Cantab Recap for Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Happy day after Valentine’s, poets! Congratulations on closing the books on yet another February 14; we had a glorious No Romance open mic at the Cantab, during which hardly any overtures were attempted and the bingo cards cards created by Cassandra de Alba (with the assist from Michael F. Gill) made fabulous conversation pieces. Truly heartfelt thanks go to all the poets on the open mic who thought so hard about space-making and -taking before speaking, and to everyone contributing to a gloriously romance-free zone for one of the most fraught nights of the calendar year!

Of course, as much as we’d like to thank our bingo theme for the excellent turnout last night, we know the concentrated joy in the space was all about Ariana Brown, CUPSI champ and MFA candidate who dug deep into the vulnerability of learning to love herself in America; our utmost thanks to Ariana for bringing her strength and craft to bear as we continue our Black History Month celebration.

Next week: our slam series advances to semi-finals! Twelve qualified poets from the two preliminary heats will go two rounds each to see who will move on to the finals for the 2018 Boston Poetry Slam Team. Come see Brandon Melendez, Neiel Israel, George Abraham, John Pinkham, Anna Binkovitz, Kieran Collier, RebeccaLynn, Allison Truj, Meaghan Ford, Sara Mae, Myles Taylor, and Evan Cutts slam for the top nine spots! Bring along your most judgemental friend and a sawbuck, because it’ll be a $5 cover that night to help raise money to send the team to Nationals in August.