Cantab Recap for Wednesday, May 10, 2017

What is this dreary May grayness that’s dogging 2017, Cantabbers? Thank poetry for our gritty little basement, where poets are still bursting into blossom weekly on the stage. This past Wednesday saw New York curator, MFA candidate, and all-around five-petaled thinker Cecily Schuler bring their fresh thoughts to the stage, followed by the first slam to qualify poets for the 2018 team tryouts! If you want to look to the future, cast your eyes no further than slam winner Suzanne O’Toole, who dispatched James Merenda in the final round.

Next week: you know the promise of summer is real when our own school-year travelers are back. Come rain, snow, or blazing heat wave, we’ll welcome Jess Rizkallah home from the New School, and continue our open slam series with the second in the 8×8.

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, May 10, 2017: Cecily Schuler

Miami-raised, Brooklyn-based, genderqueer writer and performer Cecily Schuler. Photo by Philip Whaling.

Miami-raised, Brooklyn-based, genderqueer writer and performer Cecily Shuler. Photo by Philip Whaling.

Cecily Schuler is a Miami-raised Brooklyn-based genderqueer writer and performer. Their work is featured in the Offing, great weather for MEDIA, Duende and elsewhere. While receiving an MFA in Writing and Social Activism at the Pratt Institute, and attending residencies at Breadloaf Writers’ Conference, the Home School: Miami and the Vermont Studio Center, they’ve been working on a full-length experimental poetic memoir of sorts. They are an assistant editor at Drunken Boat, and run Union Square Slam, a weekly poetry open mic and slam in the heart of New York City every Tuesday. Cecily’s chapbook, 296, is available from Next Left Press.

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, May 3, 2017

Slammers and listeners! Another speed slam season is in the books, and it’s been actually, totally rad. Last night was the culmination of our winter of fast-talking short-poem slams, the battle royale from which only eight poets may emerge! Twelve of our eighteen qualified poets showed out with their two- and one-minute poems for the crowd, and when the whirlwind had passed, the standings were as follows:

1. Brandon Melendez 53.4
2. Sara Mae 52.8
3. Allison Truj 52.7
4. Em Taylor 51.9
5[tie]. Meaghan Ford 51.4
5[tie]. RebeccaLynn 51.4
7. Kieran Collier 51.2
8. Austin Hendricks 50.6
9. Alex McDonald
10. Ron Prudent
11. Zeke Russell
12. John Pinkham
Poets in bold will be invited to advance to the four-round Final on May 24.

Extra thanks to judges Amari & Zoe, Jeffrey, Nick, Sarra & Shivam, Mark, and Rachel for listening up to the twenty-six rapid-fire poems of the night, and to our excellent sacrifices, Kai Bobbi and Adam Stone.

Next week: we’re back to our regularly scheduled open mic and feature. This week’s headliner will be Cecily Schuler, Union Square Slam co-curator and Pratt Institute MFA candidate. Our open poetry slam will be a standard all-three-minute affair, and will be the first chance to qualify to try out for the 2018 Boston Poetry Slam Team. Yowza!

Tip from the Bar: If You Were King of the Forest

For his birthday, a lion at a British zoo was presented with soap bubbles. He found them terrifying.

What totally harmless, mundane thing petrifies you? Why? Will you ever get over it?

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, May 3, 2017: World Qualifier Speed Slam

Our annual run of speed slams winds down along with National Poetry Month, folks, which means it’s time to ramp up for even speedier action: get ready for the World Qualifier series, a two-night, six-poem series to select the Boston Poetry Slam’s sole representative to the Individual World Poetry Slam! This year’s IWPS will take place in Spokane, Wash. in October, and our World Qualifier slam winner will be entered into the 2017 event.

Night one of the World Qualifier will be our annual grand speed slam: a huge field of poets compete in a lightning-fast two-round slam using ONLY 2- and 1-minute poems. That means lots of new work performed by your favorite slam winners from the past year! Top scorers move on to the Final on May 24.

Up to twenty-six poets will qualify to slam in this first round of prelims! For a roster of those qualified (and to see what dates are left to jump in), click here.

You can also click here for the full rules and format for the World Qualifier Series.

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. An slightly shortened 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; proceeds will go toward funding the World Qualifier winner’s trip to IWPS in Spokane this October.

Cantab recap for Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Poets! Listeners! Wednesday night bar patrons! Thanks so much for bringing this year’s National Poetry Month to a close with us this week at the Cantab. Our feature this Wednesday was Jonathan Mendoza, 2015 National Poetry Slam champion and Pizza Pi Press author. Jonathan brought us a solid selection of brand-new ideas and work just-published in his latest book, and we were honored to witness its first night in the world: When the Crows Come is available straight from the press for $15, or see Jonathan in person for the no-shipping price, maybe even including his wonderful story about the cover.

The slam to close the night was the very last of the year’s speed slam series, and the Last Chance Slam to get on the roster for next week’s World Qualifier. A mighty roster of two poets took the stage in a head-to-head 3-2-1 battle: at the end of the show, Alyssa got a well-deserved round of applause, but Spencer Burchill took home the $10 and the qualifying spot.

But what’s next week’s World Qualifier, you ask? Oh, no big deal: just the weirdest, wildest, fastest slam royale you’ll ever see. Over two dozen poets are qualified for two rounds of poetry next week, but the catch is that they only get spots for a 2-minute and a 1-minute poem. Everyone invited is a previous slam winner, so it’s a great chance to catch your favorite slam winners breaking out of the three-minute box to perform something new to you! The top eight poets advance to the May 24 Final, and heads up: this big ol’ show will be a special $5 cover night, which will help us raise the funds to send our World Qualifier winner to the 2017 Individual World Poetry Slam in Spokane, Washington.

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, April 26, 2017: Jonathan Mendoza

Jonathan Mendoza, Boston-based National Poetry Slam Champion and pizza pi author. Photo by Gregory Jundanian.

Jonathan Mendoza, Boston-based National Poetry Slam Champion and pizza pi author. Photo by Gregory Jundanian.

Jonathan Mendoza is a Boston-based activist, poet, educator, and musician. He is the founder of the Board Bucks For Boston food drive and the Berklee Activist Network, and organizes for immigrant rights, campaign finance reform, and more. He is a 2015 National Poetry Slam champion with the House Slam of Boston, Massachusetts, has been featured twice on finals stage at the College Union Poetry Slam Invitational, once as a ‘Best Poem’ award winner, and is a proud Louder Than A Bomb Massachusetts alumni, coach, and organizer. He is currently completing a self-designed bachelor’s degree, Arts for Social Advocacy, at Berklee College of Music, and will soon be releasing his first chapbook, “When the Crows Come,” under Pizza Pi Press. To learn more about his work, please visit MendozaPoetry.com, or you can also find him eating chicken wings alone at birthday parties.

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, April 19, 2017

Welcome back, CUPSI poets! The house was packed last night with the triumphant return of our local poets from college nationals, including Emerson, Simmons, Northeastern, UMass Boston, and more (who’d we miss?), all to catch JR Mahung and the Champion of Champions slam! As expected, Northeastern co-coach and LTAB co-director JR rocked the house with his sensitive yet unflinching personal story. This 2016 Pushcart Prize Nominee is due a new book out on Pizza Pi Press: keep an eye out for his newest work from the publisher. After the conclusion of JR’s feature, six past slam winners took the stage to vie for the Champion of Champions title, held for the duration of 2017 by Kylie Noelle. After the conclusion of three rounds, Sara Mae and RebeccaLynn faced off in the one-minute finals: RebeccaLynn took the win and decided to roll into the new-poem round to challenge the champ! When the dust cleared, a new champ had been crowned: congratulations to RebeccaLynn, who will be invited to defend the title this August.

Next week: speaking of CUPSI returnees… We can hardly wait to see the Berklee crowd in the house, who no doubt will turn out in force (come early to get your seat!) for 2015 National Poetry Slam champ and forthcoming Pizza Pi author Jonathan Mendoza. Our slam will be the Last Chance Speed Slam: our final open speed slam of the year, and the last opportunity to get into our World Qualifier on May 3.

Tips from the Bar: Who Moved My Cheese?

Write a poem to deal with an unexpected, gently unwanted change in your life.

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, April 19, 2017: JR Mahung and the Champion of Champions Slam with Kylie Noelle

JR Mahung, Belizean-American-Chicago poet. Photo by pizza pi press.

JR Mahung, Belizean-American-Chicago poet. Photo by pizza pi press.

JR Mahung is a Belizean-American poet and educator from Chicago’s South Side. He is currently based in Boston where he helps organize the Louder Than a Bomb MA youth poetry slam and co-coaches Northeastern University’s slam team. JR is currently working on his second collection of poems on Pizza Pi Press, titled “Since When He Have Wings.” He has work published or forthcoming in Freezeray Literary Journal, Maps for Teeth, and Moko Literary Magazine. His mixtape is not for sale but he’ll ask you to buy it anyways.

Tonight also marks the final night in our current 8×8 poetry slam series! Following JR’s feature, eight slam winners will slam off for the season championship and the opportunity to challenge Kylie Noelle, the current reigning Champion of Champions, in a speed-slam-style event with 3, 2-, and 1-minute rounds.

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 10:00. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $3.