Recaps from the Boston Poetry Slam @ the Cantab Lounge's weekly show.
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Open Mic Highlights
• Bailey and Artemis led off the open mic with love poems to each other, warming everyone’s hearts and inciting the ire of our apparently anti-love host Myles Taylor (full disclosure: they met before coming to the Cantab)
• “My sister’s pain is empty eggshells” – Edie writing …
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Open Mic Highlights
• Eri’s “If I had to f*%k one of the four horseman…”
• Bailey’s fourth-wall breaking poem including lines like “Whatever happens between us we need to still be able to go to the poetry show”
• Noel’s pastorally lush and lyrical ode to a specific tree in …
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Open Mic Highlights
• It was a great night for newcomers, with the first 6 people on the mic reading for first or second time!
• “It’s a miracle to me to speak into the dawn / ponder away a broken heart” – Christina
• Sahfa’s repeated their poem “I …
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Open Mic Highlights
02/04/26
• Bobby’s C riffed on gatekeepers and Harold Bloom’s out-of-touch remark that “Poetry slam is the death of art”
• Emmanuel’s “Standing in front of a mirror trying to know what love is”
• Nick Roberts’ “My Curated Pandemonium” and “Lament Of The Finnish Bird Seller”
• …
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Open Mic Highlights
01/21/26
• Tyrone’s short and wild ode to flying toilet paper that took a lot of detours within one minuted
• Apologies to Artemis if this does not describe their poem appropriately, but I have written down “gay sex set to the sound of protests” in my notes …
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Open Mic Highlights
• Mary’s Heated Rivalry poem and “I have no one I can give my power to who can also protect it”
• Jennifer’s “Confession of An Emotional Intelligent Avoidant” (great title / relatable!)
• Ember wasn’t supposed to be in town but got to say goodbye for a …
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Open Mic Highlights
12/30/25
• Our regular Worcester contingent had Bailey rattling off several sonnets in 3 minutes, and the actual/bonus last time on the mic from Ember before they move out of town!
• “[My father’s anger] is an expensive palette / more silence than I can afford to swallow” …
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Open Mic Highlights
• It’s the end of year, which brought a share of open mic regulars leaving (good luck in Denver, Ember!) and returning (welcome back from Ireland, Abbie!) to the stage, as well as surprise visits from Sophie (first time on the mic in 11 years!) and the always …
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Open Mic Highlights
• Tyrone’s delightful memorized (or are they improvised?) miniature pieces continue! No one else could shout out “Enjoy your daily suffering!” with such perverse glee.
• Wholesome vibes: Brandon not onl read a poem to their best friend who was in the audience, but also gave them a …
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Open Mic Highlights
• “I grew up / the world begged for more observation” – Alex Kist reflecting on watching television and coming of age
•Newcomer Erica’s startling poem where they wrote a letter to their former self, after having lost a good amount of their personal memories after an …
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