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Please note: WE ARE NOT AT THE CANTAB LOUNGE THIS WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15TH! This week Boston Poetry Slam is partnering with Middlesex Lounge (315 Mass Ave in Central Square Cambridge) to launch our YOUTUBE CHANNEL and celebrate archived Boston Poetry Slam footage!
Open Mic Highlights
• Mariana opened the mic with some blackout poetry read on their phone (!) which included some pauses as they scrolled down through all the blank spaces
• Newcomer Tyrone wrote a poem waxing heavy nostalgia for the 1990s, with a lot of references you don’t hear much about these days (Zima, anyone?)
• Dedicated listener Dan Malloy returned to the mic for the first time in 2 years to give us a couple of haiku and stories to go with them. Let’s hope we don’t have to wait 2 more years for 2 more of this former haiku slam winner’s work!
• Ember wrote about the extensive editing of Wikipedia page on The Ship of Theseus, and used it as a metaphor for their self over time
• David F told us why he prefers to write in miniatures (but not why he rhymes) before taking a hard left into how he remembers his Dad through writing
• Everyone on the mic was incredibly respectful of the time that the open mic ended a half hour earlier than expected, leading yours truly to wonder if he should read a half hour of haiku to make up for it (I didn’t.)
Feature
Our third annual HAIKU TOURNAMENT was a resounding success, and always one of the most fun nights of the year. This year, we added a new wrench to the format: a Wild Card/Second Chance Roud, in which poets who would have normally been eliminated get to battle against each other for the chance to move on to the next round. In the end, all 11 poets got read at least two times, and 8 got to read at least four times!
Some of the many highlights of the night:
- Briana did a haiku in Japanese while unscrewing the microphone stand in two and then drew one of the two pieces of the mic stand out like a sword
- Shawn did his haiku where he keeps reading the intro for as long as possible and the crowd acted very antagonistic (in a funny way.) He didn’t stop until yours truly walked on stage and made him stop.
- Anna Geiger, who has only read on our mic a couple times, held her own against everyone else, showing a wide range of experimental, sexy, and thoughtful haiku
- Keaton (who was reading the haiku of Logan Lopez, who had fallen ill) read a long series of crush haiku, which ended with giving audience members tiny cans of Crush soda that said “you’re my crush” on it
- Aparna performed a group haiku where a different audience member said each syllable of the haiku in sequence
- Gel did *more than one* series of haiku about JD Vance f***ing a couch. One was set to the tune of “Baby Shark!” 🦈
- Kaitie D read a series of haiku in morse code intensely, as well as a series of poems examining Stephen King’s trashy horror novels
- Oliver performed work that was simultaneously pastoral and deeply weird, and Sarah King used comedic timing, silences, and some intentional microphone fumbling to great effect.
- March riled up the crowd with a lot of awkward-yet-brazen haiku about sex, gender identity, and queer politics
- Jarvis’ haiku celebrated their queer identity, with tender and raucous haiku about gay clubbing, living with their partner(s), tales of their cat, and a set of “choose your own adventure” haiku that the audience helped decide the progression of the plot
In the end, our final round was between Briana, Aparna, and Jarvis, with Jarvis taking the BIG WIN, and Briana coming in 2nd place. They both will qualify for the 2026 Boston Poetry Slam team selection! Thank you to everyone who performed.
Coming Up This Wednesday
WE ARE NOT AT THE CANTAB LOUNGE THIS WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15TH! This week Boston Poetry Slam is partnering with Middlesex Lounge (315 Mass Ave in Central Square Cambridge) to launch our YOUTUBE CHANNEL and celebrate archived Boston Poetry Slam footage! Come read on the open mic, then stay to eat popcorn and watch a set of videos on Middlesex Lounge’s projector screen from past and present Boston Poetry Slam team members. Then make sure to SUBSCRIBE, because our channel will start posting regular footage from our programming! (But never fear, our weekly Wednesday show will stay camera-free.) See you there!
See you soon!
– MFG 🚪
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