It was another eventful evening this past Wednesday at The Cantab Lounge, and it was proof that you never know who will show up to our show, and what amazing pieces could happen for one night only! Where to start!? Ash gave us an excellent Golden Shovel two poems into the night, which was based on this Sloppy Jane lyric:
“But my heart is like a claw machine / Its only function is to reach / It can’t hold on to anything / No, I can’t hold on to anything”.
A few poems later Saloni wowed us all with their poem that contained the refrain “I want to f%*k like a Punjabi Grandma“, and soon after that Cameron V, who had signed up under the name “Sigrid,” took the stage dressed as a grandma (!) and delivered a hilarious guided meditation poem that had lines like “Imagine you are on a train. And there is a frog on the top. Then imagine the frog has a gambling problem, and it is on the run from the mafia.” Later on, the unpredictable and multilingual Ben Tolkin went deep into Norse mythology and etymology, and during the Express Lane portion of the show we had the surprise return of mythical Cantab poet Rudolf Stueger! Known for his English translations of little-known German poets, Rudolf once read us one-half of a translation back in 2016, and then came back to read the second half seven years later!
Our feature was the renowned Crystal Valentine, who brought us a diverse set of work from a manuscript that explores the loss of her mother. These were large, expansive poems that felt like streams of consciousness growing into small sets of mountains, a series of mini-epics that grew taller the deeper you got into them. Poem titles included “My Mom Feeds My Dad A Strawberry Danish After Using It To Mop The Floor,” and “My Father Confesses His Sins To Tina Turner,” while the final piece had Crystal’s mother turning 64 and speaking to a god that she didn’t believe existed. What a show!
Tonight! We’ve had to postpone Gia Kagan-Trenchard’s scheduled feature, but in its place there will be an open speed slam! The top 2 from the speed slam will qualify for our 2025 Team Selection slam and the winner will get $50.
See you there!
– MFG 🚪
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