’s Invitational in Pittsfield, MA, and Wordfest in Troy, NY. Apart from (or wildly integrated within) writing and performing poetry, in her free time you may find Liv swimming, singing, mountain climbing, having conversations with the moon, and playing old time fiddle music. She hopes her poetry leaves you cut, bandaged, bathed, and heartened.

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, August 23, 2017

Welcome back, fall Cantabbers! The summer regulars had to push over and make room for a flood of returning folks and new poets at last night’s open mic, oddly coinciding with the advent of the school year and all cooperating beautifully to piece together a lovely open mic. Our feature was the eminent, the approachable, the deeply serious and deeply playful Danielle Legros Georges, premier Boston Poet Laureate and very engaging reader. If you missed your chance to purchase her book at the show, we hope you’ll visit Barrow Street Press to pick up her 2016 published work, The Dear Remote Nearness of You.

The slamthereafter, the second in our new 8×8 series, featured a cavalcade of eight poets, all raring for the win. The finals came down to a heads-up pairing between newcomer George Abraham and veteran Cantab slam host Kieran Collier: from the one-spot, George took the win and the $10, ready to spend it right back here in his new local economy. Welcome to the neighborhood, George!

Next week: it’s New York State Capital Region poet (notice how that’s not NYC) Liv McKee! This complex and complete performer brings word from a powerhouse slam we expect to take NPS 2018 by storm. Come on out early (like, real early, because it’s crowded right now) to get on our open mic, sneak in at the 10:00 breather, and/or stay late for the third slam in the 8×8 series, all starting with a 7:15 door time next week.

Tips from the Bar: The Wanda Coleman Ghost Line Prompt

Use what Rachel McKibbens calls a “ghost line” to begin your poem; select a line from another artist as a jumping off point for your piece. When you’re done, erase the first line to make the poem your own.

This week’s ghost line from the bar comes from Wanda Coleman’s Bathwater Wine:
“When the book is closed, the words starve.”

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, August 23, 2017: Danielle Legros Georges

Boston Poetry Laureate Danielle Legros Georges. Photo by Priscilla Harmel.

Boston Poetry Laureate Danielle Legros Georges. Photo by Priscilla Harmel.

Danielle Legros Georges is a poet, essayist and a professor in the Creative Arts in Learning Division of Lesley University. She is also a faculty member of the Writers Workshop of the Joiner Institute for the Study of War and Social Consequences, University of Massachusetts, Boston. Her work has appeared in a wide variety of publications, including Agni, The Boston Globe, Transition, Consequence, The Massachusetts Review, World Literature Today, The Caribbean Writer, Callaloo, Salamander, Poeisis, Black Renaissance Noire, MaComère, and The Women’s Review of Books. Recent literary and academic awards include the 2015 Brother Thomas Fellowship from the Boston Foundation, a 2014 Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship, and the 2013 Black Metropolis Research Consortium Fellowship. She curates Boston-based and international poetry and literary events, and is the author of two books of poems, Maroon (2001), and The Dear Remote Nearness of You (2016). In 2014 she was appointed Boston’s Poet Laureate.

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, August 16, 2017

After the grand send-off of our 2017 National Poetry Slam team two weeks ago, followed by RebeccaLynn retaining her title at a walloping Champion of Champions last week, it could have been tough to get back into the regular swing of open mic/feature/open slam… Fortunately, Madeline Maienza and Evan Cutts were in the house to ease us back into reality. These two nationally ranked last chance slammers brought us a sweet spotlight each, fresh off their performances at the National Poetry Slam. Looking for more of these poets? No sweat: you can reach out to Venmo Madeline Maienza for their online chapbook, or email Evan Cutts to get a hold of his paper, in-the-world collection.

As for our first open slam in a minute: it filled up with a vengeance last night, as open mic’ers flocked to fill the last available spots after the feature. Rising to the top were Wheelock newcomer Julissa and committed regular Lip; Julissa might have taken the first two rounds by score in the slam, but fell in the finals to our clean-slate format and Lip’s unwavering performance. Congrats to Lip, who takes home the $10 and the first win in our final 8×8 series of the year.

Next week: Boston’s first-ever Poet Laureate, Danielle Legros Georges, will be in the house. Will this basement clean up and act nice, or be the most Cantab we’ve ever been? No need to answer here; the house should be packed next week, so come by early next week to get heard and listen up.