What a Wednesday! After a somewhat short and very sweet open mic, howdyheck were we glad to welcome George Abraham to a last-minute spotlight feature. George, a Palestinian-American poet, activist, engineering PhD candidate at Harvard, and just-about-one-year-regular at the Cantab, is the author of two chapbooks and widely published in some of your favorite reviews. But wait: George is also the co-editor (with Tariq Luthun) of Nakba: 70 Years of Palestinian Resistance to Occupation, a poetry folio gathered by these two for LitHub and Maps for Teeth over a period of forty-eight intense hours this week. George was generous enough to read from these voices in context during a short set last night, and our audience responded with love, but also donations for George to pass on to Medical Aid for Palestinians and ADDAMMEER. Huge thanks to George for taking the time and energy to share this with us.
As you might have heard: our scheduled event for the night was the year’s speediest slam, the semi-finals of our World Qualifier series! Eleven poets hit the stage with just one 2-minute and one 1-minute poem, all vying to earn a spot in the June 6 World Qualifier Finals… Math and ties being what they are, the nine poets in bold are now qualified for the eight spots:
1. Myles Em Taylor 54.9
2(t). Lip McDonald 53.2
2(t). JR Mahung 53.2
4(t). Sam Zilli 52.5
4(t). Sara Mae 52.5
6. Zeke Russell 52.2
7. Neiel Israel 51.9
8(t). José Zepeda 51.4
8(t). Meaghan Ford 51.4
9. Cassandra de Alba
10. RebeccaLynn
Score-wrecking sacrifices were offered up from Evan Jymaal Cutts (our May 30 feature!) and George Abraham, but our five (well, math and judge teams being what they are, eight) judges held strong; thanks to Katherine & Shauna, Azam, Victoria & Armando, Claudia & Emma, and Nick for having vastly different opinions from one another, but still somehow making a terrifyingly tight slam.
Next week: our slammers can finally stretch out and relax, as we will return to regular 3-minute open poetry slams… But the rest of you will be on the edge of your seats for a long-awaited feature from Chrysanthemum Tran! Don’t miss out: come celebrate the longest run of spring weather in New England history with any of our awesome upcoming Wednesdays.
Boston Poetry Slam Online