Boston Poetry Slam official logo, by Gary Hoare.
We come to the close of our summer of slam with the last of our three Nationals-style 4×4 matches– four teams in four rounds, the ultimate balanced format for a poetry battle of strategy, emotion, and wits. This final shot for the venue team to practice for competition at the 2016 National Poetry slam will feature three other local teams, and of course include your home team.
This third and final summertime 4×4 will pit four Nationals-bound teams against one another, including:
This show will have a slightly shortened open mic and will sell out in exactly two hot seconds, people, so we advise arriving for door time at 7:15 if you want to get in to catch the show… This will be the LAST 4×4 we’ve booked for the summer. Cover charge is $5 to help raise funds for our team to travel to Nationals in Decatur this August!
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 slam begins at approximately 10:00. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $5.
T’was a small but vocal audience at the Cantab last night, with many of our friends at the Mass Action protests downtown, but a few newcomers coming out to try their voices out loud in the room. Thomas Fucaloro did not disappoint, bringing high energy and intimate performance to the primed and listening room. The slam was a hot one, with NPS-bound Bobby Crawford eliminating Colin Killick in the final round.
Next week: it’s our final 4×4 of the summer of slam! Come hear poets from Providence, the Lizard Lounge, and Slam Free or Die take on our intrepid home team as they all prepare for their trip to the National Poetry Slam in the first week of August. Remember, it’s a $5 cover to help raise money to get our team to the competition in Decatur: bring a friend to judge and a thirst for poetry (and/or beer).
NYC poet Thomas Fucaloro. Photo by Kristopher Johnson.
Thomas Fucaloro is an NYC poet. He has two books out by Three Rooms Press; his latest one, “It Starts from the Belly and Blooms” has received rave reviews. He has graduated with an MFA at the New School for Creative Writing. He has been on three national slam teams and was the Inspired Word’s 2012 Grand Slam Champion. He is a co-founding editor of Great Weather for Media and NYSAI press and a writing coordinator at the Harlem Children’s Zone.
Thomas was recently awarded a performance grant from the Staten Island Council of the Arts and the NYC Department. of Cultural Affairs. His new chapbook, “Mistakes Disguised as Stars,” was released in March on Tired Hearts Press, and his next chapbook, “Depression Cupcakes,” will be released in June through “Yes, Poetry.”
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.
The results are in! After a hard-fought slam at the Cantab Lounge last night, hosted by the intrepid and excellent Emily Eastman, with bout management by Tom Slavin, we have a winner. Four Nationals-bound teams slammed four rounds and the final rankings were as follows:
The competition was tight and and came down to the last two poems of the night, but House reigned victorious in their second Cantab win of the season. Want to see them take on teams in their own home? Check out their event this Friday, July 8; your Boston Poetry Slam friends will be sacrificing for the slam that night.
Next week: our streak of NYC poets continues with the long-established Thomas Fucaloro, traveling to us for the first time (and with his new chapbooks in tow). We’ll also hold our penultimate open slam in the summer 8×8 series: and heads-up, aspiring slammers, this might well be the last of the “easier” qualifiers for the 2017 team before it gets ultra-competitive in the fall. See you there!
Boston Poetry Slam official logo, by Gary Hoare.
Our summer of slam continues with the second of two Nationals-style 4×4 matches– meaning four teams in four rounds, the ultimate balanced format for a poetry battle of strategy, emotion, and wits, and a precise parallel to the competition our local teams will face at the 2016 National Poetry Slam. This slam will pit four local Nationals-bound teams against one another, including your home team.
This second summertime 4×4 will pit four Nationals-bound teams against one another, including:
This show will have a slightly shortened open mic and will sell out in exactly two hot seconds, people, so we advise arriving for door time at 7:15 if you want to get in to catch the show… Otherwise you’ll be waiting until July 20 for the next 4×4 we’ve booked for the summer. Cover charge is $5 to help raise funds for our team to travel to Nationals in Decatur this August!
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 slam begins at approximately 10:00. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $5.
Some summer nights are just sweet enough to make the whole New England winter situation worth it, right? (Sorry to bring it up, but listen…) Nestled in between our two stormy summer slams on June 22 and July 6 was the beam of light known as Nicole Shantè, a Midwesterner by way of the South who’s spending a summer in nearby New York. Nicole brought beautifully crafted and delicately performed work to the stage, opening a series of small and focused windows on her life in the city, in her body, and behind her keyboard. The audience responded graciously to her perfect balance of power, gentleness, and humor, and we hope her chapbook-carrying backpack is oh-so-light on the way back to New York City.
After the feature, of course, we slam! A fifty-fifty split of determined regulars and polished out-of-towners hit the stage for a high-energy battle in the open slam. After a wild two rounds, the poets left standing were two first-time visitors to the venue, Zulynette and Sky Raven. In a highly performative finish, Sky Raven took the win over Zulynette; there were hugs all around, and we look forward to more visits from these southern northerners.
Next week: that thunder you hear rumbling in the distance is our second NorthBEAST Regional team slam, a four-team extravaganza designed to get our local teams warmed up (and fired up) for the National Poetry Slam. Our home team will take on poets from Mill City Slam in Lowell, Seven Hills Slam in Worcester, and, on a return bid after their win on June 22, the House Slam from just across the river in Boston. $5 cover for a bout that (let’s face it) will be better than most of what you’d be lucky to see at NPS. Yeah, we said it: NorthBEAST! Come on out!
Boston Poetry Slam Online