What object that we use every day is actually alien technology? How do you know?
Cantab Feature for Wednesday, June 6, 2018: World Qualifier Finals
The Boston Poetry Slam will preview our summer of slam with the second and final night of the annual World Qualifier to select the Boston Poetry Slam’s sole representative to the 2018 Individual World Poetry Slam! This year’s IWPS will take place in San Diego, Calif. from October 10-13, and our World Qualifier slam winner will be entered into the event.
Tonight’s winner-take-all competition will feature the top eight finishers from the May 16 World Qualifier Speed Slam. The four-round night, including one limit-breaking 4-minute round, will culminate in a head-to-head finals to determine who will represent the BPS in the not Bay Area this fall.
Our final roster is confirmed, and the order of the first round will be:
1. RebeccaLynn
2. Cassandra de Alba
3. José Zepeda
4. Neiel Israel
5. Sam Zilli
6. JR Mahung
7. Lip McDonald
8. Myles Taylor
sacrifices: Zeke Russell, Meaghan Ford
For more details about how the slam works, you can check out the full rules and format for the World Qualifier Series.
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. An slightly shortened open mic begins at 8:00 and the slam begins at approximately 10:00. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $5; proceeds will go toward funding the World Qualifier winner’s trip to IWPS this October.
Cantab Recap for Wednesday, May 30, 2018
What a sweet Cantab week, folks! It was our great honor and pleasure to host Evan Jymaal Cutts for his farewell-to-Boston hello-to-MFA-program feature. Evan treated us to a long-arcing set and an unflinching joy of self; this badass co-host will be much missed when he departs for parts southwest.
Our slam was a surprising two-poet heads-up affair: Red Maienza, one-time Last Chance teammate to Evan, and fellow co-host Nora Meiners slammed off in a three-round competition that came down to the very last poem. Nora took the win and the $10, sending Red back to New Hampshire empty-handed (but you can hear them again here soon at our July 18 NorthBEAST Regional).
Next week: it’s indy finals! The World Qualifier series finishes up with a four-round, progressive elimination slam featuring top finishers from the speed slams. It’s a $5 cover that night to see Myles Em Taylor, Lip McDonald, JR Mahung, Sam Zilli, Neiel Israel, José Zepeda, Cassandra de Alba, and RebeccaLynn take the stage in this winner-take-all knock-down slam. Bring your judging face and your beer dollars! See you in the basement!
Cantab Feature for Wednesday, May 30, 2018: Evan Jymaal Cutts
Evan Jymaal Cutts performs in the 2018 Boston Poetry Slam Team series. Photo by Marshall Goff.
Evan Jymaal Cutts is a 23-year-old Boston native, poet, journalist, and writing workshop facilitator. Evan was a member of the Emerson College 2017 CUPSI Team and 2017 National Poetry Slam “Last Chance Slam” Team. He puts his faith in Black joy, his mother and father, and the power of imagination. His poetry navigates expressions of Blackness, Boston, narrative, and magic. His poetry is published in Broken Head Press, Apogee Journal, Voicemail Poems, Maps for Teeth, and The Merrimack Review.
Note: due to circumstances beyond the spotlight’s control, Bill Moran’s spotlight feature has been canceled this evening. We hope to reschedule Bill on his next New England go-around.
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 Last Chance speed slam will follow. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $3.
Cantab Recap for Wednesday, May 23, 2018
If there’s a better way to celebrate an impending long weekend than a sweet open mic full of sweethearts, then sweet Chrysanthemum Tran sweetly driving a sweet little pickup truck through your sweet misconceptions about language, we’ve sure never heard of it. Chrysanthemum showed off the performance skills and flair for language that make her one of slam’s top competitors, as well as the delicacy and penchant for a solid side-eye at colonialism that make her such a sought-after feature. Did you miss your chance to purchase Chrysanthemum’s chapbook, A Lexicon, at the show? We have high hopes that you’ll get another chance when the Providence Poetry Slam Team returns to visit us to slam…
In the mean time, of course, we are still out here collecting slam winners for the next Champion of Champions series. RebeccaLynn and Evan Cutts took an arm-and-arm besties run at the final round last night, with RebeccaLynn coming out on top for another first-in-the-8×8 win. Don’t weep for Evan’s loss, though; we’re excited to bring him back to the stage next week to celebrate his work in a full feature set. See you there!
Cantab Feature for Wednesday, May 23, 2018: Chrysanthemum Tran
National slam champion Chrysanthemum Tran.
Chrysanthemum Tran is a queer & transgender Vietnamese American poet, performer & teaching artist based in Providence by way of Oklahoma City. In 2016, she became the first transfeminine finalist of the Women of the World Poetry Slam. Chrysanthemum is a 2016 Rustbelt Poetry Slam Champion & 2017 FEMS Poetry Slam Champion, in addition to being awarded “Best Poet” at the 2016 National College Slam. Chrysanthemum is a Pink Door Fellow & the current lead teaching artist for the Providence Poetry Slam youth team.
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.
Annual Attleboro Arts Museum Poetry Slam: Friday, May 18, 2018
Friday, May 18, 2018
86 Park St., Attleboro, MA
6:30 sign-ups, 7:00 open mic, 7:30 poetry slam
FREE show for all ages
more details at the Attleboro Arts Museum website
The Boston Poetry Slam has presented a free poetry slam in conjunction with the Attleboro Arts Museum annually since 2007! This year’s special event will feature three National-Poetry-Slam-bound teams and an open mic headlined by YOU, hosted by BPS SlamMaster Simone Beaubien. As always, the show is held in the main room of the Museum at 86 Park St. in Attleboro, and the event is free of charge. For the third year in a row, this event is generously made possible by funding from the Attleboro accounting firm Castro, Thresher and Oliviera, P.C..
This year’s event will reprise the high-energy show format of the past three years: an open mic for members of the Attleboro community and beyond will kick off the night. After the open mic, teams from the Boston Poetry Slam, the House Slam, and the Providence Poetry Slam will go head-to-head-to-head in a performance poetry exhibition! These three freshly selected teams will be shaking out their metaphors in preparation for their trip to the National Poetry Slam in Chicago this August.
The Attleboro Arts Museum is located at 86 Park St. in Attleboro, Mass., just a short walk from the Attleboro stop on the Providence/Boston line of the Commuter Rail. Signups for the open mic begin at 6:30pm, with the open mic starting at 7:00. A poetry slam featuring all-star slam teams will begin at the end of the open mic. The show is recommended for teens and up (the Museum is all ages) and admission is free.
Cantab Recap for Wednesday, May 16, 2018
What a Wednesday! After a somewhat short and very sweet open mic, howdyheck were we glad to welcome George Abraham to a last-minute spotlight feature. George, a Palestinian-American poet, activist, engineering PhD candidate at Harvard, and just-about-one-year-regular at the Cantab, is the author of two chapbooks and widely published in some of your favorite reviews. But wait: George is also the co-editor (with Tariq Luthun) of Nakba: 70 Years of Palestinian Resistance to Occupation, a poetry folio gathered by these two for LitHub and Maps for Teeth over a period of forty-eight intense hours this week. George was generous enough to read from these voices in context during a short set last night, and our audience responded with love, but also donations for George to pass on to Medical Aid for Palestinians and ADDAMMEER. Huge thanks to George for taking the time and energy to share this with us.
As you might have heard: our scheduled event for the night was the year’s speediest slam, the semi-finals of our World Qualifier series! Eleven poets hit the stage with just one 2-minute and one 1-minute poem, all vying to earn a spot in the June 6 World Qualifier Finals… Math and ties being what they are, the nine poets in bold are now qualified for the eight spots:
1. Myles Em Taylor 54.9
2(t). Lip McDonald 53.2
2(t). JR Mahung 53.2
4(t). Sam Zilli 52.5
4(t). Sara Mae 52.5
6. Zeke Russell 52.2
7. Neiel Israel 51.9
8(t). José Zepeda 51.4
8(t). Meaghan Ford 51.4
9. Cassandra de Alba
10. RebeccaLynn
Score-wrecking sacrifices were offered up from Evan Jymaal Cutts (our May 30 feature!) and George Abraham, but our five (well, math and judge teams being what they are, eight) judges held strong; thanks to Katherine & Shauna, Azam, Victoria & Armando, Claudia & Emma, and Nick for having vastly different opinions from one another, but still somehow making a terrifyingly tight slam.
Next week: our slammers can finally stretch out and relax, as we will return to regular 3-minute open poetry slams… But the rest of you will be on the edge of your seats for a long-awaited feature from Chrysanthemum Tran! Don’t miss out: come celebrate the longest run of spring weather in New England history with any of our awesome upcoming Wednesdays.
Tip from the Bar: The Origin of Your Specifics
Adam Stone’s Tip from the Bar for Wednesday, May 16, 2018.
What part of your body has most recently Poké-evolved? What do you most miss about it? Does its departure change or benefit you in any way?
Boston Poetry Slam Online