Hello hello!! After an absolutely stellar weekend at the NorthBeast Regional Slam, spirits were light and energized going into this past Wednesday. We had another wonderfully large amount of first-timers up to the mic, dropping bars left and right. There was a bit of a bird theme on the open, with lines about being the daughter of a red-winged blackbird and about leaving the nest. Oh, and another underlying-yet-strong theme of nuanced sex acts.
Our feature was the incredible Yena Sharma Purmasir! She absolutely brought the crowd to their feet with pieces from two of her publications, and a bonus, exclusive, unpublished poem as well. The audience was enthralled by her storytelling, which touched on family, religion, feminism, and the concept of viraha (which is the title of one of her books – see here). Thank you for such a lovely reading!
Before we could get to our wonderful feature, however, we had a fantastic Haiku slam, which, as it has done many times before, has led to absolute 📃Shenanigans📀. We had incredible competitors, including regular C.S. Taylor and Slam Team member Skylar Sweet Cheeks. After some amazing and hilarious entries, we had two finalists: Colin and Lou. Lou did not prepare more than two haiku, so for their last poem, they performed a mashup of the two haiku they did perform! This spontaneous decision wasn’t just a crowd pleaser, it won them the slam and the coveted $17! Congrats Lou!
This week’s ✏Line of the Wednesday✏ comes from our lovely regular Donna: “I’ve been stranded from her / as a fish is from an island”
Coming up this week: Do you prefer the freedom and spontaneity of CHAOS, or the structure and security of ORDER? I’m here to tell you this week only one will win, in our very first Order vs. Chaos Slam! In a head-to-head style tournament, slammers will compete as a representative for either Team Order or Team Chaos. Team Order must only use form poetry, and Team Chaos will have… no rules. Come down to the Cantab to witness this ultimate showdown!
ALSO! A couple questions for you, reader: do you just love these recaps? Do you wish there was even more to read about the happenings down at the Cantab? Do you want to stay even more up to date on upcoming features and events? Do you know … what your email is? If the answer is yes to at least one of these questions, you are a perfect candidate to sign up for our revamped MONTHLY NEWSLETTER! Sign up HERE (https://tinyletter.com/bostonpoetryslam) for the best newsletter this side of the Charles, and keep an eye out for the first installment in the coming weeks!
That’s all for now!
– 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). The show is $4 / 21+ (ID/Proof of Vaccination required) and doors for the show open at 7:15. The open mic begins at 8:00 PM and the feature begins at approximately 10:00 PM.
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