Extremely Online for Wednesday, May 6, 2020: Maya Williams

In accordance with public health concerns, the Boston Poetry Slam has canceled all local events. Instead, we offer the Extremely Online open mic and feature series, continuing weekly on Wednesdays throughout May 2020.

This Extremely Online show takes place via the free online meeting platform Zoom. A link to signups for the open mic will open at 7:15, and the Zoom link will be posted at 7:40. Open mic begins at 8:00 with the feature to follow around 9:15. To gain access to the show, please use the links posted in the Facebook event link (forthcoming) on the night of the show.

Portland poet and essayist Maya Williams. Photo by Gary Stallsworth.

Portland poet and essayist Maya Williams. Photo by Gary Stallsworth.

Maya Williams (she/they) is a Black and Mixed Race suicide survivor residing in Portland, Maine always writing and asking to give you a hug. Maya has published poems in glitterMOB, The Portland Press Herald, Black Table Arts, Occulum, and more. She has also published essays in Rooted in Rights, Black Youth Project, The Tempest, and more. They are a Best of the Net Nominee and a winner of PortFringe’s Patron’s Choice Award for their spoken word showcase “When Speaking to An Extraterrestrial” in 2019. You can find Maya hosting open mics at Bull Feeney’s Tuesday nights in Portland’s Old Port and facilitating writing workshops Sunday mornings at Quill Books & Beverage in Westbrook. You can visit Maya on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, or at their personal website.

Cover charge is Pay What You Can, with a suggested donation of $3 via CashApp to $BostonPoetrySlam. Listeners are reminded that poetry may contain some strong language, adult themes, and unfiltered ideas; we ask our open mic participants to provide trigger warnings when appropriate, and to remember to be kind and respectful of a diverse listening experience. This series was founded by Lip Manegio is co-curated by Myles Taylor.

Extremely Online for Wednesday, April 29, 2020: Cassandra Myers

In accordance with public health concerns, the Boston Poetry Slam has canceled all local events. Instead, we offer the Extremely Online open mic and feature series, weekly on Wednesdays for the month of April 2020.

This Extremely Online show takes place via the free online meeting platform Zoom. A link to signups for the open mic will open at 7:15, and the Zoom link will be posted at 7:40. Open mic begins at 8:00 with the feature to follow around 9:15. To gain access to the show, please use the links posted in the Facebook event on the night of the show.

Poet Cassandra Myers of Tkaronto. Photo by Evan Roy.

Poet Cassandra Myers of Tkaronto. Photo by Evan Roy.

Cassandra Myers (they/she) is an emerging poet from Tkaronto. She was awarded the Best Poet at the 2018 College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational and a Canadian National Poetry Slam team champion with the 2018 Toronto Poetry Slam team. An MSW candidate at York University, Cassandra is an arts-activist and organizer, running poetry workshops for youth living on the margins. Their work can be found in Overheard Lit, UncommonYOU, and forthcoming in ARC Poetry Magazine.

Cover charge is Pay What You Can, with a suggested donation of $3 via CashApp to $BostonPoetrySlam. Listeners are reminded that poetry may contain some strong language, adult themes, and unfiltered ideas; we ask our open mic participants to provide trigger warnings when appropriate, and to remember to be kind and respectful of a diverse listening experience. This series was founded by Lip Manegio is co-curated by Myles Taylor.

Extremely Online for Wednesday, April 22, 2020: Cassandra de Alba

In accordance with public health concerns, the Boston Poetry Slam has canceled all local events. Instead, we offer the Extremely Online open mic and feature series, weekly on Wednesdays for the month of April 2020.

This Extremely Online show takes place via the free online meeting platform Zoom. A link to signups for the open mic will open at 7:15, and the Zoom link will be posted at 7:40. Open mic begins at 8:00 with the feature to follow around 9:15. To gain access to the show, please use the links posted in the Facebook event on the night of the show.

Local favorite and metaphorical deer hunter Cassandra de Alba. Photo by Emily Cataneo.

Local favorite and metaphorical deer hunter Cassandra de Alba. Photo by Emily Cataneo.

Our originally scheduled feature, Jess Rizkallah, will be rescheduled for later in the season. Instead, we present local favorite and touchstone Cassandra de Alba. Cassandra de Alba is a poet living in Massachusetts. Her chapbooks habitats (Horse Less Press, 2016) and ORB (Reality Hands, 2018) are about deer and the moon, respectively, and Ugly/Sad was released by Glass Poetry Press in 2020. She is a co-host at the Boston Poetry Slam at the Cantab Lounge and an associate editor at Pizza Pi Press.

Cover charge is Pay What You Can, with a suggested donation of $3 via CashApp to $BostonPoetrySlam. Listeners are reminded that poetry may contain some strong language, adult themes, and unfiltered ideas; we ask our open mic participants to provide trigger warnings when appropriate, and to remember to be kind and respectful of a diverse listening experience. This series was founded by Lip Manegio is co-curated by Myles Taylor.

We look forward to welcoming our postponed feature in the near future:

Etal Adnan prizewinner Jess Rizkallah. Photo courtesy of her mom.

Etal Adnan prizewinner Jess Rizkallah. Photo courtesy of her mom.

Jess Rizkallah is a Lebanese-American writer and illustrator. Her full-length collection THE MAGIC MY BODY BECOMES was a finalist for The Believer Poetry Award and won the 2017 Etel Adnan Poetry Prize as awarded by the Radius of Arab-American Writers and University of Arkansas Press. Find her at jessrizkallah.com.

Extremely Online for Wednesday, April 15, 2020: Lyd Havens

In accordance with public health concerns, the Boston Poetry Slam has canceled all local events. Instead, we offer the Extremely Online open mic and feature series, weekly on Wednesdays for the month of April 2020.

This Extremely Online show takes place via the free online meeting platform Zoom. A link to signups for the open mic will open at 7:15, and the Zoom link will be posted at 7:40. Open mic begins at 8:00 with the feature to follow around 9:15. To gain access to the show, please use the links posted in the Facebook event on the night of the show.

Boise poet Lyd Havens. Photo by Taylor Renae Johnson.

Boise poet Lyd Havens. Photo by Taylor Renae Johnson.

Lyd Havens is the author of the chapbook I Gave Birth to All the Ghosts Here (Nostrovia! Press, 2018). The winner of the 2018 ellipsis… Poetry Prize, their work has been published in Ploughshares, The Shallow Ends, and Tinderbox Poetry Journal, among others. They were a member of the 2017 Boise Poetry Slam team, which placed 7th at group piece finals, and Boise’s representative for the 2017 Individual World Poetry Slam. Lyd is currently an undergraduate at Boise State University, where they are studying creative writing and history. They were born on their due date, and have been intensely punctual to everything since.

Cover charge is Pay What You Can, with a suggested donation of $3 via CashApp to $BostonPoetrySlam. Listeners are reminded that poetry may contain some strong language, adult themes, and unfiltered ideas; we ask our open mic participants to provide trigger warnings when appropriate, and to remember to be kind and respectful of a diverse listening experience. This series was founded by Lip Manegio is co-curated by Myles Taylor.

Extremely Online for Wednesday, April 8, 2020: Allison Truj

In accordance with public health concerns, the Boston Poetry Slam has canceled all local events. Instead, we offer the Extremely Online open mic and feature series, weekly on Wednesdays for the month of April 2020.

This Extremely Online show takes place via the free online meeting platform Zoom. A link to signups for the open mic will open at 7:15, and the Zoom link will be posted at 7:40. Open mic begins at 8:00 with the feature to follow around 9:15. To gain access to the show, please use the links posted in the Facebook event on the night of the show.

Extremly Online: 2018 Boston Poetry Slam Team member Truj. Photo by Brian Hamilton.

Extremly Online: 2018 Boston Poetry Slam Team member Truj. Photo by Brian Hamilton.

Our feature: Allison Truj is an award-winning designer and performing artist living in Boston, but more importantly, she is an octopus who has escaped from the aquarium and cannot be stopped. She is a National Poetry Slam semifinalist, 4-time coach of the Emerson College CUPSI team, and former member of the Boston Poetry Slam 2018 national team. She is the Production Manager of Ploughshares, co-host of the breakfast podcast Most Important Meal, and she probably likes you.

Cover charge is Pay What You Can, with a suggested donation of $3 via CashApp to $BostonPoetrySlam. Listeners are reminded that poetry may contain some strong language, adult themes, and unfiltered ideas; we ask our open mic participants to provide trigger warnings when appropriate, and to remember to be kind and respectful of a diverse listening experience. This series was founded by Lip Manegio is co-curated by Myles Taylor.

Zoomlighting: A Queer Online Poetry Cypher for April 5, 2020

This reading is part of our LGBTQIA+ series, Moonlighting. This month’s event is scheduled for Sunday, April 5, and will take place online via Zoom (free to download). This event will not feature a headliner; instead, the show offers an open cypher for poets looking to share. For information about how to join the online meeting, please see our Facebook event.

This reading is free of charge; listeners interested in contributing to the operating budget of the Boston Poetry Slam may donate via CashApp at $BostonPoetrySlam. Listeners are reminded that poetry may contain some strong language, adult themes, and unfiltered ideas; we ask our open mic participants to provide trigger warnings when appropriate, and to remember to be kind and respectful of a diverse listening experience. This event is curated and managed by Myles Taylor and Ilyus Evander.

For information about how to join the online meeting, please see our Facebook event. For more information about the history of the monthly series, click here.

POSTPONED for Wednesday, April 1, 2020: William Evans

In accordance with public health concerns, this show has been CANCELLED. We will work to reschedule the featured artist at the earliest possible opportunity. In the meantime, we encourage you to buy the poet’s book directly from the publisher: We Inherit What the Fires Left on Simon & Schuster. You can also visit the Simon & Schuster Instagram to join a weekly workshop with Will every Wednesday in April starting at noon EST.

Black Nerd Problems co-founder and Simon & Schuster author William Evans. Photo courtesy of the author.

Black Nerd Problems co-founder and Simon & Schuster author William Evans. Photo courtesy of the author.

William Evans is an author, speaker, & instructor from Columbus, Ohio. In addition to founding the Writing Wrongs Poetry Slam in Columbus, William is also the co-founder & editor-in chief of Black Nerd Problems, a website focused on pop culture & diversity. He is the author of We Inherit What the Fires Left, forthcoming from Simon & Schuster in spring 2020. Evans has been an artist in residence for both the Columbus Wexner Center and Columbus City Schools since 2012.

Evans belongs to fellowships from Callaloo & the Watering Hole Poetry. He is the poetry recipient of 2016 Sustainable Arts Foundation Grant & the 2018 Spirit of Columbus Foundation Grant. He is the author of the poetry collection, Still Can’t Do My Daughter’s Hair, released on Button Poetry in October of 2017. Visit him on Twitter @willevanswrites or Instagram @willtotha.

POSTPONED for Wednesday, March 25, 2020: Bradley Trumpfheller

In accordance with public health concerns, this show has been CANCELLED. We will work to reschedule the featured artist at the earliest possible opportunity. In the meantime, we encourage you to buy the poet’s book directly from the publisher: Reconstructions on Sibling Rivalry Press.

Divedapper co-editor Bradley Trumpfheller. Photo by Alex Winze.

Divedapper co-editor Bradley Trumpfheller. Photo by Alex Winze.

Bradley Trumpfheller (they/them) is the author of Reconstructions (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2020). Born in Japan and raised across the South, their work has appeared in Poetry, The Nation, jubilat, The Shallow Ends, Muzzle, and elsewhere. A MacDowell Fellow, they co-edit the website Divedapper, and currently live in Somerville.

POSTPONED for Wednesday, March 18, 2020: Lip Manegio

In accordance with public health concerns, this show has been CANCELLED. We will work to reschedule the featured artist at the earliest possible opportunity. In the meantime, we encourage you to buy the poet’s book directly from the publisher: We’ve All Seen Helena on Game Over Books.

Game Over author and EPP co-President Lip Manegio. Photo by Jerry Cardona.

Game Over author and EPP co-President Lip Manegio. Photo by Jerry Cardona.

Lip Manegio (they/them) is a Pushcart nominated writer, organizer, & cryptid who is learning to be unapologetically in love with life. They are currently pursuing a BFA in creative writing with a minor in art history at Emerson College, where they also serve as co-president of the Emerson Poetry Project.

They represented Emerson at CUPSI 2018 & 2019, have appeared on finals stages at FEMS & Capturing Fire, and were on the winning team at Vox Pop 2018. Their work has appeared in Glass: A Journal of Poetry, Puerto del Sol, tenderness lit, Gordon Square Review, Tin House, and elsewhere. Their debut chapbook, We’ve All Seen Helena, a collection of poems about queerness, survival, & My Chemical Romance, is available now from Game Over Books.

Public Health Update for March 16, 2020: Shows Postponed Through April 1

Poets, listeners, once and future Cantabbers: you will be unsurprised to hear that our March 18, March 25, and April 1 shows have been CANCELLED. We will work to reschedule our features at the earliest most appropriate opportunity. In the meantime, we hope you will support our postponed features with purchases direct from their presses:

We recognize that our space provides valuable social and financial support to developing and working artists; we’ve done so for almost three decades, and we intend to continue. However, for the duration of the Cantab Lounge’s mandated closure of service, and until further notice, we will prioritize our poets’ physical safety and adhere to city and state recommendations to cancel gatherings.

We encourage you to protect and support not only yourself and your loved ones, but also the most vulnerable segments of our population, which you surely already realize includes many of the artists and listeners we welcome to our space regularly –some of whom are at both medical and financial risk in the current crisis. If you have enjoyed building our community for a few hours on Wednesdays, we hope you will continue to seek and lend support to those who have built it with you.

We’ll be using our Facebook page to offer you the chance to financially support our postponed features, as well as share resources for working artists and signal boost for local poets whose tours have been cancelled. We look forward to seeing you again soon.