Cantab Feature for Wednesday, November 26, 2014: Ken Arkind (was: Angel Nafis)

THIS SHOW REPRESENTS A SCHEDULE CHANGE. Angel Nafis (bio below) has had to cancel her trip to New England. Filling in will be Ken Arkind visiting from Denver.

Denver poet and national slam champion Ken Arkind. Photo by Woody Roseland.

Denver poet and national slam champion Ken Arkind. Photo by Woody Roseland.

Ken Arkind is an American National Poetry Slam Champion, TEDx Speaker, Nuyorican Poets Cafe Grand Slam Champion and published author who has performed his work in forty-nine states, six countries and at over 150 colleges and universities. He is the founding Program Director of Denver Minor Disturbance, an independent literary arts organization dedicated to helping Colorado youth find voice through the mediums of poetry and performance. He is the author of “Denver” (Fast Geek Press, 2013) and “Coyotes” (Penmanship Books, 2014). Ken is also the poetry editor for “Suspect Press” and wrote the title poem for the Air Ball Creative short film “Breathless.” He makes an amazing green chile stew.

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.

Biography of the canceled feature:

Angel Nafis, curator of the Greenlight Bookstore Poetry Salon.

Angel Nafis, curator of the Greenlight Bookstore Poetry Salon.

Angel Nafis is an Ann Arbor, Michigan native and Cave Canem Fellow. She is the author of BlackGirl Mansion (RedBeard/New School Poetics 2012) Her work has appeared in FOUND Magazine’s Requiem for a Paper Bag, Decibels, The Rattling Wall, Union Station Magazine, GirlSpeak Webzine, The Bear Rivers Writers Review, and MUZZLE Magazine. In 2011 she represented the LouderArts poetry project at both the Women of the World Poetry Slam and the National Poetry Slam. She is an Urban Word NYC Mentor and the founder, curator, and host of the quarterly Greenlight Bookstore Poetry Salon reading series. She lives in Brooklyn.

Angel Nafis is not able to attend the Boston Poetry Slam on Wednesday, November 26. The slam looks forward to booking Angel at another time.

Cantab Recap for Wednesday, November 19, 2014

If you are human, poet, it is just possible that the fall and winter holidays fill you with a hint, just the tiniest whisper, of familial stress. Fear not! Family time also means that Cantab family returns home: for this season, we were so pleased to welcome back Carrie Rudzinski, one-time Emerson poet and now full-time performing artist and resident of Los Angeles, California. True to form, Carrie has been producing (and polishing) new work at a blistering pace, and she brought us a wonderful window into what she’s been up to since her last Boston Poetry Slam visit. She’s on an incredibly intense east coast tour right now, so check your local listings to see if she’s coming by the neighborhood where you’ll be in the next couple of weeks.

After Carrie’s feature, of course, we held our eponymous slam: a few travelers from the frozen north worked their way down to visit us, including Zanne Langlois, who took on Berklee’s Will Lynch (who also traveled all the way across the Charles) in the final round. Zanne took top honors and the ten bucks, and will return to slam with us again in January!

Next week: WE HAVE HAD A SCHEDULE CHANGE. We will be rescheduling the lovely, talented, and only temporarily-canceled Angel Nafis. Filling in for Angel will be a guy we’ve been trying to get a date with for at least a year: Denver’s champion of all things, Ken Arkind! Ken occasionally swings by for a one-poem blow-your-mind-spotlight on the open mic, so you won’t want to miss his full feature next week. See you there!

Tips from the Bar: And Also the Academy

Write a poem in the form of an acknowledgement page for your life. Include at least one person who you really, really wish you didn’t have to.

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, November 19, 2014: Carrie Rudzinski

Carrie Rudzkinski returns to the Cantab Longe. Photo by Rich Beaubien.

Carrie Rudzkinski returns to the Cantab Longe. Photo by Rich Beaubien.

Named Best Female Poet at her first national poetry competition in 2008, Carrie Rudzinski has since performed her work across the United States, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and India. Ranked 4th in the world at the 2014 Women of the World Poetry Slam and 7th at the 2013 Individual World Poetry Slam, Carrie has represented Boston, Denver, and Los Angeles over the course of 11 national poetry competitions. She accepted a part-time faculty position teaching Poetry and Performance at California State University Northridge for the Spring 2014 semester. Her most recent book, The Shotgun Speaks, was published in 2013.

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, November 12, 2014

We told you. We told you that Manvir Singh was going to be outrageous and wildly original, that he was going to take you on journeys you had never experienced before, that he was going to do it with love and brilliance and that JUST MAYBE (okay, we didn’t tell you this part) there would be a tiny dance party at the end of the show… And you believed us! Our thanks to the droves of folks who visited us for Manvir’s feature last night, and special hat-tips to those who waited patiently at the door for our tiny room to make space for all his fans. If you were left out in the cold, you can of course purchase books from this remarkable artist: we always recommend you purchase directly from the poet, but if you fear you won’t cross paths in person again, you can also get two of his doodlebooks from Amazon.

After our little sold-out dance party wound down, by the way, we of course brought ourselves back to the slam. A competitive eight took the stage with plans to take home a ten-high pile of damp (don’t ask) dollar bills, and two emerged from the fire into the final round: Eddy Martinez and Ed Wilkinson. Both brought strong showings, but Ed’s lambasting of hope (perhaps a riff off a poet in an earlier round?) took top honors and the win.

Next week: she’s lived in Denver, New Zealand, and Los Angeles, but we always like to think that one-time Emerson grad Carrie Rudzinski is coming home when she walks into the Cantab. Carrie will bring new work from her many travels and we’ll serve up the third poetry slam in this season’s 8×8 series.

Tips from the Bar: The James Tate Prompt

Imagine offering the sort of advice that you never thought you would have to give to another human being.

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, November 12, 2014: Manvir Singh

Manvir Singh, world-traveling poet and eater of cookies.

Manvir Singh, world-traveling poet and eater of cookies.

Manvir Singh lives in Cambridge, Mass., where he eats cookies and pursues a doctorate. He writes short stories that become poems, because something– maybe a monster– bites off their heads, exposing their gooey innards to fungi and demons.

Manvir has participated in six poetry slams as the only English-speaker. He almost represented Copenhagen in the 2013 Danish Poetry Nationals, but ended up coming in second to a lady who did rhyming stuff about ladyparts. He has twice shared a Pushing the Art Forward Award. He won his first-grade spelling bee, or at least tied for first with Neta Raanan.

This show coincides with the release of his newest doodle-zine, Death & Rabbits.

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, November 5, 2014

A break in the October/November rain came just in time for Wednesday poetry tonight, and we had great turnout for the delightfully unapologetic Cheryl Maddalena. This lady from Boise has sass, moxie, and also a poem to make you feel that your penis is beautiful, just in case you hadn’t thought about it lately. You are the luckiest! (But if you missed her, no worries: you can head north and catch her at Slam Free or Die in Manchester tonight.)

Speaking of moxie: only six poets gathered up enough to slam in the show last night, but they were a fearsome six! The finals came down to Catherine Martin and Emily Carroll, who skillfully (but almost reluctantly) took the win, the ten-dollar prize, and the first spot in January’s Champion of Champions slam.

Next week: we’re back with surreal and mid-expanding storyteller Manvir Singh, as well as another open slam. But wait! You can cure today’s post-Cantab-gray-day blues by binging on the rest of your Halloween candy and heading over to Fazenda TONIGHT to catch gaelle win robin at Moonlighting, hosted by Emily while she’s fresh off her slam win. See you there!

Tips from the Bar: Double-Header

To make up for last week’s lack of prompts…

Good Luck, Mr. Grodsky
Deconstruct (or invent) an urban myth.

The Josh Elbaum Prompt
Write a realistic resume for yourself as person.

Moonlighting: A Queer Open Mic and Reading Series on November 6, 2014

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

The featured reader for November 6 is gaelle win robin.

Northern Maine poet gaelle win robin. Photo by Amie E. Cohenour (Miklovich).

Northern Maine poet gaelle win robin. Photo by Amie E. Cohenour (Miklovich).

Gaelle win robin is a queer poet, writer and stylist for jacktar207.com, assistant editor of ninjournal.tumblr.com, designer, model and performance artist from a small town at a crossroads, home is in the heart of Portland, Maine. Their writings have appeared in Vagabonds: Anthology of the Mad Ones, and they are the author of a number of self-published chapbooks. Their work can be found at gaellerobin.tumblr.com or oncomehell.wordpress.com, a collective queer writers’ blog based in the northeastern U.S.

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.