Cantab Feature for Wednesday, October 22, 2014: Meaghan Ford

Meaghan Ford, 2014 BPS Slam Team member. Photo by Marshall Goff.

Meaghan Ford, 2014 BPS Slam Team member. Photo by Marshall Goff.

Meaghan Ford is a writer from New Jersey who fell in love with the big city. In 2014 she was a member of the Boston Poetry Slam Team and the Port Veritas Women of the World Poetry Slam representative. Meaghan was a 2012 Write Bloody finalist and a 2013 Exploding Pinecone semi-finalist. Some of her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Drunk in a Midnight Choir, Danse Macabre, and the Write Bloody We Will Be Shelter anthology. Like all good punk girls, she carries a knife.

This show in our weekly Wednesday series takes place at the Cantab Lounge, 738 Massachusetts Ave. in Cambridge. Doors for the show open at 7:15. The open mic begins at 8:00 and the feature performs at approximately 10:00. An open poetry slam in the 8×8 series will follow. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $3.

Cantab Recap for Wednesday, October 15, 2014

What an excellent open mic at the Cantab last night, folks: poets turned out in droves to hear (and be heard by) Canadian-gone-local poet Andrew Campana, and catching up with Austin poet Jena Kirkpatrick in a super-Southern-sweet spotlight feature. Official photographer Rich Beaubien was also in the house to get a few shots for us:

A packed house hung on every word, especially Andrew’s carefully constructed, playful, and densely researched work. Missed the fun? You can at least check out one of the pieces Andrew talked about last night, Automation, published over on the Printer’s Devil Review.

The slam was a good mix of usual suspects, occasional some-timers, and imports from the Portland scene: the final round came down to Ed Wilkinson (again! Ed!) and an IWPS-fresh Sean Patrick Mulroy. Sean took the victory and the ten bucks, as well as the chance to challenge Champion of Champions Bobby Crawford at the slam on October 29.

Next week: newly-minted N.U.T.S. champion Meaghan Ford takes the stage for a full feature, and we enjoy the last open slam in this 8×8 series. See you there!

Tips from the Bar: Meet the Poets

What happens when you bring the Cantab (whatever that means) home for Thanksgiving to meet your family?

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, October 15, 2014: Andrew Campana

Canada-gone-Boston poet Andrew Campana. Photo by Andrew Littlejohn.

Canada-gone-Boston poet Andrew Campana. Photo by Andrew Littlejohn.

Andrew Campana was born and raised in Toronto, and now lives in Somerville, Massachusetts. He’s currently working on his Ph.D. at Harvard in Japanese literature and media studies, and started writing poems as a way to distract himself from preparing for his general exams. This didn’t really work, because all his poems turned out to be about the things he was studying.

He has done readings in Boston, Toronto, and Tokyo, and his work can be found in On Spec Magazine, Freeze Ray Poetry, Voicemail Poems, Printer’s Devil Review, and Gendaishi Forum (現代詩フォーラム). He always chooses Luigi.

Tonight’s show will also feature a spotlight from Austin poet Jena Kirkpatrick. Jena performs and conducts writing workshops with the Trio of Poets (including Regie Gibson and Timothy Mason) In January 2011, Jena released her first poetry and music compellation CD, Dangerous Snakes, featuring 20 years of poems accompanied by a variety of Austin’s most talented jazz, singer/songwriter and pop musicians.

Austin poet Jena Kirkpatrick.

Austin poet Jena Kirkpatrick.

Over the last two decades, Jena has self-published seven books; co-written, directed and produced three multi-media performance art pieces; and competed in two National Poetry Slam competitions. She is published in Shelf Life Magazine and Drash Pit, and featured in articles in The Austin American Statesman, The Daily Texan and Teachers & Writers Magazine.

This show in our weekly Wednesday series takes place at the Cantab Lounge, 738 Massachusetts Ave. in Cambridge. Doors for the show open at 7:15. The open mic begins at 8:00 and the feature performs at approximately 10:00. An open poetry slam in the 8×8 series will follow. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $5.

Cantab Recap for Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Welcome, October poetry fans! One of the joys of having a featured poet every week at the Boston Poetry Slam is the opportunity to book a vast array of poets from different cities and moments in their poetry career. Last night might have been the year’s best example: Ocean Vuong, an award-winning, widely published Pushcart Prize winner, was unknown to much of the audience, but his intense, densely crafted, deeply emotional work stuck a chord with the crowd and will no doubt ring familiar in voices of open mic readers for weeks to come. What an excellent and eye-opening night.

Following our feature, a six-poet extravaganza of slam took the stage: first-timers bringing polished work, veterans bringing work still in the notebook, and at least two judges willing to spend as much time at the bar as necessary to get them through the slam. A surprisingly consistent team of listeners awarded Adam Stone and Ed Wilkinson the spots in the final round: Adam edged out Ed for the win and a crisp $10 bill we assume he will waste on notebook paper.

Next week: we are back with local favorite Andrew Campana! Austin poet Jena Kirkpatrick will also be in the house for an oh-so-slightly snarky spotlight feature on the open mic.

But wait: there’s more! If you need your slam fix tonight, you might not even have to leave the comfort of that questionable papasan chair you picked up at Allston Christmas last month… The Individual World Poetry Slam kicks off in Phoenix, Arizona, this evening, and you can follow all the action at scores.poetryslam.com. Check in on how our 2014 IWPS rep Sean Patrick Mulroy sizes up against 71 other top poets from around North America, including some other local names we love like Meaghan Ford, Emily Eastman, Generalissimo, Franny Choi, Robin Merrill, and Porsha O! Break some legs, poets!

Tips from the Bar: Business Vision

What is the worst possible restaurant theme/concept possible?

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, October 8, 2014: Ocean Vuong

NYC poet Ocean Vuong.

NYC poet Ocean Vuong.

A winner of a 2013 Pushcart Prize, Ocean Vuong has received fellowships from Kundiman, Poets House, Civitella Ranieri Foundation (Italy), The Elizabeth George Foundation, and The Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts. Poems appear in Poetry, The Nation, Beloit Poetry Journal, Guernica, Quarterly West, Denver Quarterly, and American Poetry Review, which awarded him the 2012 Stanley Kunitz Prize for Younger Poets. He lives in Queens, NY. Visit him at oceanvuong.com.

This show in our weekly Wednesday series takes place at the Cantab Lounge, 738 Massachusetts Ave. in Cambridge. Doors for the show open at 7:15. The open mic begins at 8:00 and the feature performs at approximately 10:00. An open poetry slam in the 8×8 series will follow. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $5.

Cantab Recap for Wednesday, October 1, 2014

When a poet asks you to change your usual behavior in order to accommodate the plans for his feature –for instance, by asking you not to clap in a slam venue so he can pack more poems into his set– you might at first be taken aback, or tempted to engage in some good-natured ribbing at the poet’s expense. However, if the poet can really put his money where his mouth is (and if anyone can, Sean Patrick Mulroy can), you just might find yourself spellbound, glued to your seat, and perfectly willing to go along with whatever the night’s plan might be. Sean blazed through two marathon sets, performing and reading from his new chapbooks by turns, and only coming up for air once during a remarkable extended feature set. We may never have sent a poet this prolifically prepared to the Individual World Poetry Slam: Sean heads to Phoenix to compete next week, but you can hit him up for a chapbook to catch up on at least half of last night’s set before he goes.

TONIGHT: don’t forget that it’s the first Thursday of the month, folks! That means it’s time for Moonlighting, our LGBTQ-everyone-friendly monthly reading. Tonight’s feature is the superbly awesome Janae Johnson.

Next week, of course, we’re back at the Cantab on a Wednesday. We’ll welcome Pushcart Prize-winner Ocean Vuong to the stage, and fire up the scorecards for another open poetry slam.

Tips from the Bar: That’s Not My Department

Consider the poetry books you know best, or have at least read cover to cover. Interrogate one in the name of your own poem by asking it a question it is not designed to answer.

Moonlighting: A Queer Open Mic and Reading Series on October 2, 2014 Featuring Janae Johnson

This reading is part of our monthly LGBTQ series, Moonlighting. Click here for more information about this recurring show.

The featured reader for October 2 is Janae Johnson.

Janae Johnson, WOWPS 2014 Finalist, champion Boston slammer, and Moonlighting feature. Photo by Jonathan Weiskopf.

Janae Johnson, WOWPS 2014 Finalist, champion Boston slammer, and Moonlighting feature. Photo by Jonathan Weiskopf.

Janae Johnson is a Stevie Wonder-loving, Jamba Juice-sipping, slampoet, educator, and activist in the Boston area. With a jock’s mentality and a poet’s heart, Janae brings all sports and no games to poetry slam. Inspired by uncomfortable silences and midnight bus rides, Janae uses her poetry to shed light on issues of racial inequality, homophobia, and the nuances of love. Truly believing that language is power, she wishes to inspire others to find and embrace the strength in their voices. Janae ranked 5th at the Women of the World PoetrySlam (2014), was the grand slam champion of the 2014 Boston Poetry Slam Team and the 2013 Lizard Lounge Poetry Slam Team. She is the founder/coach/advisor for the nationally ranked Simmons College (Speaks) Poetry Slam team.

This show in our monthly Thursday LGBTQ series takes place at Fazenda Coffee Roasters, 3710 Washington St. in the Jamaica Plain area of Boston. An open mic begins at approximately 7:00 p.m. and the headliner follows the open mic. The show is all-ages and a $3 donation is requested.