Cantab Feature for Wednesday, December 28, 2016: Zanne Langlois and the Champion of Champions Poetry Slam with Jess Rizkallah

Zanne Langlois, Portland (Maine!) poet and former Boston Poetry Slam Champion of Champions.

Zanne Langlois, Portland (Maine!) poet and former Boston Poetry Slam Champion of Champions.

Zanne Langlois lives in Portland, Maine, where she teaches high school English and organizes poetry slams and workshops for high school students in the greater Portland area. She holds a BA in English from Tufts University and a M.Ed. in Teacher Leadership from Harvard Graduate School of Education and has the student debt to prove it. Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Rust + Moth, Three Drops from a Cauldron, The Cafe Review, The Fourth River, Off the Coast, Rattle Poets Respond, Yellow Chair Review, Third Point Press, Menacing Hedge, and English Journal, as well as in the anthologies Passion and Pride: Poets in Support of Equality and Word Portland’s Be Wilder. Her work has been nominated for both Best of the Net and Independent Best American Poetry, and her piece “The Chambers of a Gun” is available on the Button Poetry Channel.

Jess Rizkallah performing at the 2016 Women of the World Poetry Slam in Brooklyn, New York. Photo by Valerie Jane Kwok.

Jess Rizkallah performing at the 2016 Women of the World Poetry Slam in Brooklyn, New York. Photo by Valerie Jane Kwok.

In addition to featuring in numerous venues in Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, Zanne competed in Women of the World Poetry Slam in 2012 and at the Individual World Poetry Slam Championships in 2013 and 2015. She is also a former Boston Poetry Slam Champion of Champions, which remains her proudest poetry achievement.

Tonight, our last Wednesday of the year, also marks the final night in our current 8×8 poetry slam series! Following Zanne’s feature, eight slam winners will slam off for the season championship and the opportunity to challenge Jess Rizkallah, the current reigning Champion of Champions.

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.

Cantab Recap for Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Poets, we made it: the dark nights are finally officially getting shorter, marked by a bright and shiny feature from the generous-minded and thoroughly thoughtful Valerie Lawson. This long-time long-gone host of our open mic returned with a beautiful, gentle, and welcoming set for the mighty good listeners of last Wednesday. Valerie’s feature was followed by a rockin’ slam with a few cool surprises, including a final face-off between Spencer Burchill and Kylie Noelle, each looking for a chance to qualify for Team Selection Slams on January 11 and January 18. Kylie took the win and the $10 home, but Spencer (and you!) can get one more chance at qualifying on January 4 at the Last Chance Slam.

Next week, though, we’ll be celebrating more than one Champion of Champion of the Cantab Lounge! Our headliner will be one-time champ Zanne Langlois of Portland, Maine. After Zanne’s feature, the last eight slam winners will be invited back to challenge our current champion, Jess Rizkallah. What a way to slam the door on 2016! Come early to get your full $3 worth, and think about staying late with us to judge the Champion of Champions poetry slam.

Tips from the Bar: White Elephant

Write a polite thank-you note for a gift you definitely did not want.

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, December 21, 2016: Valerie Lawson

Once-upon-a-time Boston Poetry Slam co-host Valerie Lawson.

Once-upon-a-time Boston Poetry Slam co-host Valerie Lawson.

Valerie has worked as a bookseller and a security guard at a Rolls Royce show, coordinated a literacy program, co-hosted the Boston Poetry Slam, emceed the National Poetry Slam in Sweden, helped create a network of youth poetry slams in southern New England, was invited as a Legacy Poet to the first Women of the World Poetry Slam, and participated in cultural exchanges with Ireland. Her work has been published in Main Street Rag, BigCityLit, About Place Journal, The Catch, Ibbetson Street, and others. Nominated for a Pushcart Prize three times, Valerie won awards for Best Narrative Poem and Spoken Word at the Cambridge Poetry Awards and was a finalist for the 2015 Rita Dove Award. With her partner, Michael Brown, she co-edits Off the Coast literary journal and teaches poetry workshops in New England.

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, December 14, 2016

After months of patient waiting, we were extremely pleased to finally welcome Columbus poet and SlamMaster Scott Woods back to our mic this past Wednesday. Scott selected a moving set for us this visit, taking on persona, offering advice, and kicking sand over the line between ally and enemy. If you missed it, and you can’t get to Columbus for next Wednesdays Writers’ Block poetry slam (too bad for you), you can pick up his book, Urban Contemporary History Month, from Brick Cave Media.

The slam last week was the seventh in our last 8×8 of the year, and featured six poets raring to grab some extra points for the upcoming Team Selection Slams. Those already qualified had to make way for a first-time-this-season winner, though: after fighting his way up one side of the bracket, finalist Ron fell to eventual victor Austin Hendricks. Congratulations to Austin: welcome to the series!

Next Wednesday will be the longest night of the year, so we are pleased to bring you an extra-bright poet: one-time Boston Poetry Slam host Valerie Lawson will make a return to our stage. We’ll also enjoy the final open poetry slam in the 8×8.

Tips from the Bar: Hello, 2017

Use the following John Murillo idea from his book, Up Jump the Boogie, as a ghost line:

“Shame is a luxury lost on the wretched.”

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, December 14, 2016: Scott Woods

Rescheduled from September 7, 2016, as promised!

Columbus author Scott Woods. Photo courtesy Columbus Alive.

Columbus author Scott Woods. Photo courtesy Columbus Alive.

Scott Woods is the author of Urban Contemporary History Month and We Over Here Now (2016 and 2013 respectively, Brick Cave Books) and has published and edited work in a variety of publications. He has been featured multiple times in national press, including multiple appearances on National Public Radio. He was the President of Poetry Slam, Inc. and emcees the Writers’ Block Poetry Night, an open mic series in Columbus, Ohio. In April of 2006 he became the first poet to ever complete a 24-hour solo poetry reading, a feat he bested with seven more annual readings without repeating a single poem.

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, December 7, 2016

As the nights get longer, poets, so does the Cantab swell with more folks looking to escape the cold world outside! This week saw a full room for a feature by Northampton Jasmin Roberts, who rolled through a nearly all-off-page set of her classic pieces, finishing with a taste of where we hear her work moving. The slam segment of the night began with just one poet looking for the prize: Zeke Russell. In the final hour, seven more poets rushed in to usurp his plans, but only RebeccaLynn came close: the final round, a rematch of pairings past (and surely pairings future), saw Zeke eke out a win over RebeccaLynn for the ten-dollar prize.

Next week: it’s cold, it’s dim, and 2016 has been kicking your butt, but Scott Woods is here to buoy you up! Or, rather, he’ll be here on December 14, a reschedule from his missed show in September, and not a moment too soon. Come laugh, learn, and shift with gleeful discomfort in your seat when Scott takes the stage this coming Wednesday.

Tips from the Bar: Down to the Crossroads

Go down to the crossroads, and meet your Devil there. What do you talk about? Is there a soul sold, and in exchange for what?

SPECIAL BONUS PROMPT: write about the poet laureate of a place you don’t like.

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, December 7, 2016: Jasmin Roberts

Northampton poet Jasmin Roberts. Photo by Guangpyo Hong.

Northampton poet Jasmin Roberts. Photo by Guangpyo Hong.

Jasmin Roberts hails from Brooklyn, NY, and has lived in the Pioneer Valley for the last eight years. She is an alumnus of Oberlin College and holds a graduate degree from UMass Amherst. She joined the Northampton Poetry scene in 2013, and is the two-time grand slam champion of Northampton, heading Northampton’s National Poetry Slam team twice. She also represented Northampton at the 2015 and 2016 Individual World Poetry Slam competition, as well as the 2016 Women of The World Poetry Slam competition.

Jasmin not only prides herself on writing hard-hitting and introspective poetry that educates and offers commentary on current world issues, but she also likes to remind us not to take ourselves too seriously, by using words like “fuckability” and “homotastic.” She will make you laugh your ass off and question your place in the world in the span of three minutes, and she’ll do it all sporting 4-inch heels and skinny-jean overalls.

For a sample of Jasmin’s work, check out “Black Man, White House” on YouTube via SlamFind.

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.