Category: Cantab recaps

Recaps from the Boston Poetry Slam @ the Cantab Lounge's weekly show.

BPS Recap For Wednesday, July 1st, 2026

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Open Mic Highlights

• Ave Maria opened the mic off with a memorized and well-crafted piece about honey, despair, and pulling oneself back from the ledge

• River’s ode to bathroom graffiti and the unhinged “conversations” that happen on stalls (PS the Cantab bathroom graffiti is great!)

• What I …

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BPS Recap For Wednesday, June 17th & June 24th, 2026

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Open Mic Highlights 06/17

• There was World cup fever at the beginning of the mic! The Tartan Army from Scotland was in the house, and first-timer Bryan Bonner covered Robert Burns beautifully

• David Sherman’s letter-poem to the Cantab revealing his kinks, which are “talk to me in the subjunctive …

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BPS Recap For Wednesday, June 10th, 2026

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Open Mic Highlights

• It was an open mic full of quotable lines!

• “Content warning: heteronormativity” – Scott Timothy

• Edie’s surprise narrative on the assassination of William Mckinley

• “I wish I had antlers–they’d stop the small talk” – Philip G

• “The magician walks in the …

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BPS Recap For Wednesday, May 27th & June 3rd, 2026

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Open Mic Highlights 05/27

• Lynette’s soup-themed sestina ruminating on how “your brain isn’t fully developed until 25”

• Aanchal’s evil dentist poem (yes, a lot of us were thinking of this as a foil to Kai’s sexy dentist poem!

• Shivank taking the well-worn “inside you there are two wolves” …

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BPS Recap For Wednesday, May 13th & May 20th, 2026

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Open Mic Highlights 05/13

• Bailey’s cover of Pigeon’s poem about adopting both a Pokémon-themed version of health insurance and a Pokémon-themed version of socialism

• Shivank added another entry in the long line of open mic poems where a horse starts talking (…but does it walk into a bar?)

• …

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BPS Recap For Wednesday, May 6th, 2026

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Open Mic Highlights

• “A line of iambic pentameter is a line of iambic pentameter” – from Bobby’s triple sonnet

• Zeke’s poem about the gratitude of still being alive, and an update on his former desire to be a poet that other poets talk about

• “How could you forget …

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BPS Recap For Wednesday, April 22nd & 29th, 2026

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NOTE: Tonight’s 05/06/26 show will be held at THE FOUNDRY, 101 ROGERS ST, Cambridge instead of the Cantab Lounge, due to a big concert happening there. Doors will be at 8 pm, Shortened open mic at 8:30, feature at 10 pm.

Open Mic Highlights 05/22

• Alex Kist’s incredible new …

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BPS Recap For Wednesday, April 15th, 2026

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Open Mic Highlights

• Phoenix’s piece discussing why they identify as Xenogender

• Julie River’s ode to Denver’s former poetry cafe, The Mercury (later known as The Pearl)

• Ed Gault’s “1-800-ANSWERS” poem dedicated to absurd prompts given by automated phone systems, and what happens when the automated system asks questions …

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BPS Recap For Wednesday, April 8th, 2026

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Open Mic Highlights

• Former BPS graphic designer Jackie B opened up the mic with a poem about German clubbing, drugs, entropy, and the authenticity of the self vs who you are in a group

• Cantab veteran Julie River has moved back to the area, and brought us a …

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BPS Recap For Wednesday, April 1st, 2026

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Open Mic Highlights

• In honor of our tribute to Ron Goba (the first doortender of the Boston Poetry Slam), the room was filled with many poets from BPS’ past, with some readers taking the stage again for the first time in decades!

• Tim Gager’s short poem featuring Jess …

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