Cantab Feature for Wednesday, May 18, 2015: World Qualifier Final

The Boston Poetry Slam will kick off our Summer of Slam a little bit early this year with the second and final night of the annual World Qualifier: the final four poems (of a six-poem series) to select the Boston Poetry Slam’s sole representative to the 2016 Individual World Poetry Slam! This year’s IWPS will take place in Flagstaff, Ariz. from October 12-15, and our World Qualifier slam winner will be entered into the event.

Our roster for the show is ready! The following poets have qualified to slam in Finals, and the order of the first round will be as follows:

1. Chloé Cunha
2. RebeccaLynn Gualtieri
3. Mckendy Fils-Aimé
4. Nora Meiners
5. Bobby Crawford
6. Neiel Israel
7. John Pinkham
8. Marshall Gillson
Invited to sacrifice: Zeke Russell, Emily O’Neill

This winner-take-all competition features the top eight finishers from the May 4 World Qualifier Speed Slam. A four-round night, including one limit-breaking 4-minute round, will culminate in a head-to-head finals to determine who will represent the BPS in the American Southwest!

For more details, you can also check out the full rules and format for the World Qualifier Series.

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. An slightly shortened 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; proceeds will go toward funding the World Qualifier winner’s trip to IWPS in Phoenix, Arizona this October.

Cantab Recap for Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Oh, we know: some of you have been waiting for all of 2016 for Anis Mojgani to come to the Cantab. And yes, we all held on through bitter cold, and driving rain, and that thing that happens on the first seventy-degree day where the heat turns on in the bar for some reason… And we were amply rewarded! Anis brought his latest work, the illustrated Pocketknife Bible to the stage, and interleaved its rich, child-voiced dream sequences with performative mash-ups of some of his best-known work. V. beautiful, v. exactly what we needed.

You might have noticed: The Pocketknife Bible is a pretty heavy book, and, due to its beautiful full-color illustrations, hefts a heavier price tag ($25) as well, which meant Anis only brought us a few and sold out rather quickly! SOLUTION: click through over at Write Bloody Publishing to buy The Pocketknife Bible from the famously independent Powell’s Books.

After Anis sold out of books, of course, we slammed! This past Wednesday marked the first open slam to qualify poets for the 2017 slam team selection process. With only four poets slamming, everyone was in for at least two rounds, but we could only take two to the final: Evan Cutts came loaded for slam on his last night in town before next semester, but Neiel Israel, reigning champ of the 2016 team series, took him down by just 0.1 points. Seems like a good omen for the competitiveness of our upcoming season if we’ve ever heard of one. Congrats to Neiel –and we’ll see Evan in the fall!

Next week: it’s our last big slam show until 4×4 team slams starts in June… Get ready for World Qualifier Final, wherein we welcome the top eight indy slammers to a grandly difficult obstacle course of literary greatness. Chloé Cunha, RebeccaLynn Gualtieri, Mckendy Fils-Aimé, Nora Meiners, Bobby Crawford, Neiel Israel, John Pinkham, and Marshall Gillson will be cut to six, then four, then two in a head-to-head final to determine who will represent the Cantab in Flagstaff this October! Pack $5 for the increased cover charge (it’s the last fundraiser until June 22, we promise), and come get involved in selecting who will represent YOU at the 2016 Individual World Poetry Slam.

Tips from the Bar: The Great Cover-Up

Tip from the bar for Wednesday, May 11, 2016 (by Adam Stone)

Tip from the bar for Wednesday, May 11, 2016 (by Adam Stone)

Write about a shocking or embarrassing surprise, but focus on the least personal, least interesting detail.

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, May 11, 2016: Anis Mojgani

Anis Mojgani, champion of all the things. Photo by Natalie Seebooth.

Anis Mojgani, champion of all the things. Photo by Natalie Seebooth.

Anis Mojgani is a two time National Poetry Slam Champion, winner of the International World Cup Poetry Slam, and multiple-time TEDx Speaker. He has been awarded residencies from the Vermont Studio Center, AIR Serenbe, and the Oregon Literary Arts Writers-In-The-Schools program. Anis has performed at numerous universities, festivals, and venues around the globe and has performed for audiences as varied as the House of Blues and the United Nations. His work has appeared on HBO, NPR, and in the pages of such journals as Rattle, Forklift Ohio, Paper Darts, andThrush.

A founding member of the no longer touring Poetry Revival, Anis is also the author of three poetry collections, all published by Write Bloody Publishing: Songs From Under the River, The Feather Room, and Over the Anvil We Stretch. A visual artist as well, his latest book, The Pocketknife Bible, is a fully illustrated poetry-novella. Originally from New Orleans, Anis lives in Oregon. You can learn more at Anis’ home page, the piano farm.

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, May 4, 2016

Wednesdays are the best, folks. What better way to spend Star Wars Day than by watching an epic battle of the most core representations of good and evil, presented through good poetry and… Actually, all the poetry was pretty good. A diabolical dozen slammers turned out last night for the season’s shortest epic: a two-round speed slam with just 2-minute and 1-minute slam rounds. After sacrifices from Adam Stone and Austin Hendricks, the poets faced off with their three-minutes-or-less of poetry, and when the dust cleared, the standings were:

1. Marshall Gillson 51.7
2. (tie) John Pinkham 51.2
2. (tie) Neiel Israel 51.2
4. Bobby Crawford 49.6
5. (tie) Nora Meiners 49.2
5. (tie) Mckendy Fils-Aimé 49.2
7. RebeccaLynn Gualtieri 49.0
8. Chloé Cunha 48.4
9. Emily O’Neill
10. Zeke Russell
11. Ed Wilkinson
12. Meaghan Ford

Poets in bold will advance to the four-round Finals on May 18, and those in italics will be invited to sacrifice. The first round on May 18 will be seeded in order of last night’s finish, from high to low; if you’re wondering how we manage ties, the poet who earned their total first (by going earlier in the final round) is considered to have the higher score (thus earning a later spot on May 18).

Congratulations to all our hard-working poets, and special thanks to our talented bout manager, Tom Slavin, and most deadpan on-stage scorekeeper, Kieran Collier.

Next week: we’ll have a brief interlude from slam with the pretty-much-retired-but-still-champion-of-all-things-slam Anis Mojgani. Yes, this will sell out, YES, this show will be the bomb, YES, get here early if you want a seat! See you soon!

Tips from the Bar: Emily Likes Coffee

Go somewhere public. Listen for a conversation you wouldn’t want to join; maybe it’s too intense, too personal, too weird, or too mundane. Now poem a poem where you insert yourself into the conversation.

BONUS PROMPT: Emily likes coffee. Write a poem about coffee.

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, May 4, 2016: World Qualifier Speed Slam

Our annual run speed slams winds down in May, folks, which means it’s time to ramp up for even speedier action: get ready for the World Qualifier series, a two-night, six-poem series to select the Boston Poetry Slam’s sole representative to the Individual World Poetry Slam! This year’s IWPS will take place in Flagstaff, Ariz. in October, and our World Qualifier slam winner will be entered into the event.

Night one of the World Qualifier will be our annual grand speed slam: a huge field of poets compete in a lightning-fast two-round slam using ONLY 2- and 1-minute poems. That means lots of new work performed by your favorite slam winners from the past year! Top scorers move on to Finals on May 18.

Confirmed slammers for this week include:

  • Marshall Gillson
  • Zeke Russell
  • Jess Rizkallah
  • Bobby Crawford
  • Emily O’Neill
  • Ed Wilkinson
  • Mckendy Fils-Aimé
  • Neiel Israel
  • Cecily Schuler withdrew from slam
  • RebeccaLynn Gualtieri
  • Nora Meiners
  • John Pinkham
  • Meaghan Ford
  • Chloé Cunha

…Plus maybe a few more surprises from our quailfied list. You can also click here for the full rules and format for the World Qualifier Series.

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. An slightly shortened 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; proceeds will go toward funding the World Qualifier winner’s trip to IWPS in DC this October.

Cantab Recap for Wednesday, April 28, 2016

Oh, National Poetry Month! We are sure gonna miss you… Like we are already missing Rose Smith, one of the rarest touring poets we’ve ever had the joy to book out of Columbus, Ohio. Rose started her set with an understated opening, drawing the crowd close to hang on her every printed word… And finished out with two big performances of some of her biggest and best-known pieces from her years in slam. Thanks so much to Rose for traveling to see us!

After Rose’s feature, we held our Last Chance Slam, the final speed slam of the year and the ultimate year to get in on our World Qualifier Speed Slam next week. The one-minute round for all the marbles came down to RebeccaLynn Gualtieri and Cassandra de Alba: with her signature 50%-under-the-time-limit style, RebeccaLynn took 100% of the $10 prize and locks herself in as a favorite for the big show.

Want to see who else is competing in the big show next Wednesday? Click here for the complete list, and don’t forget to pack a $5 bill for the increased cover charge; we’ll be raising money to send our World Qualifier winner to the 2016 Individual World Poetry Slam in Flagstaff, Ariz.

Tips from the Bar: The Nicole Homer Prompt

Adam Stone offers a hat-tip to the excellent Nicole Homer and her own prompt for April 10:

Write 10 meals with someone you love.

Want more prompts from Nicole? There’s tons on her tumblr blog… And if you’re into regularly brilliant and thoughtful prompts, consider subscribing to her Patreon account, which will give you access to her supporters-only feed full of more great poem starters.

Oh, also, it’s the end of the month, so we are please to present April’s MacKenzie Family Prompt:

FARM ANIMALS.

Good luck!

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, April 27, 2016: Rose Smith and the Last Chance Slam

Rose M. Smith, Columbus touchstone poet.

Rose M. Smith, Columbus touchstone poet.

Rose M. Smith is a shy, quiet poet who’s lived most of her life in Columbus, Ohio– a conversational voice heavily informed by human situations and emotion. Locally voted “poet most unlike herself at the mic,” she has been known to silence an unruly room when her poems begin to speak. She has represented the Columbus poetry venue Writers’ Block Poetry at the National Poetry Slam on four separate occasions, performing at the Finals Stage showcase in 2012.

A Cave Canem fellow, she is the author of Shooting the Strays (Pavement Saw Press, 2003) and A Woman You Know (Pudding House Publications, 2005) and was co-editor of Cap City Poets: Columbus and Central Ohio’s Best Known, Read, and Requested Poets (Pudding House Publications, 2008). Her work has appeared in Chiron Review, The Iconoclast, Good Foot, Pavement Saw, Concrete Wolf, Boston Literary Magazine, The Examined Life, Main Street Rag, and The Pedestal Magazine, and other journals and anthologies. Rose is also one of the organizers of The Poetry Forum, Columbus’ longest-running poetry series, and a 2011 TEDx Columbus speaker.

Note that tonight’s open poetry slam is a speed slam 3-, 2-, and 1-minute rounds, and is the Last Chance Slam in the series. The slam winner qualifies for the 2016 World Qualifier.

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. The Last Chance Slam, the final open SPEED slam to qualify for the 2016 World Qualifier, will follow. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $3.