Cantab Feature for Wednesday, February 18, 2015: Team Selection Semi-Finals

The Cantab’s Team Selection Slams are the venue’s biggest, wildest poetry slams of the year. This February, with Erotic Poetry Night safely behind us, we continue our selection process with the second night of three, the Team Selection Semi-Finals!

The top twelve poets from the first and second Preliminary heats (six from each) advance to the Semi-Finals show. Qualified poets will slam in the following order in the first round of the two-round show:

  1. Sophia Holtz
  2. Ed Wilkinson
  3. Meaghan Ford
  4. Sean Patrick Mulroy
  5. Emily Eastman
  6. Ellyn Touchette
  7. Colin Killick
  8. Marshall Gillson
  9. Mckendy Fils-Aimé
  10. Zeke Russell
  11. Nora Meiners
  12. Bobby Crawford

Sacrificial poets: John Mortara, Nathan Comstock

With two poems behind them and five to go, competing poets are likely to be reaching deep into their pockets on this particular night, or even trying out untested work in hope of saving some major ammunition for Finals on April 1… Making Semi-Finals just possibly the most interesting night of the selection series.

Team Selection Slams go for three rounds at the Cantab, with the top five poets after seven poems comprising the venue’s National Poetry Slam Team. The 2015 Boston Poetry Slam Team will travel to the National Poetry Slam across the mainland, once again in sunny Oakland, California.

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. A SHORTENED open mic begins at 8:00 and the slam begins at approximately 9:15. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $5; proceeds will go toward funding the team’s travel to the National Poetry Slam this August in Oakland.

Cantab Recap for Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Another Erotic Poetry Night survived, poets! We enjoyed a surprisingly smart, consensual, exoticization- and mango-free open mic last night, with highlights from first-time-readers crashing the erotic mic, love-poem-writers adding extra genital imagery for the audience to fill in, and at least a few meta-aware critical erotic moments. Writers, amiright??

We did eventually get down and dirty with the start of the Deadly Sins vs. Heavenly Virtues slam. The virtuous Marshall Gillson kicked things off with a Diligent ode to the inconspicuous clitoris just to get us all in the mood, but was soundly defeated by sinner Dawn Gabriel, whose Slothful editing habits led to an over-time but still wildly appreciated piece. Other memorable moments include the triumphant return of Delisile Godeffroy-Taylor to the slam stage as a victorious Gluttony, Nora Meiners heartily selling the no Avarice, no problems story to a greedy crowd, and most likely the hottest Chastity poem you’ve ever heard laid down by Chloé Cunha.

At the end of the night, the Sins had eeked out a win, establishing that the Cantab’s soul is divided evenly into seven parts of Gluttony, Avarice, Sloth, Envy, Humility, Patience, and Chastity. (Yeah, we were surprised, too.) Congratulations to Jade Sylvan, who captained the winning Sins, and to Sean Patrick Mulroy, whose Virtuous battle for your own soul will begin again next week.

Oh, right, next week: we return to the 2015 Boston Poetry Slam Team Selection Slams! Wednesday, February 18 marks our twelve-poet Semi-Finals, a two-round free-for-all featuring some of the strongest slammers in the northeast. Only nine advance to Finals in April, and we’re charging $5 on this special night to help send the eventual team to the National Poetry Slam in August. Come out to cheer, heckle, and judge to see who will make it to the next round!

Tips from the Bar: The xkcd Prompt

A la William Safire: produce a speech for an event that never happened.

Cantab Feature for February 11, 2015: Erotic Poetry Night and Deadly Sins vs. Heavenly Virtues Slam

Is it hot in here, or is it just you? As tradition decrees, the Wednesday closest to Valentine’s marks our wildly popular annual Erotic Poetry Night. 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 naughtiness in general.

Erotic Poetry Sins vs. Virtues Slam 2015

Jade Sylvan and Sean Patrick Mulroy will captain the Sins and Virtues teams, respectively, for the 2015 Erotic Poetry Night Slam.

Moreover, this year’s erotic night feature will be our first ever Deadly Sins vs. Heavenly Virtues Slam! Using a format pioneered in our basement by Kevin Spak, we’ll pit seven GOOD poets (Charity, Diligence, Patience, Kindness, Humility, Temperance, and, of course, Chastity) against seven EVIL poets (Avarice, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, Pride, Gluttony, and Lust) in the ultimate battle of philosophy!

UPDATE: we are excited to announce our team rosters, captained by 2013 Boston Poetry Slam teammates and mortal enemies Sean Patrick Mulroy and Jade Sylvan!

VIRTUE has been recruited by Sean and will be glowingly represented by Porsha Olayiwola, Marshall Gillson, Mckendy Fils-Aimé, Sophia Holtz, Andrew Campana, Janae Johnson, and Chloé Cunha. The team of SIN is led by Jade and will include Princess Chan, Steve Subrizi, Krystin Hill, Nora Meiners, Delisile Godeffroy-Taylor, and Dawn Gabriel.

This is as real as Valentine’s Day gets, listeners, so pack up your date and your moral compass and prepare for a bawdy literary evening.

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 slam will commence after the 10:00 break. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $3.

Moonlighting: A Queer Open Mic and Reading Series Featuring Porsha Olayiwola on February 5, 2015

This reading is part of our monthly LGBTQ series, Moonlighting. Click here for more information about this recurring show.

The featured reader for February 5 is Porsha Olayiwola.

Porsha Olayiwola, Haley House co-founder and 2014 Individual World Poetry Slam Champion.

Porsha Olayiwola, Haley House co-founder and 2014 Individual World Poetry Slam Champion.

Black, poet, dyke-goddess, hip-hop feminist, womanist, friend, Porsha Olayiwola is a performance artist who believes in pixie dust and second chances. A resident of Boston by way of Chicago, Porsha O was the runner-up at the 2012 Women of the World Poetry Slam and is the reigning (2014) Individual World Poetry Slam Champion. Her intention is to speak, love, praise, and maintain a cypher that is undocumented, uncontrollable and just plain ole dope.

This show in our monthly Thursday LGBTQ series takes place at Fazenda Coffee Roasters, 3710 Washington St. in the Jamaica Plain area of Boston. An open mic begins at approximately 7:00 p.m. and the headliner follows the open mic. The show is all-ages and a $3 donation is requested.

Cantab Recap for Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Heat Two of our Preliminary Team Selection Slams is now complete! Rankings from the slam:

  1. Nora Meiners 54.2
  2. Zeke Russell 53.8
  3. Colin Killick 53.1
  4. Emily Eastman 52.9
  5. Sean Patrick Mulroy 52.3
  6. Ed Wilkinson 52.1

  7. John Mortara
  8. Mike Leon

Poets in bold are invited to advance to Semi-Finals on February 18. Congratulations to everyone! We also offer thanks to our excellent sacrifices, local Omoizele Okoawo and traveler Zanne Langlois. Lastly, our judges rocked the house with speed and consistency for two whole rounds: thanks to Halo and Fish, Leah, Z, John Pinkham, and Carley and Will.

Next week: it’s time to cut loose! Forget those silly and meaningless team slams, because we are going to slam about something that matters: GOOD vs. EVIL! HEAVEN vs. HELL! VIRTUE vs. SIN! That’s right, in honor of Erotic Poetry Night, we’ll be having our first-ever Deadly Sins vs. Heavenly Virtues, a (obviously) seven-round smackdown to determine the direction of all our souls. The night’s open mic will be an EROTIC theme, by the way, so look out: if you were counting on bringing your new sweetie to see poetry for Valentine’s Day, just be advised that it is going to get non-redundantly dirty in the Cantab next week.

Ohhhhh, and and and: there’s a show tonight! It’s Moonlighting with Porsha O, the champion of everything! You hardly have to leave the safety of the subway car for this show: just hop off at Forest Hills and run across the street into Fazenda Coffee Roasters. Open mic sign-up starts at 7:00p.m. and this monthly LGBTQ-friendly show is all ages and welcoming to all!

Tips from the Bar: You Went Over Time and Time Has Things to Say About It

A welcome-back present from bartender Adam to himself: an appropriately snarky prompt. Try a poem where the clock talks trash about your inability to keep your mouth shut.

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, February 4, 2015: Team Selection Preliminaries (Second Heat)

The Cantab’s Team Selection Slams have always been the venue’s biggest, wildest poetry slams of the season. For 2015, for the first time, the venue will split the rowdy preliminary slam into two separate sessions, with the February event being the second prelim pool of two. The following poets will compete tonight (order TBD):

  • Colin Killick
  • Jake Villarreal
  • Zeke Russell
  • John Mortara
  • Emily Eastman
  • Mike Leon
  • Nora Meiners
  • Sean Patrick Mulroy
  • Ed Wilkinson
  • Sacrifices: Omoizele Okoawo, Zanne Langlois

The top six poets after two rounds will meet the top poets from the first heat at the Semi-Finals on Wednesday, February 18.

Team Selection Slams are a three-session affair for Cantab poets, with the top five poets after seven rounds comprising the venue’s National Poetry Slam Team. The 2015 Boston Poetry Slam Team will travel to the National Poetry Slam, once again across the mainland in sunny Oakland, California.

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. A SHORTENED open mic begins at 8:00 and the slam begins at approximately 9:30. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $5; proceeds will go toward funding the National Poetry Slam in August.

Cantab Recap for Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Heat One of our Preliminary Team Selection Slams has ended! Ranks are as follows:

  1. Bobby Crawford 53.4
  2. Mckendy Fils-Aimé 53.1
  3. Marshall Gillson 52.9
  4. Ellyn Touchette 52.6
  5. Meaghan Ford 52.3
  6. Sophia Holtz 51.5

  7. Nathan Comstock
  8. Austin Hendricks

Poets in bold are invited to advance to Semi-Finals on February 18. Congratulations to everyone, and special thanks to our sacrifices, Janae Johnson and Adam Stone, and our five intrepid judges: Andrew, Josh, J.R., Alyssa, and Liana!

Next week: just like this week, but with NINE poets fighting for spots in Semi-Finals! Come see Jake Villarreal, Zeke Russell, John Mortara, Emily Eastman, Mike Leon, Nora Meiners, Sean Patrick Mulroy, Ed Wilkinson, and Colin Killick in Heat Two of the Team Selection Preliminaries. It all goes down next Wednesday with our usual 8:00 open mic, an early 9:30 slam, and a $5 cover for two all-star rounds of competition. See you there!

Tips from the Bar: There’s No Place Like Home

Adam Stone returns, bitterly from a national tour and offers the following prompt:

The Hypochondriac Explains the Universe to a Privileged Person