Cantab Recap For Wednesday, November 22nd, 2023

Hey Cantabbers! It’s always a unique show when we gather the day before Thanksgiving at the Boston Poetry Slam, as the holiday brings in a lot of out-of-towners. Most of our audience members didn’t have work or school the following day, so almost no one left during the break between the open mic and the slam, which was great to see.

On the open, we got our yearly visit from former regular Berent LaBrecque, who delivered an emotionally escalating poem about home and belonging. First-timer Ace kicked off the night with an extended memorized piece that had a seemingly endless reservoir of twisted and off-kilter rhymes, and we had strong work by regulars March Penn, Kelsey Kessler, and Eddy Martinez.

After the open mic, it was the first-ever Pokémon Slam! For a topic that might seem a little niche to a general audience, there was a lot of variety in both the form and content of the work, with the Red team being led by Shawn Dermer, and the Blue team being led by Kai Wallin. While there were highlights from Cameron, Isaiah (who did a Pokémon sestina!), and the not-seen-on-stage-in-many-years Kelsey Chaplain, the showstopping moment was a round between Sara H and Youssef, who did back-to-back Ash Ketchum-themed poems that came at the subject from wildly different starting points. In the end, team Blue eked out the win, with Sara H being voted the most memorable poem by the judges, qualifying her for our upcoming team selection nights in 2024. Thank you to all the poets who slammed, especially the few who did so on short notice!

This week’s shenanigans involved Amy Argentar (our regular website recapper) reading her Pokémon-themed poem to us live from Chicago, via the magic of a video call! We’ve come a long way from the days where you couldn’t even get cell phone reception in our dive bar basement.

This week: did you enjoy the Pokemon Slam, and want to try your hand at competing in a non-themed slam? Well, we’ve got an open poetry slam happening this Wednesday, with the top two competitors qualifying for our upcoming team selection shows! All you need is three original poems that are 3 minutes or less. No props, no costumes, no musical accompaniment. The winner will get $50, and we’ll also have our famous extended open mic, so be sure to stop on by!

– MFG 🚪

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Cantab Recap For Wednesday, November 15th, 2023

Another week, another wonderful Wednesday, Cantabbers! What a stunning show we had last week, so superb that I would categorize it as an official “Oops! All Bangers” night. We had Raechel Segal back after a short hiatus, grabbing the mic from the stand and making us laugh as usual. We had Otto Vock and Kaitie D. team up to each read amazing contrapuntals about dating apps (and during Kaitie’s poem, they read a line so fire that host Nayeli hit a little dance move; total body stank face). We also had the exciting return of Kimi for the first time since we closed for the pandemic. 

The ✏️Line of the Wednesday✏️ comes from our own Michael F. Gill (with attribution to Robert Lowell) with: “A poem is an event; it is not a record of an event”.

This week’s shenanigans are simply the fact that during Raechel Segal’s poem, Sam Bucci chimed in with an exuberant “PAPA GINO’S SLAPS!” It’s the little things.

We then had an absolutely mind-boggling feature from our own Zeke Russell, who opened up his heart and his brand-new book, Wintered Over, to read us some touching and worldview-changing poetry. With his haunting imagery and blunt yet striking phrasing, we all left grateful to have such a great poet and person be a part of this community. We sold out all the author copies of his books. Thank you Zeke!

THIS WEEK!! This Thanksgiving, we at the Cantab are thankful for…Pokémon! Not traveling for the holiday? Feeling nostalgic for childhood? Wondering why more people don’t write poems about the greatest anime slash video game of all time? Come witness our regular open mic followed by the one and only Pokémon Slam: two trainers, Red (Shawn) and Blue (Kai) will throw their team of poets into head-to-head battle. I choose YOU, reader, to stop by and witness this super unique slam! 

See you Wednesday!

-Amy ✈️

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Cantab Recap For Wednesday, November 8th, 2023

Hey Cantabbers! We had a fantastic late-night show last week at the Boston Poetry Slam. We still had a great turnout despite starting at 9:30 PM! Open mic participants either chose “truth,” where they performed their poem as written, or “dare” where they picked a dare from a jar and incorporated it into their poem.

Truths included:

  • Am amazing poetic description of a concert by Daniel Letona
  • Till with a STELLAR debut
  • Amy (not me!) rounding out the end of the open mic with a powerful political piece

Dares included:

  • Yousef incorporating dance moves into his poem
  • Logan replacing every “can” or “can’t” with… “Cantab”
  • Kaitie D. performing her poem … with a sock puppet.

The ✏️Line of the Wednesday✏️ was from TJ Jones, who, when given the dare to incorporate the word “Fergalicious” into his poem, not only did that multiple times, but rapped his poem and danced to it the whole time. Astounding work. Here is a line from that experience of a poem: “Hands up in the air / Worship everywhere / Fergamonius”

This Wednesday, get ready, get pumped, for our mentor, slam host, and INCREDIBLE poet, Zeke Russell! Zeke is a poet and housing advocate. He grew up in Central Maine surrounded by artists, lumberjacks and outlaws. He is clean and sober and lives in Boston with his partner Milo. His debut poetry collection, Wintered Over, is available from Game Over Books. His work has appeared in Wyvern Lit, Drunk In A Midnight Choir, Freezeray Poetry, Maps For Teeth and on Button Poetry online.

See you Wednesday!

-Amy ✈️

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Cantab Recap For Wednesday, November 1st, 2023

Oh Cantabbers, we all were absolutely HAUNTED last week with our After Dead Poets Slam! The open mic consisted of Kai mourning the death of their youth (also known as turning 25), Shawn declaring his distaste for metaphors (in certain contexts), and Sonya coming back for a great sequel after a great debut last week (keep coming back!).

This week’s ✏️ Line of the Wednesday ✏️ goes to Daniel, with: “I want to speak with jaguars, like my ancestors after walking on water”

Brief interlude to say that this last Thursday, we had five fabulous slammers compete in Slam Free or Die’s Spooky Regional! It was an absolutely stunning slam, everyone did INCREDIBLE. If you want the full details on what went down, catch a summary in our upcoming NEWSLETTER! Sign up here. I will say we at the Cantab are very proud, because our team came out VICTORIOUS!!! Congrats to the following poets and thank you to SFOD for hosting. 

  • Myles Taylor
  • Katya Zinn
  • Kris Cho
  • Jennifer Martinez
  • Aparna Paul

Speaking of slams, time to talk about the amazing, undead, Zeke-Russell-hosted After Dead Poets slam! Dead poets from the likes of Frank O’Hara, Dylan Thomas, Ezra Pound, Miguel Algarin, Seamus Heaney, Gertrude Stein, Rainer Maria Rilke, and Julia de Burgos were revived on the stage in the first round, and the poets that helped form the bridge that connected the dead poets from the afterlife to our current reality performed in the second round. The shenanigans this week must have to be Michael F. Gill, who after a great Frank O’Hara cover, performed his poem “Collapsible Universes,” which resulted in him completely exiting the basement (and eventually returning). 

In the end, Kaitie D. (Julia de Burgos) won the slam, with March Penn (Gertrude Stein) placing a close second. Thank you to our judges and our wonderful-as-always host Zeke Russell, and of course, congratulations to our spectacular top 2 poets (and their deceased counterparts), who now qualify for our 2024 Slam Team!

This week, we are having a LATE NIGHT OPEN MIC! There will be NO FEATURE, doors will be at 9, and the mic will be at 9:30. To emphasize the slumber-party vibes, we will have a twist on our usual open mic. Choose “TRUTH” to do your poem as you brought it — no shame! Choose “DARE” to get a slip of paper with an on-stage poetry dare — work a new word into your poem somewhere, start your set with a haiku, or perform your poem in a way you never would have expected. So, we ask you: TRUTH OR DARE?

See you then!

-Amy ✈️

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Cantab Recap For Wednesday, October 25th, 2023

Hi Cantabbers! It’s me, your pilot, back at it again to guide you through what was a sky-high Wednesday last week at the Boston Poetry Slam. As we took off, we had several old and new faces fly up to the mic. We had not one but two gorgeous love poems, with newcomer Ian Frank reading a very sweet, classic one, and Shannon Russo delivering one involving plenty of multiverse-jumping. Newcomers IT and Sonya also had great debuts on the mic. As we reached cruising altitude, there was a series of bangers from regulars Charlie R., Oliver, and Kaitie D. It’s so special to watch these poets come week after week to display their own unique styles.

This week’s ✏️Line of the Wednesday ✏️ is from Isaiah, with: “If my faith knows only death, / is it ever faith”

Last week’s feature was Ren L[i]u, who brought us a multi-sensory experience! They passed out pomelo, led us in a grounding exercise, and, of course, performed poetry. Ren has such a unique, raw talent that bleeds throughout their poetry, the kind that makes your emotions almost sneak up on you as you listen to them read. They read about the way identity can weave in and out of oneself and one’s experiences, and also, Asian bathhouses. 

Quick note to wish a beautiful birthday to our staff member, host, and overall light of everyone’s life Briana Crockett! 🎉🎉🎉

On the flight schedule, I wanted to remind everyone of a very special event this Thursday, 11/2, with our very spooky slam team competing at an equally spooky Halloween slam up in New Hampshire! The following poets will be performing at Slam Free or Die. Come through and support this incredible team!!!

• Myles Taylor
• Katya Zinn
• Jennifer Martinez
• Kris Cho
• Aparna Paul

This week at the Cantab, we have our OWN unique slam, hosted by the great Zeke Russell: The (After) Dead Poet’s Slam. On the day after Halloween, slammers will perform the work of dead poets such as Emily Dickinson, Ezra Pound, Frank O’Hara, and then hear original work inspired by them. I hope we don’t run into any poet ghosts! This unique night is NOT something you want to miss.

See you then,

-Amy ✈️

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Cantab Recap For Wednesday, October 18th, 2023

It was another packed house at the Boston Poetry Slam this week, eager to see the feature from one of our favorite local poets, Krysten Hill! There were a lot of highlights on the open mic, which started with a theme of infinity (Chris Rye actually finished their “infinite poem”, March Penn combined infinity, Derrida, and old favorite Patrick S in a stunning tour de force), and later featured moving memorized poems from Mariam and Nikki (the latter bringing the crowd into a tense, mediative stillness). We also had another episode in Kaitie D’s “Dirty Water” series, Hallie’s great piece “My Mom Has Only Rewatched One Show Ever”, and Colin Killick’s very entertaining series of famous poems condensed down into haiku. We rounded out the night with a couple of covers of works by the late and exceptionally great Omoizele Okoawo.

Our feature was the aforementioned Krysten Hill, who absolutely blows us away every time we hear her! There are very few poets who can command the stage with such force, while still crafting each poem into a mini symphony with both warm and firm edges. Every poem felt like an event. We heard work from both old and new manuscripts, encompassing the topics of race, violence, Nina Simone, and being a teacher. Thank you Krysten!

This week we have a feature from Ren Liu, a 2023 NorthBeast champion from the Providence Poetry Slam Team!

Ren L[i]u ((they/he/他) is bracketed (for now). In figuring out how to translate [their]self, they are grateful for the spaces where they do not have to—those rooted in disability justice, circle process, their poetry/spoken word families, and of course, their grandma’s kitchen. In Ren’s work facilitating community accountability processes and responding to crisis beyond state systems, they have grown to always turn to poetry as survival and pleasure in imagining our collective sick/disabled QTBIPOC liberation. Ren is a 2023 Zoeglossia Disability Poetics Fellow, a proud regular/staff at ProvSlam, and was a member of the 2023 Providence Poetry Slam team.

See you soon!

– MFG 🚪

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Cantab Recap For Wednesday, October 11th, 2023

This Wednesday at the Boston Poetry Slam was one of the more fun AND chill nights we’ve had in a while. The highlights of the open mic included a wide array of topics: OCD and cows (Eli Kane), self-diagnosis (Eren Peterson), infinite sets (Chris Rye), short situationships (first-timer Evelyn), and when Child Protective Services pays a visit to the Charmin Toilet Paper Bears (Katya Zinn). Special shout out to beloved regular Arielle Gray for PASSING THE MASSACHUSETTS BAR EXAM! She then proceeded to read a dark and well-crafted poem about a judge that was (somehow!) written when she was 8-years-old, and followed it up with a modern-day revision of the same said poem.

After the open, it was the long-awaited HAIKU TOURNAMENT, where THIRTEEN POETS went to battle for the top prize of $170, probably the most money we’ve ever awarded to a slam winner. In the first round, March Penn took an early lead with an ongoing suite of haiku about types of orgasm. Six poets advanced to the second round, which included both a DIRTY HAIKU round as well as a EXPERIMENTAL/WTF round. Logan Lopez stood out with a series of baseball-themed haiku, as did Sue Savoy with some dry, cutting humor, but it was March Penn and Aparna Paul who pulled away to the finals. And, wow, what a final round it was! Aparna and March battled through the maximum of 17 (!) head-to-head rounds, with Aparna winning the last three rounds in a row to eke out the 9-8 victory. What a great night!

Final Haiku Standings:
1st Aparna Paul
2nd March Penn
3rd Logan Lopez
4th Sue Savoy
5th Skylar Sweet Cheeks
6th Colin Killick
7th Kat Anderson
8th Nilya Mitchell
9th (tie) M-ZILLA
9th (tie) Lou B
11th C.S. Taylor
12th Siraj Ali
13th Eddy Martinez

This Wednesday, old friend and powerhouse poet KRYSTEN HILL returns to feature!

Krysten Hill is an educator, writer, and performer who has featured at the Massachusetts Poetry Festival, Boston Book Festival, Blacksmith House, Cantab Lounge, Haley House, U35 Reading Series, and other places. She received her MFA in poetry from UMass Boston where she taught for many years. She is the author of How Her Spirit Got Out (Aforementioned Productions, 2016), which received the 2017 Jean Pedrick Chapbook Prize. Her work has been featured in The Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day Series, Poetry Magazine, PANK, Up the Staircase Quarterly, Winter Tangerine Review, and elsewhere. She is recipient of the 2016 St. Botolph Club Foundation Emerging Artist Award, 2020 Mass Cultural Council Poetry Fellowship, and 2023 Vermont Studio Center Residency. She loves writing on all kinds of porches, and wants you to know that you can always sit with her.

See you there!

– MFG 🚪

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In Memoriam: Omoizele Okoawo


Photo of Oz from the 2014 Boston Poetry Slam team selection semi-finals. February 19, 2014. © Marshall Goff. All Rights Reserved

The Boston Poetry Slam community was extremely saddened to learn of the sudden passing of Omoizele Okoawo (“Oz”) this week. An invaluable member of the poetry community since 1999, Oz’s writing and performance helped shaped the sound of our venue, and then pushed at those boundaries. He inspired generations of poets who either came to our Wednesday open mics, or saw him perform at the National Poetry Slam, where he was a member of (at least) 12 different teams. He was also a generous friend to so many of us.

If you would like to contribute to help out his family, a Gofundme has been created at https://www.gofundme.com/f/my-voice-was-a-fan-of-feathers

If you would like to watch some performances of Oz, there are at least four currently up on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Omoizele+Okoawo

Cantab Recap For Wednesday, October 4th, 2023

Hi poet! Get ready to hear about an exciting, surprising, team-selecting poetry slam!! But first, there’s an open mic to cover. We had one of the fastest sold-out nights ever, selling out well before the show even started, and the audience was full of some newcomers and some long-time-no-sees. Alleliah from Tucson, Arizona read from her new book, “A HUMAN MOON,” Kai and Arielle (2023 Slam Team Members) read a GROUP PIECE called “Black Honda,” and regular Eli Kane came back to perform some new shit (“new shit!”).

The ✏️Line of the Wednesday✏️ goes to Shawn with “They say ‘be kind, do good,’
But look at what we teach”

Then commenced the slam, where the esteemed Zeke Russel hosted 8 contenders as they showed off their finest work. We had Jennifer Martinez with the jaw-dropping delivery. Then there was Rina with the short and striking pieces. And then Aparna with their signature style and delivery. At the end, after a close battle for the top, our own producer/curator Myles Taylor won the slam and the $50 prize!

But it was not just one poet who won something that night! The top FIVE slammers are our representatives heading to Slam Free or Die on November 2nd for a special Halloween slam! Congrats to the following poets:

• Myles Taylor
• Katya Zinn
• Jennifer Martinez
• Kris Cho
• Aparna Paul

Catch them in NH on the 2nd!

Coming up, the long-anticipated, MFG-hosted, multi-round HAIKU TOURNAMENT is this Wednesday! The tournament will feature a dozen past slam winners and runners up. There will be a haiku suite round, a themed round involving dirty and experimental haiku, as well as a head-to-head final round! The winner gets $170 (!) plus will be invited back to our slam team qualifiers. You do NOT want to miss this Wednesday.

See you soon!

-Amy ✈️

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Cantab Recap For Wednesday, September 27th, 2023

Hey Cantab!  We are back in the basement! We were so glad to see so many people come through for the return of some normalcy at the Cantab, as the basement has mostly recovered from the flood last month. We had several incredible newcomers at the mic, such as Ash, Kris, Jelissa, and Kristin, who spat some fire with great confidence and skill. We had heartfelt pieces from Sara H and Logan, a vulnerable, beautiful poem from Jelissa, and some more “dirty water” themed poems from Kaitie D. Adam M. the bartender tried out a new homemade blueberry syrup, chairs were arranged in a semicircle, possibilities were limitless.

The ✏️Line of the Wednesday✏️ comes from Kai, with “One can never be too careful to look backwards into the brain”

Our feature was ANTHONY FEBO, who read from a series of poems about his late father, and he expressed his grief, love, and memories using his amazing stage presence and expert use of a motif on running. He also performed poems on health, dancing, and his daughter, and our feisty audience drank up and felt every word. As a wonderful member of the community, Febo stayed after his feature for around an HOUR to talk with fellow poets about art, life, and provide great advice. Thank you Febo!

There were two “shenanigans” this week, in my humble opinion. First-timer Jelissa not only came with an entourage who graciously supported her as she performed, but they brought a SIGN! How sweet is that! The temporary semi-circle set up of the chairs allowed Amy (myself) and Aparna to perform a crowd walking piece on … walking, and it ended with the entire crowd joining in, chanting “Hot girl, keep walking!” And we did :)

This week: Join us at the Cantab Lounge for our regular Open Mic AND Open Slam! Slam rules: 3 rounds! You just need to have 3 ORIGINAL poems under 3 minutes. This open slam is to qualify for our upcoming regional slam team. BONUS: Bring Halloween-themed poems if you have them! The top four finalists will also be invited to go on a field trip to Slam Free or Die on November 2nd to compete in their Halloween slam.

See you then!

– Amy ✈️

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