Reporting yet another happy and sold-out Wednesday at the Cantab! Energy was sky-high, and love was in the air during our special Valentine’s Day show, with a packed house and an elevated amount of crowd participation. During the open mic, we had someone come back after SEVEN YEARS to finish a poem they started performing at their last open mic. Other highlights included a sad tale of a mouse thief stealing a poet’s bagels, an incredibly-delivered German poem about the inherent suffering in the task of living every single day, and, during the smoking section, our very own Kat told of.… dairy-like appendages.
All of the energy from the open mic and smoking section led wonderfully into the dirty haiku slam hosted by the lovely Michael F. Gill. Slammers went head-to-head to impress the crowd with sensual and sexy haikus, but ultimately the astounding Skylar Sweet Cheeks narrowly beat out Lynette, partially due to a particularly creative use of the term “genderfluid.”
Onto the event of the evening, the Love vs. Death Slam hosted by Myles Taylor! Team Love, captained by Kai, and Team Death, captained by Dawn Gabriel, truly brought their best to the stage as the audience heard sweet (and occasionally slimy) love poems as well as wistful and harrowing poems about our inevitable end. There was rarely a unanimous victor for each round, but ultimately Team Love emerged victorious, winning a generous supply of candy. Special shout-out to our charismatic regular Danny for stepping in to slam last minute, and thank you to all the slammers!!
Lastly, I am starting a new segment of these recaps, entitled “Line of the Wednesday,” where I pick a particularly memorable line from any point in the show.
This week’s ✏️Line of the Wednesday✏️ is:
“Beluga whale blubber spread on avocado toast” from Danny Riordan. Thank you for this.
Next week: Come to the Cantab EARLY to secure a spot to see the incredible Chen Chen! Chen Chen is the author of two books of poetry, Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced an Emergency (BOA Editions, 2022) and When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities (BOA Editions, 2017), which was longlisted for the National Book Award and won the Thom Gunn Award, among other honors. Learn more about this poet and experience his excellence live this Wednesday at the Cantab!
– Amy ✈️
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All shows take place at the Cantab Lounge, 738 Massachusetts Ave. in Cambridge, with one flight of stairs to access the basement room (click for directions and accessibility information). Doors for the show open at 7:15. The open mic begins at 8:00 and the feature begins at approximately 10:00. The show is 21+ (ID/Proof of Vaccination required) and the cover charge is $3.
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