Cantab Feature for Wednesday, August 30, 2017: Liv McKee

Capital Region NY poet Liv McKee. Photo by Robert Cooper.

Capital Region NY poet Liv McKee. Photo by Robert Cooper.

Liv McKee is a queer spoken word artist, dancer, musician, and farmer living in the Capital Region of New York. Liv has featured and organized poetry events at venues all over the Northeast and currently competes with Albany’s Nitty Gritty Slam. She placed 33rd out of 100 poets at the 2016 Individual World Poetry Slam in Flagstaff, AZ this past year, and took 1st at the 2016 Emily Dickinson Slam in Amherst, MA, the 8th Annual QEW Regional Slam in Buffalo, NY, the WordxWord Women’s Invitational in Pittsfield, MA, and Wordfest in Troy, NY. Apart from (or wildly integrated within) writing and performing poetry, in her free time you may find Liv swimming, singing, mountain climbing, having conversations with the moon, and playing old time fiddle music. She hopes her poetry leaves you cut, bandaged, bathed, and heartened.

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, August 23, 2017

Welcome back, fall Cantabbers! The summer regulars had to push over and make room for a flood of returning folks and new poets at last night’s open mic, oddly coinciding with the advent of the school year and all cooperating beautifully to piece together a lovely open mic. Our feature was the eminent, the approachable, the deeply serious and deeply playful Danielle Legros Georges, premier Boston Poet Laureate and very engaging reader. If you missed your chance to purchase her book at the show, we hope you’ll visit Barrow Street Press to pick up her 2016 published work, The Dear Remote Nearness of You.

The slamthereafter, the second in our new 8×8 series, featured a cavalcade of eight poets, all raring for the win. The finals came down to a heads-up pairing between newcomer George Abraham and veteran Cantab slam host Kieran Collier: from the one-spot, George took the win and the $10, ready to spend it right back here in his new local economy. Welcome to the neighborhood, George!

Next week: it’s New York State Capital Region poet (notice how that’s not NYC) Liv McKee! This complex and complete performer brings word from a powerhouse slam we expect to take NPS 2018 by storm. Come on out early (like, real early, because it’s crowded right now) to get on our open mic, sneak in at the 10:00 breather, and/or stay late for the third slam in the 8×8 series, all starting with a 7:15 door time next week.

Tips from the Bar: The Wanda Coleman Ghost Line Prompt

Use what Rachel McKibbens calls a “ghost line” to begin your poem; select a line from another artist as a jumping off point for your piece. When you’re done, erase the first line to make the poem your own.

This week’s ghost line from the bar comes from Wanda Coleman’s Bathwater Wine:
“When the book is closed, the words starve.”

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, August 23, 2017: Danielle Legros Georges

Boston Poetry Laureate Danielle Legros Georges. Photo by Priscilla Harmel.

Boston Poetry Laureate Danielle Legros Georges. Photo by Priscilla Harmel.

Danielle Legros Georges is a poet, essayist and a professor in the Creative Arts in Learning Division of Lesley University. She is also a faculty member of the Writers Workshop of the Joiner Institute for the Study of War and Social Consequences, University of Massachusetts, Boston. Her work has appeared in a wide variety of publications, including Agni, The Boston Globe, Transition, Consequence, The Massachusetts Review, World Literature Today, The Caribbean Writer, Callaloo, Salamander, Poeisis, Black Renaissance Noire, MaComère, and The Women’s Review of Books. Recent literary and academic awards include the 2015 Brother Thomas Fellowship from the Boston Foundation, a 2014 Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship, and the 2013 Black Metropolis Research Consortium Fellowship. She curates Boston-based and international poetry and literary events, and is the author of two books of poems, Maroon (2001), and The Dear Remote Nearness of You (2016). In 2014 she was appointed Boston’s Poet Laureate.

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, August 16, 2017

After the grand send-off of our 2017 National Poetry Slam team two weeks ago, followed by RebeccaLynn retaining her title at a walloping Champion of Champions last week, it could have been tough to get back into the regular swing of open mic/feature/open slam… Fortunately, Madeline Maienza and Evan Cutts were in the house to ease us back into reality. These two nationally ranked last chance slammers brought us a sweet spotlight each, fresh off their performances at the National Poetry Slam. Looking for more of these poets? No sweat: you can reach out to Venmo Madeline Maienza for their online chapbook, or email Evan Cutts to get a hold of his paper, in-the-world collection.

As for our first open slam in a minute: it filled up with a vengeance last night, as open mic’ers flocked to fill the last available spots after the feature. Rising to the top were Wheelock newcomer Julissa and committed regular Lip; Julissa might have taken the first two rounds by score in the slam, but fell in the finals to our clean-slate format and Lip’s unwavering performance. Congrats to Lip, who takes home the $10 and the first win in our final 8×8 series of the year.

Next week: Boston’s first-ever Poet Laureate, Danielle Legros Georges, will be in the house. Will this basement clean up and act nice, or be the most Cantab we’ve ever been? No need to answer here; the house should be packed next week, so come by early next week to get heard and listen up.

Tips from the Bar: Weekend Getaway

Write about a place that makes you feel safe or happy.

SCHEDULE CHANGE: Cantab Feature for Wednesday, August 16, 2017: Madeline Maienza and Evan Cutts [postponed: Emily Duggan]

Whoops! Cantabbers, as sometimes happens, due to circumstances beyond her control, Emily Duggan’s feature has been postponed to a future date. Instead, we are proud to present the following last-minute fill-ins of utmost quality: Madeline Maienza and Evan Cutts!

Madeline "Red" Maienza, genderqueer dreamboat barista poet.

Madeline “Red” Maienza, genderqueer dreamboat barista poet.

As you may know, the 2017 National Poetry Slam took place last week, and the week before that was a schedule packed with New England venues bidding grand good luck to their departing teams. Also departing– with intent to volunteer and spectate at the tournament– were a number of hardy locals, some of whom were lucky enough to draw spots in the festival’s Last Chance Slam. Two NorthBEASTERs came out in the top four of this melee, earning them fifty percent of the spots on the appropriately-named Cross Country Collective; the rookies earned a rank of 41 out of 80 in the tournament, and a #1 in our hearts. Since they never got a send-off, please welcome these two hard-repping Last Chance slammers home!

Emersonian, Last Chance NPS finalist, and faith-keeper in Black joy: Evan Cutts. Photo by Paola Méndez.

Emersonian, Last Chance NPS finalist, and faith-keeper in Black joy: Evan Cutts. Photo by Paola Méndez.

Madeline Maienza is a 20-year-old genderqueer poet & dreamboat barista who public-cries most frequently in Manchester, N.H. Their work has appeared or is forthcoming on Slamfind, New Hampshire Public Radio, & thriving (gloworm press), and The Other Side of Violet (great weather for MEDIA). Through their work, they hope to remind the world and also themself that femme is not fragile, that there is strength in softness, and that queer survival in the face of systematic violence is inherently, indisputably brave. Visit them on twitter: @sadeline_ / Instagram: @depressoshot.

Evan Jymaal Cutts is a 23-year-old Boston native, poet, freelance writer, and writing workshop facilitator. Evan was a member of the Emerson College 2017 CUPSI Team and NPS 2017 Last Chance Slam Team. He puts faith in Black joy, his parents, and the collective power of imagination and empathy. His poetry navigates expressions of Blackness, local reality and myth, heritage, and magic. His first collection of poetry, Encounters and Other Poems, was self-published this year and can be ordered online. His poetry can be found online at Voicemail Poems, Maps for Teeth, The Merrimack Review, Apogee Journal, and Broken Head Press. Find him on at Facebook or, for booking, email cuttsartistry@gmail.com.

Bio of the postponed feature:

Poet and Ghost Host (really) Emily Duggan. Photo by Jason Kasman.

Poet and Ghost Host (really) Emily Duggan. Photo by Jason Kasman.

Emily Duggan has studied creative writing, performance poetry, straight and applied theatre, and improv, sketch, and stand-up comedy at Brandeis University, GrubStreet, ImprovBoston, and The Second City— Chicago. Her day job is a night job as a Ghost Host (“dead for bread”) with Ghosts & Gravestones’ haunted trolley/burying-ground tour, where she is always working the graveyard shift, natch. Emily has spent 96% of her life (and all of her death) in the Greater Boston area, so, at the end of August, she will begin her candidacy for the MFA in Writing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

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, August 9, 2017

Cantabbers! It’s now the third week of August, the end of the National Poetry Slam season and almost time for the venue to start filling up with wide-eyed out-of-towners, fresh from their first classes of the semester. Don’t worry, though, some things are consistent as always: this past week, our featured event was the Champion of Champions Slam, where reigning champ RebeccaLynn defeated newly crowned season challenger Anna Binkovitz to retain her prestigious title. RebeccaLynn will be back to defend her title on October 18, as well as for a full feature late in the calendar year.

This Wednesday: our 2017 Boston Poetry Slam Team, the venue’s first-ever Group Piece Finalists, will return from the National Poetry Slam to our open mic and open slam. Right in the heart of the night we’ll have storyteller-poet Emily Duggan in one of her last shows in New England. See you there!

Tips from the Bar: Date Night

Discuss a time you took someone to a cultural event. Why did you take them there and how did it affect your relationship with them?

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, August 9, 2017: Champion of Champions Poetry Slam

Tonight marks the final night in our current 8×8 poetry slam series! What does that mean? It means the eight slam winners from the current slam series will slam off against one another, all competing for the opportunity to take the Season Champion crown and a $50 prize.

But wait, there’s more: once the season champ is crowned, they’ll have the opportunity to let their winnings ride and challenge the reigning Champion of Champions in a one-poem, ALL NEW WORK round! The event will be hosted by Kieran Collier and we’ll need five steady judges to volunteer their poetic opinions from the audience.

Our current reigning champion, RebeccaLynn, wrested the title from Kylie Noelle back in the spring. Who will rise from the pool to take on the mantle of new challenger? Will the title change hands, or will our current champ reign supreme?

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 Champions of Champions Slam in the 8×8 slam series will begin at approximately 10:00. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $3.