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.

Cantab Recap for Wednesday, November 30, 2016

It was a dark and stormy night this past Wednesday in Cambridge, folks, but that didn’t stop a hardy and enthusiastic crowd from piling into the venue to see a feature from Gabriel Ramirez. Gabriel dropped a little rhyme on us before launching into the narratives that helped push his National Poetry Slam teams to semi-finalist finishes, then closed with a remarkable themed mini-set from his chapbooks about his brother. Looking forward to seeing what those poems inspire in our open mic in coming weeks.

The slam was an intense foursome of gotta-qualify-for-2017 poets, coming down to a split decision over rounds one and two between Nora Meiners and Allison Truj. After the third and final round, Truj emerged with the victory and the ten dollar bill! Congratulations to Truj on her first open slam win in three years(!) (welcome back!) at the Cantab Lounge.

Next week: tell your friends, tell them to tell their friends, and if y’all have haters, make sure you tell them, too… Jasmin Roberts is coming all the way from her Northampton scene and her poems are gonna mess you up good. Come celebrate with us in the basement as we wind down the end of 2016!

Tips from the Bar: It’s All True

Find a setlist for a band you don’t usually listen to (examples here). Let it inform the arc of your poem.

Moonlighting: A Queer Open Mic and Reading Series Featuring Emmanuel Oppong-Yeboah on December 1, 2016

This reading is part of our monthly LGBTA+ series, Moonlighting. Click here for more information about this recurring show.

Moonlighting feature Ghanian-Boston Emmanuel Oppong-Yeboah.

Moonlighting feature Ghanian-Boston Emmanuel Oppong-Yeboah.

The featured reader for December 1, 2016 is Emmanuel Oppong-Yeboah.

Emmanuel Oppong-Yeboah is a Ghanaian American poet living out the diaspora in Boston (Massachusetts). He is both Black & alive. Emmanuel is the current Walltalk teaching artist at the Institute of Contemporary, Boston. He is an associate editor at Pizza Pi Press and the reviews editor at Winter Tangerine. Emmanuel has had work published in The Hartford Courant, Narrative Northeast, and Bird’s Thumb. While writing this personal biography, Emmanuel realized he was referring to himself in the third person. This upset him. He chose to write a list of some things that make him happy instead: hot carbs, brightly colored chapbooks, the long sigh at the end of a good book.

This show in our monthly Thursday LGBTA+ series takes place at Article 24, 458 Western Ave. in the Brighton area of Boston. An open mic begins at approximately 8:00 p.m. and the headliners follow the open mic. The show is all-ages and a $3 donation is requested.

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, November 30, 2016: Gabriel Ramirez

New York poet Gabriel Ramirez. Photo by Nicholas Nichols.

New York poet Gabriel Ramirez. Photo by Nicholas Nichols.

Gabriel Ramirez is a Afro-Latinx poet, activist, and teaching artist. A youth mentor at Urban Word NYC, Gabriel has received fellowships from The Watering Hole, Willow Books and Callaloo and has performed on Broadway at the New Amsterdam Theatre, United Nations, Lincoln Center and the Apollo Theatre. In addition, he has been featured in The Huffington Post, VIBE Magazine, Blavity, Upworthy, The Flama and at a TEDxYouth Conference.

Gabriel has gone on to represent New York City at the National Poetry Slam festival on top semi-finalist teams in 2014 and 2015. You can find his work in various spaces, including Youtube, and in publications like The Volta, Jasper, VINYL and forthcoming in The Offing, African Voices and Afro-Latino Poetry Anthology (Arte Público Press 2016).

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.