Write, edit, or unearth a series of short poems on the same topic, but different storylines or perspectives. Arrange and rearrange to create, uncover, or hide a narrative that doesn’t exist in the individual poems.
Cantab Slam for Wednesday, November 27, 2019: History of the Internet Slam
Extremely graphic History of the Internet illustration by Cassandra de Alba.
The thing about the internet is that anyone at the bar, sitting next to you at the basement floor, or looking uninterested outside the Cantab entrance could be an internet celebrity. Get your own fifteen minutes at tonight’s event celebrating the timeline of internet communication, from AIM to LiveJournal to Twitter to Tik Tok. This will be a team-based competition with a series of “event” rounds encouraging various formats, group pieces, and a solid dose of silliness.
Interested in learning more, putting forth ideas, or signing up for/with a team? Email tonight’s slam director Myles Taylor.
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 invitational slam begins at approximately 10:00. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $3.
Urbanity Dance Presents: The Boston Poetry Slam with VLA Dance
Friday, November 22, 2019
Urbanity Dance, 725 Harrison Ave., Boston
TWO 1-HOUR SHOWS: 6:30 doors & 8:30 doors, talkback with the artists to follow
all ages, $15 and up (click for tickets), drinks with advance purchase only!
click for Facebook event
Boston Poetry Slam meets dance: image courtesy Urbanity X.
One night only! The Irresponsible Birds of the Boston Poetry Slam– that’s RebeccaLynn, Joshua Elbaum, Zeke Russell, Terah Ehigiator, and Arianna Monet– will perform two sets of poetry alongside movement from VLA Dance. Neither interpretive nor literal, the two troupes explore buoying one another and dividing the concept of storytelling between genres in a dynamic collaboration.
This show happens on ONE NIGHT ONLY and is thanks to Urbanity X, an incubator program pairing dancers with other city artists and providing technical support. This program’s beautiful venue space is also courtesy of Urbanity.
Tickets are $15 and up for each of the two shows: click here for tickets. This intimate space is wheelchair-accessible with one single-gender bathroom. Because this space is not a bar, alcohol is available only by advance purchase! Please see our ticketing link to purchase drinks with your tickets.
Cantab Recap for Wednesday, November 20, 2019
Last night, intense listeners packed the house for a high-energy open mic followed by the return of a long-lost 2011 Boston Poetry Slam Team member: Maya Phillips was in town from New York, bringing with her the heady work of her debut collection, Erou. What a privilege and a joy to get to hear Maya’s familiar pacing and powerful performance fill the room again, this time with new ports of call and epic-inspired story. This is Maya’s last stop on the Boston leg of her fall tour, but if you’ll be in NYC over the holidays, keep an ear out for more gigs from this rising voice.
Our next show: is… on a Friday?! Yup, that’s right: on Friday, November 22, in a well-lit, above-ground, non-bar space (wild), Arianna Monet, RebeccaLynn, Joshua Elbaum, Terah Ehigiator, and Zeke Russell will perform with VLA Dance in a one-night only collaboration. There are two sets for this show, so you can catch an hour with us just to get your night started in the South End: click here for more info.
Don’t worry, we’ll be back in the basement next Wednesday. That night is a slam directed by Myles Taylor: click on through if you’d like more details on how to get a prompt for a poetry competition about The History of the Internet.
Cantab Feature for Wednesday, November 20, 2019: Maya Phillips
Brooklyn poet, freelance writer, one-time Cantab host Maya Phillips. Photo by Molly Walsh.
Maya Phillips was born and raised in New York. Maya received her BFA in writing, literature, and publishing with a concentration in poetry from Emerson College and her MFA in poetry from Warren Wilson’s MFA Program for Writers. Her poetry has appeared in At Length, BOAAT, Ghost Proposal, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Vinyl, and The Gettysburg Review, among others, and her arts & entertainment journalism has appeared in The New York Times, Vulture, Mashable, Slate, The Week, American Theatre, and more. Her debut poetry collection, Erou, is available from Four Way Books. A former content editor and producer at the Academy of American Poets, Maya currently works as a web producer at The New Yorker and as a freelance writer. She lives in Brooklyn. Follow her at @mayabphillips or learn more about her poetry and journalism at her website.
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. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $3.
Cantab Recap for Wednesday, November 13, 2019
Wow, Cantabbers! José Olivarez came back to be a local for one night only this week, the first time since 2015, and rocked the poetic worlds of a very appreciative audience. José’s easy manner, uncompromising stories, and slow-burn big-rise work glued first-time listeners to their seats and warmed those in the know to the core. If you missed your chance to get his book, you can still order Citizen Illegal from the publisher; if you’ve already got it, you’ll want to keep an eye out for his next project as co-editor of The Breakbeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNext.
Next week: we welcome back Maya Phillips, author of the critically acclaimed Erou, former content editor/writer at the Academy of American Poets, and member of the 2011 Boston Poetry Slam Team.
Cantab Feature for Wednesday, November 13, 2019: José Olivarez
Chicago poet and author of Citizen Illegal: José Olivarez. Photo by Marcos Vasquez.
José Olivarez is the son of Mexican immigrants and the author of Citizen Illegal, a finalist for the PEN/ Jean Stein Award and a winner of the 2018 Chicago Review of Books Poetry Prize. In 2018, he was awarded the first annual Author and Artist in Justice Award from the Phillips Brooks House Association, and the book was named a top book of 2018 by NPR and the New York Public Library. His work has been featured in The New York Times, The Paris Review, Chicago Magazine and elsewhere.
Along with Felicia Chavez and Willie Perdomo, he is co-editor of The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNEXT (forthcoming from Haymarket Books). He is the co-host of the Poetry Gods podcast and a recipient of fellowships from CantoMundo, Poets House, the Bronx Council on the Arts, the Poetry Foundation, and the Conversation Literary Festival. Visit him at his website.
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. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $3.
Cantab Recap for Wednesday, November 6, 2019
This Wednesday, we were so pleased to host Ashia Ajani for a feature and exceptional workshop, inviting participants and listeners to consider a whole environment, a whole nature that includes both the colonial and diasporic, and an apocalypse that invites us to love. Looking forward to hearing more of our workshoppers’ poems as the month goes on.
Coming up next: Citizen Illegal author José Olivarez hasn’t been to visit us since before his book was published, back in 2015. This coming Wednesday he’ll be riding high on the success of this vividly important publication, plus no doubt carrying some new work to share. Open mic hopefuls are advised to arrive at our 7:15 door time as tonight’s event is likely to sell out.
Boston Poetry Slam Online