Cantab Recap for Wednesday, May 28, 2016: Neiel Israel Wins the World Qualifier!

There can be only one, Cantab. Only one poet can represent the Boston Poetry Slam at the Individual World Poetry Slam in Flagstaff, Arizona, and our top-scoring poet of last night’s World Qualifier Final is…

1. WINNER: Neiel Israel
2. Runner-up: Mckendy Fils-Aimé
Eliminated after three rounds:
3. Bobby Crawford
4. RebeccaLynn Gualtieri
Eliminated after two rounds:
5. Marshall Gillson
6. John Pinkham
Eliminated after one round:
7. Nora Meiners
8. Chloé Cunha

Congratulations to Neiel, already a member of the 2016 Nationals-bound Boston Poetry Slam Team, who will represent us in competition this October in the American Southwest! (For more info on the tournament, you can watch the still-under-construction page at iwps.poetryslam.com).

A huge thanks to all our slammers, star-power bout-manager Tom Slavin, king of arithmetic Kieran Collier, and, of course, our five remarkably consistent judges, who held it down for a long and glorious slam.

Next week: YES, we’ve been waiting for months and months for Fatimah Asghar to come and feature for us, and it’s finally time! Fati will be in town from Chicago for May 25, and then –get this– Omaha’s Matt Mason will at last feature for us on June 1. Open slams (those qualify for the 2017 team slams) will be held on both nights. Come on out!