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It’s been a long time coming for these recaps which were originally lost and are now found!
Open Mic Highlights 09/23
• “I’m living in an Edward Hopper world on the Red Line” – Dan Malloy
• “I might do the unthinkable and give care to myself” – from Farah’s caretaker poem
• The return of Aanchal, who read a corporate burnout poem and discussed the two things to run back and save during a house fire: their laptop and their bra
• Emma’s “Apocalypsetick,” Keaton and Will S adding to the pile of wolf poems that are waiting on the doorstop of the Cantab basement
• March Penn on setting up the Cantab chairs and appreciating both the clean emptiness of them, as well as how they are about to be filled with poets as opposed to workers
Feature 09/23
Alejandro Jimenez was our feature this week, and he read a well-constructed set revolving around his Mexican heritage, the collision of English and Spanish on both sides of the border, and the throughline of his work in relationship to the past and future generations of his family. Alejandro blessed us with his incredible stage performance, the polyrhythmic music and flow of his poems, and some enlightening banter that doubled as insight into where his poems come from. “My spirit will find its home in the mouths of my people” is a line that resonated strongly throughout the set, and the highlight was a long poem detailing how four generations of women in this family dance. For the closer he wonderfully sang “Paloma Negra” as done by Chavela Vargas, and then wrote into the experience of it, both analyzing and emotionally reacting to it, before launching into the song again. Thank you, Alejandro!
Open Mic Highlights 09/30
• “When you say ‘I’ll always be here for you’ I don’t think you understand how breakups work” – from Abby M’s great poem to the person who broke up with them
• Edie going meta about the cult of BPS regulars writing about wolves, and how said cult has stole the wolves that are inside him
• Jericho with a timely and poignant poem about the Cornell 7
• Helena’s meditation on daylight savings, fall becoming winter (“these f!*%ing leaves, man!”) and actually enjoying it all
• “Amy called me the patron saint of biting people” / “I told him I was the bones of Amelia Earhart” / “Icarus was the first Mothman” – some of the twists and turns from Shivank’s awesome poem this week!
• Abbie L’s “I wish I was with my friends” poem that was written during the lunar eclipse (we love a great friendship poem!)
• Did you hear Sue Savoy has a new book out focused on poems about the MBTA? She read from it this week, and you can get yourself a copy if you see her in person on a future Wednesday!
• Jaimie’s sweet poem-prayer about the 24 (?!) people who call her mom, grandma, or aunt
• “We are poetry grease goblins” / “Lock the doors before reality sneaks in the back” – Kai
• Amy’s contrapuntal about some of the lessons they’ve learned from their mom (“Be afraid of pretty like you are of God” / “Never be bleeding and afraid”)
Feature 09/30
This week it was an open slam! It was full of debut slam appearances by open mic regulars Emma, Jayda, and Len, plus the return of Jess, Isaiah, and Shawn. Emma finished second with a fresh trans take on the Ship of Theseus, a dialogue-and-plot juxtaposition with Jesus (!) and wanting to babble/babel in many languages, but the slam was won by first-time-on-our-stage poet Richie Nbiba! Every once in a while, we get a poet who signs up for the slam out of nowhere and blows us away, and this was one of those nights! Opening up with a sestina (“How does the fire know”) and a duplex on running, plus finishing with a litany using the recurring line “What the ebony needs,” Richie had the audience and judges impressed from the get-go. Both Ritchie and Emma will qualify for the 2027 BPS team selection slam happening in the Winter!
– MFG 🚪
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