Cantab Slam for Wednesday, January 30, 2019: Joy Slam & Chris Leja Spotlight

The Boston Poetry Slam kicks off the 2019 slam season with a much-needed slam on the theme of Joy! Poets are asked to bring their most joy-focused poems to the stage in a celebration of warmth during these dark days of winter. This slam will be hosted by local ray of sunshine Kieran Collier.

Slam format and cash prizes are contingent on the number of advance sign-ups, but poets should expect to need up to three joyous poems, with standard slam rules in effect. To sign up for the slam and get format updates, please email slamseries@bostonpoetryslam.com.

Judges are also invited to offer their services in advance in return for free admission; please email slamseries@bostonpoetryslam.com. No experience is necessary, or even desired.

Brooklyn-based Portland-sound poet Chris Leja. Photo by Daniel Calfo.

Brooklyn-based Portland-sound poet Chris Leja. Photo by Daniel Calfo.

In excellent mid-winter news, touring poet Chris Leja will offer a spotlight feature to highlight our open mic tonight! Chris Leja is a writer currently based in Brooklyn who has represented the Portland, Oregon area venues six times in national slam competition. His work has appeared in Tandem, Borderline, Unshod Quills, and other journals and anthologies. He’s toured internationally and is a multiple Pushcart nominee. He dropped out of kindergarten, and consequently never learned to share. (Ed. note: Chris will definitely share poems, no fooling.)

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 the slam will follow at approximately 10:00. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $3.

Cantab Recap for Wednesday, January 23, 2019

Welp, it’s glory days again at the Cantab, folks: sold-out shows have been going down all year (yes, we said that) for exceptional features and sweet&smart open mics every Wednesday. This past week, newcomers and folks in the know were treated to a feature by up-and-coming-and-already-here poet/scientist José Zepeda, who packed a half-hour with the deliberate, delicate, and forthright storytelling he’s come to be known for at our open mics and slams. The poet just might have one or two chapbooks left to sell you; hit him up to buy a physical or electronic copy if you’re lucky enough to catch him at an upcoming open mic.

Oh, and speaking of upcoming: next week we celebrate the fifth Wednesday of the month, and we are excited to present our first ever Joy Slam, with an open mic spotlight from Pacific NW poet Chris Leja! It’s gonna be a big and joyful night in the coldest heart of winter, folks; the slam is jam-packed with all-stars to joy you up, but there are still judging spots left if you want to be part of the show. See you there!

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, January 23, 2019: José Zepeda

Firey neuroscientific poet José Zepeda. Photo by Carolina Valenzuela.

Firey neuroscientific poet José Zepeda. Photo by Carolina Valenzuela.

José Zepeda is a spicy food loving human. He is Boston-based and reigns from the fiery Sonoran desert. A wannabe neuroscientist by day and a wannabe poet by night, José constantly challenges himself to be the very best Pokémon trainer. He is very annoying. This may or may not have been written by his sister. José’s poetry centers around the contemporary problems faced by the chicanx community. Prominent themes are those of identity, racism, colorism, and belonging.

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, January 16, 2019

George Abraham! George Abraham! George Abraham! Somebody whose name this blogger just typed three times in a row stuffed the Cantab with loving and talented humans last night in the name of poetry. After a workshop offering an exciting prompt on three breathtaking writing samples (check out one at our weekly prompt here), George presented us with a delicately wrought set riding on a powerful conceptual engine, shaking the audience’s concepts of science, territory, body, and the very shape of a poem. George has more shows coming up this month, but if you want to hold these new poems in your hands, snap up The Specimen’s Apology for yourself straight from the publisher’s website.

Next week: it’s a science double-header! Student in neuroscience and UMass Boston CUPSI veteran José Zepeda will take the stage for a full feature. 2019 has been selling out quick, so come early to get a seat for this important and beloved local voice.

Tip from the Bar: The George Abraham Prompt

Simplified from George Abraham’s open-ended prompt at a recent workshop, after Hala Alyan‘s Wife in Reverse:

Write a poem where you manipulate time or space in some way; try to keep yourself from manipulating both.

Cantab Workshop for Wednesday, January 16, 2019 with George Abraham

Join George Abraham, the night’s scheduled feature, for an early-bird poetry workshop at the Cantab Lounge before the show. The one-hour workshop has limited space and begins at 5:30, with latecomers admitted no later than 6:00. This is a generative workshop and all are welcome. Description from the workshop leader:

I made him up // I made it all up: the Poetics of Memory and Personal Histories
Hala Alyan concludes her poem New Year with the lines: “I made him up. I made it all up.” How are we, as poets, to write narratives of trauma when trauma acts on and writes memory in every stage: from perception to cognition to consolidation to recollection? What does truth look like, and is truth a reasonable or responsible goal for every poem when we consider the systemic constructions (and consumption) of truth, and whose narratives are allowed to be considered true? When the existence of historically marginalized bodies are being denied on a national level, how can poetry serve as a vessel of memory, and hence history, for these bodies? Moreover, how can we write poems which are responsible, first and foremost, to memory? This workshop will draw from questions of memory via meditation and writing exercises, as well as examining the work of poets such as Hala Alyan, Ladan Osman, Brigit Pegeen Kelly, and more.

Cover charge is $5-$20 sliding scale, which includes admission to the evening show. We ask financially stable poets to consider contributing the higher end of this scale (or more) in order to defer costs for others and support this teaching artist’s generous donation of time to our space. Please note that no one who desires to write and contribute to the community of the workshop will be turned away for lack of funds!

Due to the constraints of the venue, this workshop has limited space; room can be guaranteed to poets who identify as POC or queer. The best way to score a spot in the workshop is to directly email the series curator.

The venue is 18+ and a photo ID is required. For more information on the night’s open mic, slam, and feature from George, click here.

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, January 16, 2019: George Abraham

Widely celebrated Palestinian-American poet George Abraham. Photo by Mara Buzatu.

Widely celebrated Palestinian-American poet George Abraham. Photo by Mara Buzatu.

George Abraham is a Palestinian-American poet, writer, and Bioengineering PhD candidate at Harvard University. They are the author of two poetry chapbooks: the specimen’s apology (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2019) and al youm – for yesterday & her inherited traumas (the Atlas Review, 2017). He is the recipient of fellowships from Kundiman, The Poetry Foundation, and The Watering Hole, and winner of the 2018 Cosmonauts Avenue Poetry Prize selected by Tommy Pico, as well as the honor of Best Poet from the College Union Poetry Slam International. Their writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Tin House, Boston Review, LitHub, The Rumpus, Beloit Poetry Journal, and anthologies such as Nepantla, Bettering American Poetry, and Beyond Memory: An Anthology of Arab American Creative Nonfiction (University of Arkansas Press, 2019).

Their first full-length poetry collection, Birthright, is forthcoming with Button Poetry in 2020. Visit George at Instagram, Twitter, or gabrahampoet.com.

The Boston Poetry Slam is pleased to announce that George will also present an early-bird generative writing workshop prior to the open mic portion of the show. For more information, including how to sign up in advance, please see our separate event page.

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, January 9, 2019

Congratulations to all the listeners who got in to see our first sold-out show of 2019! Last night, Cave Canem Poetry Prize winner, CUPSI Best Poet, and all-around dope writer Julian Randall had folks falling (gently) over each other to catch his half-hour set. Powerful, unapologetic, and masterfully crafted, Julian’s work shook, flexed, and lifted the audience to a high point in the new calendar year, exactly what we needed on this second Wednesday; folks still looking to purchase the poet’s book can grab his work straight from his publisher at Pitt. Extra thanks to the writers who came out early to make for a lively workshop and dialogue before the show: if you missed your chance to write a poem there, no worries, we’ve got another workshop next week starring George Abraham.

Yup, you read that right: George Abraham will not only lead a workshop before doors open for the show, but also be releasing the specimen’s apology that week on Sibling Rivalry, at The House Slam, and right here at the Cantab! You can count on different sets, different takes on poems, and different (soon-to-be-famous) banter from the author at every show from this beloved local; come to us early, stay late, hear poems and maybe even write one in the warm light of a room filled with fellow artists.

Tips from the Bar: The Shane Koyczan Prompt

Try answering this question from a Shane Koyczan poem:

When was the last time you knew everything was going to be okay?

Cantab Workshop for Wednesday, January 9, 2019 with Julian Randall

Join Julian Randall, the night’s scheduled feature, for an early-bird poetry workshop at the Cantab Lounge before the show. The one-hour workshop has limited space and begins at 5:30, with latecomers admitted no later than 6:00. This is a generative workshop and all are welcome. Description from the workshop leader:

Slam the Form!
This workshop uses the contemporary and classic poetic forms the Golden Shovel and the sonnet. Drawing on the work of Terrance Hayes, Patricia Smith, Lyrae Van Cleif Stefanon and sam sax we will explore the possibilities of poetic form as a means of self excavation and finding the true and beating core of obsession.

Cover charge is $10-$20 sliding scale, which includes admission to the evening show. We ask financially stable poets to consider contributing the higher end of this scale (or more) in order to defer costs for others and support this teaching artist’s generous donation of time to our space. Please note that our minimum is $10 tonight for the rare opportunity to work with this skilled touring teaching artist, but no poet of color will be turned away for lack of funds.

Due to the constraints of the venue, this workshop has limited space; room can be guaranteed to poets who identify as POC or queer. The best way to score a spot in the workshop is to directly email the series curator.

The venue is 18+ and a photo ID is required. For more information on the night’s open mic, slam, and feature from Julian, click here.