Hello!
I am unofficially titling this recap “Oops – All Bangers!” because that is exactly what transpired in the basement of the Cantab Lounge last week. Everyone, and I mean all 39 poets on the open mic, waitlist, and staff section had certified fire bangers. It was incredible to witness.
We had first timers heating it up, including birthday-girl Kim opening up the mic with a piece on heartbreak (happy birthday Kim!) and Isaiah closing out the open with an incredible Pokémon poem.
We also had a lovely piece by March Penn, who read their poem on gender expression/gender void from the back of the room while new regular Rina took to the mic simultaneously and provided gorgeous backing vocals! And Oliver and Kai read 😉 totally normal 😉 poems about their house and their dentist, respectively. Nothing inappropriate at all!
This week’s ✏️Line of the Wednesday✏️is from Tay: “Does it matter the color of his eyes or only that you keep looking”.
Our feature was Joshua Nguyen, who was not only an amazing poet but truly such a kind soul – it did not go unnoticed that if you asked him to sign a copy of his chapbook, he made a point to get to know you and write something personalized. He provided us with a gorgeous set of poems spanning from fish sauce to getting mistaken for a male stripper, demonstrated how Vietnamese poetry translates to English, and all-around lit up the room. Thank you Joshua!
Pssst! Did you know that we live-stream the majority of our features on our Instagram? Check out @bostonpoetryslam to see if your favorite poet has their feature posted!
Our 🎤 shenanigans 🤩 this week was … 🥁*drumroll* 🥁 we got to EVERYONE ON THE WAITLIST!! And this is no ordinary feat, we had a sold out show, a full mic list, AND a full wait list. Talk about a packed night! Thank you everyone for keeping your work under 3 minutes!!
Coming up this Wednesday – we have Courtney LeBlanc! Courtney LeBlanc is the author of the full-length collections Her Whole Bright Life (winner of the Jack McCarthy Book Prize, Write Bloody, 2023), Exquisite Bloody, Beating Heart (Riot in Your Throat, 2021) and Beautiful & Full of Monsters (VA Press, 2020). She is a Virginia Center for Creative Arts fellow (2022) and the founder and editor-in-chief of Riot in Your Throat, an independent poetry press. She loves nail polish, tattoos, and a soy latte each morning. Find her online at www.courtneyleblanc.com. Follow her on twitter: @wordperv, and IG: @wordperv79.
See you soon!
– Amy ✈️
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