Cantab Recap for Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Cantabbers, was it only just this past Wednesday night when we frolicked freely on the sidewalks, unfettered by winter whiteness or a million overripe snowflake metaphors? Yea, it was: the gold old days, a surprisingly! non-problematic! Erotic Poetry Night! (thank you, brilliant open mic poets!) when Chloé Cunha tickled your fancy with the exact magic number of sex haiku, and– get this– for the first time in Cantab history, LOVE defeated DEATH in the head-to-head theme slam! Congratulations to John “Captain Love” Pinkham who led his team to victory, and brace yourselves for the shaken fist of Cassandra “Captain Death” de Alba, who will rise to battle again, just you wait.

Next week: please remind your friends that it is NOT exclusive sexytimes open mic on February 15. Instead, we will enjoy a feature from the season’s most-requested poet: Safia Elhillo will be in the house, and you can bet every seat will be taken, so get your butt in one early! Late arrivers will still get to enjoy the eleven o’clock poetry slam, the third in our speed slam series with 3-, 2-, and 1-minute rounds.

Tips from the Bar: That’s No Horse

Compare a major life event to a specific historic event. (No Trojan Horse metaphors, please.)

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, February 8, 2017: Erotic Poetry Night Featuring Chloé Cunha and Love vs. Death

Flashback to EPN 2012: host Jamei Bauer has her erotic poetry listening face on. Photo by Marshall Goff.

Flashback to EPN 2012: host Jamei Bauer has her erotic poetry listening face on. Photo by Marshall Goff.

Is it hot in here, or is it just you? As tradition decrees, we make that joke every year for Erotic Poetry Night, and it never gets (c)old. This year, we present our wildly popular annual Erotic Poetry Night on the Wednesday before Valentine’s Day, as the sort of foreplay our emotionally bereft staff prefers to the seasonally-inappropriate flood of one-off love poems. We’ll present the best (and worst) of the erotic (and neurotic) all night long; open mic readers are strongly encouraged to bring original erotic poems, poems about sex, or poems about generalized naughtiness.

We are pleased to announce that our open will feature the intermittent haiku stylings of Chloé Cunha! Chloé’s series of clit-themed haiku has been warming the venue all this winter, and will act as a palate cleanser (or, uh, whatever) betwixt the erotic madnesses of the open mic.

AND, MORE FUN: the night’s headliner event will be an invite-only theme slam on the subject of Love vs. Death! Originally conceived by host Kevin Spak for Erotic Poetry Night in 2013, the slam will feature two teams representing the two classic Valentine’s Day themes, each slamming for immortal superiority. Our all-star roster is now official, so gird your loins (or, uh, whatever) and mark your little black books for this date.

TEAM LOVE VS. TEAM DEATH
John Pinkham vs. Dawn Gabriel
Zeke Russell vs. Ron Prudent
Nora Meiners vs. Brandon Melendez
jeff taylor vs. Scott P-S
Sara Mae vs. Jackie Perry
April Penn vs. Cassandra de Alba

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 erotic-themed open mic begins at 8:00 and the featured event will commence after the 10:00 break. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $3.

Cantab Recap for Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Happy Black History Month, Cantabbers! This Wednesday, we were super-proud to bring Sasha Banks back to our stage, a fantastic thinker and writer in the home stretch of her MFA candidacy (and NYC residency!). Sasha brought us a half-hour of newly crafted work, speaking cleanly and beautifully to so many of the issues on our mind this February 1. After Sasha’s feature, a four-poet speed slam ensued, the second in our series and already a highly competitive event. The final one-minute round came down to dynamic new work to the stage from both Alex McDonald and Sara Mae: Alex took the top score and his first win at the Boston Poetry Slam. Six more speed slams are left in the series, culminating in the April Champion of Champions match, speed style: you’ll want to polish up your 3-, 2-, and 1-minute poems for a chance at the title.

Next week: we’ll have a sweet little break from the EXTREMELY JOCK-IMPORTANT speed slams we’ve been having and instead slide on into our annual Erotic Poetry Night. This year’s night of Not Love Poems will feature our annual erotica-themed open mic, including haiku highlist from Chloé Cunha. Our featured event will be an all-star head-to-head slam on the themes of Love vs. Death; check the link to find out who is competing in this low-stakes, winner-take-nothing prelude to Singles Awareness Day. Can’t wait to see you there!

Tips from the Bar: No, It’s Not Supposed to Be an Erotic Poetry Night Prompt

Think of an activity you enjoy.

Write about the first, most recent, and (imagined) last time you experience this activity.

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, February 1, 2017: Sasha Banks

Poets for Ferguson founder Sasha Banks. Photo by Brian Redondo.

Poets for Ferguson founder Sasha Banks. Photo by Brian Redondo.

Sasha Banks is a poet whose work has appeared or is forthcoming in RHINO, Kinfolks Quarterly, Alight, Poor Claudia, Austin IPF, B O D Y Literature, The Collagist, and has been performed in Tulane University’s Vagina Monologues. Sasha is the creator of Poets for Ferguson and a MFA candidate at the Pratt Institute. She lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., where she is learning to be Black and spectacular at the same damn time.

Note that tonight’s open poetry slam will be a speed slam with 3-, 2-, and 1-minute rounds. Slam winners qualify for the 2017 World Qualifier.

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, January 25, 2017

Last night, once again, poets and listeners warmed the corners of our hearts as well as the darkest, dingiest corners of the underground bar we call home every Wednesday. Thank you so much to the folks who continue to support and engage with our reading, both by speaking out and by providing an open-hearted audience for poets on every topic. We hope these past Wednesday nights have rejuvenated and strengthened you for the other six days of your week.

Our feature this week was Nicole Terez Dutton, Somerville Poet Laureate and winner of the 2011 Cave Canem Poetry Prize. Nicole read a smattering of old work and an exciting selection of hot-off-the-press, taking us on her signature slow-build journeys from poem to poem. Joining Nicole for two poems was our original Venerable Doorman, Ron Goba, who made a triumphant return to the stage after a few years away. If you missed it, you can still get a taste: Nicole’s book If One of Us Should Fall is available from the excellent University of Pittsburgh Press. Our very first speed slam of the season closed the night: after a solid battle amongst the eight sign-ups, Brandon Melendez rose to defeat Evan Cutts in the final, one-minute round.

Next week: Wednesday marks the first day of Black History Month, which we know you need more than ever. Our celebrated feature will be Sasha Banks, founder of Poets for Ferguson and MFA candidate at the Pratt Institute. As usual, we’ll start the night with our marathon open mic (Get here before 7:30 if you want a spot! It’s been packed!) and a speed slam with 3-, 2-, and 1-minute rounds will follow.

Tips from the Bar: The Cassandra de Alba Prompt

You discover the Cantab stairs are cursed, hexed, and/or haunted. Tell the story of why.

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, January 25, 2017: Nicole Terez Dutton

Somerville Poet Laureate Nicole Terez Dutton.

Somerville Poet Laureate Nicole Terez Dutton.

Nicole Terez Dutton has received fellowships from the Frost Place, the Fine Arts Work Center, Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Her collection of poems, If One Of Us Should Fall, was selected as the winner of the 2011 Cave Canem Poetry Prize. She serves as the inaugural poet laureate of Somerville, Massachusetts and is the Poetry Editor of The Baffler Magazine.

Note that tonight’s open poetry slam is the first in our speed slam series! A speed slam is 3-, 2-, and 1-minute rounds. Slam winners qualify for the 2017 World Qualifier.

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, January 18, 2017

Thanks for filling our room to the 100-mark for 100% of 2017, poetry lovers! Of course, your motives may have been purely selfish: last night’s nine-poet prelims was a glorious example of why you should never miss a minute at the Boston Poetry Slam. After the dust cleared on heat two of our Team Selection Preliminaries, the standings were as follows:

1. Emily Taylor 55.7
2 (t). Mckendy Fils-Aimé 55.2
2 (t). Kieran Collier 55.2
4. Allison Truj 54.8
5. Kylie Noelle 54.3
6 (t). Austin Hendricks 53.5
6 (t). Claudia Wilson 53.5
8. RebeccaLynn
9. Kai Bobbi
Poets in bold qualify to advance to the next round.

As always, we extend our thanks to our sacrificial poets, the intimidatingly excellent JR Mahung and Cassandra de Alba, and our perfectly critical judges: Angeline, Emmanuel, Dylan, Suzanne, and Evan & Shea! After twenty poems and a rollicking up-and-down slam, we have our top six (well, seven, because TIES) to invite to fill out the field at the March 1 Semi-Finals. Best mark your calendar for that barn-burner now.

In the meantime, though, there’s a really excellent 2017 line-up coming your way. Next week is no exception: we welcome Somerville Poet Laureate Nicole Terez Dutton to our stage. Plus, it’s speed slam season! Get your 3-, 2-, and 1-minute poems in order for the first 8×8 of the speed series.