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BUY TICKETS for the 2025 Northbeast Regional Poetry Slam & Festival in Cambridge! Happening this weekend!
Highlights From This Past Wednesday’s Show
Donovan’s line about having met “plenty of the keepers of the light” seemed to represent the feeling on tonight’s open mic, which was beautiful and vulnerable. Thank you for the shout out to Myles Taylor, “the keeper of the light,” as we are so grateful for this chance to have community with each other. A big thank you as well to our workshop facilitator, Kes, who led us through a prompt about fear by animating our monsters. Kes also read on the open mic and blew our minds with lines like “Everyone is acting like conversation with predators is still conversation.”
Other memorable lines from the open mic:
“Affection feels like a dungeon.” – Kelsey
“My pain is currently on sale.” – Edie
“Even in a flop era, there are some slays.” – Brynna (hosting bit)
“You use your context clues against me.” – Hunter
“A candle is to an astronomer as an egg is to a rabbit.” – Charlie
“In this room filled with queer acceptance, I think I finally found home.” – Muggs
“Their breath is the only prayer we need.” – Isaiah
“Peace comes to the spirit painfully.” – Nick
“The meat of your matter is all baloney.” – Greg
“I left my hometown even though it was the only place I felt grounded.” – Brynna
“This email found me rabid, foaming at the mouth.” – Aparna
We also had an excellent feature from touring poet Bob Sykora, who graced us with work from his new book, Utopians in Love, out now on one of our favorite local presses, Game Over Books. Check out the entire feature on our instagram HERE!
Coming Up This Wednesday
We welcome back to the feature stage longtime New England poet, artist, and educator, Ilyus Evander!
Bio: Ilyus Evander (they/them) is a disabled, non-binary mental health worker, educator, poet, and theater maker from Providence, RI. They have represented the Providence Poetry Slam at several National Poetry Tournaments including the National Poetry Slam, Brave New Voices, and the Women of the World Poetry Slam. They are the recipient of multiple awards for excellence in design from the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival for their work on theatrical productions. Ilyus’ first original experimental play, “Somebody. Nobody.” is currently being workshopped for production with OutLoud Theater Company. They are the author of two poetry collections; Good Mourning, Bad Dreams (2022 Ginger Bug Press), and Heavier Than Wait (2020 Game Over Books). Most recently, Ilyus became the 2024 ProvSlam Grand Slam Champion, won the “Pushing the Art Forward” award at the 2024 NorthBeast Regional, and has published work with The Poetry Foundation (Ours Poetica), Button Poetry, and the Academy of American Poets (Poem-A-Day). Ilyus has toured the country teaching and performing poetry, theater, and accessibility in the arts workshops. They are so proud of you.
See you there!
~ March
Boston Poetry Slam Online