Philadelphia poet Lauren Yates.
Lauren Yates is a Philadelphia-based poet whose work is known for its deeply personal subject matter and conversational tone. Lauren stands out as one of the more nuanced writers in the Philadelphia poetry scene. Her poetry demonstrates a quiet confidence that challenges the showmanship typically associated with spoken word.
In Fall 2009, Lauren joined The Excelano Project, the University of Pennsylvania’s premier performance poetry collective. While in the group, she performed in six shows, competed at the 2011 College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational, created the group’s tenth anniversary chapbook Van Gogh’s Ear for Music, and coached the 2012 slam team to third place at the Wade-Lewis Poetry Slam Invitational. Since graduating from Penn, Lauren has focused on submitting to journals and competing in local poetry slams. Her work has appeared in APIARY, FRiGG, The Bakery, The Legendary, and more. She is also a poetry editor of Kinfolks magazine and a 2015 National Poetry Slam semi-finalist. You can learn more about her at laurentyates.com.
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.
Yes, yes, José Olivarez was in the house this week! You might not remember this Harvard grad from before he was a published Breakbeat poet and the program director for Urban Word NYC, but José was sweet enough to call his feature last night at the Cantab a kind of homecoming –and to work the crowd with his pithy craft just as we’d expect from somebody who knows the ins and outs of the venue. He even brought us a personalized chapbook just for this show: if you bought it, remember that you get a discount on Home Court, his full-length work, available on his website.
Okay, but now for some really real talk: have you ever stayed for the open slam at the Cantab? It starts around 11pm and a lot of the audience clears out after chatting with the feature… But it’s one of the most unpredictably exciting parts of the evening, and last night was no exception. As we count down the last few open slams to Team Selection Slams, the competition gets fiercer and fiercer. Telling you that Jess Riz crashed through three rounds this week to defeat opponent Colin Killick in the finals doesn’t do the night justice; next week, you might want to stick around.
Next week, by the way, after our famed open mic and our wild slam, will be Philadelphia feature Lauren Yates, NPS 2015 semi-finalist and all-around badass. See you there!
Encyclopedia Show: Somerville — THE CIRCUS on December 10, 2015! Art by Melissa Newman-Evans.
Thursday, December 10, 2015
The Davis Square Theatre
255 Elm St. in Somerville
7pm doors, 8pm-10pm show
all ages, $10/$7 sliding scale
click for Facebook event
The Boston Poetry Slam and Catherine Martin present the next installment in a slightly educational monthly series!
Our theme for this month’s show will be THE CIRCUS! A wide array of local artists will present new work, having been advised we are neither insured nor have a safety net.
The Encyclopedia Show Somerville is a franchise event, wherein invited artists from a variety of performance disciplines present all-new, original works on sub-topics of a single theme. A recurring cast of hosts and characters welcomes the artists with open arms and minds, while the resident Fact Checker is charged with maintaining the integrity of the Encyclopedic Truth of the show. Presenting all-original guest performances from local artists, plus work from our recurring cast members:
Live Fact Checking is reluctantly provided by Jack van Sly from the Institute of Human Knowledge and Hygiene. The personal assistant to Mr. van Sly is Jade Sylvan.
This show in our monthly Encylopedia Show: Somerville series takes place at the Davis Square Theatre, 255 Elm St. in Somerville. Doors and the theatre bar open for a pre-show welcome party at 7:00. The show begins promptly at 8:00 and finishes at 10:00, including a short intermission. This is an all ages show! Admission is $10, or $7 for students, teachers, or guests in Prohibition-era dress.
José Olivarez, Bronx-Illinois poet and Harvard grad.
José Olivarez is the co-author of the book of poems Home Court. He is a graduate of Harvard University, the Program Director at Urban Word NYC, and an editor at Painted Bride Quarterly. A winner of a 2015 Bronx Recognizes Its Own award from the Bronx Council on the Arts, his work has been published or is forthcoming in The BreakBeat Poets, The Acentos Review, Specter Magazine, Union Station Magazine, and Luna Luna Magazine, among other places. His work has also been featured on Yahoo’s Ball Don’t Lie basketball blog, Chicago Public Radio, and on Mass Poetry’s PoeTry on the T program. He is from Calumet City, Ill., and he lives in the Bronx. You can purchase Home Court from his tumblr page and follow him on social media at @jayohessee.
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.
Moonlighting icon by Emily Carroll.
While we’re sad to say that Moonlighting, our LGBTQ reading series, has come to a close, last Thursday’s intimate, beer-soaked celebration with some of the reading’s mainstays is helping to dull the pain a little.
We couldn’t be more grateful for the three years of phenomenal queer poets we’ve been able to showcase, or the new voices that have discovered themselves on our little (acoustic? nonexistent?) mic. Those voices continue to be a part of the BPS community in new and growing ways.
We’re sure we’ll see you at the Cantab, at If You Can Feel It, You Can Speak It, at Mad Femme Pride, and at Queeraoke. Thanks for three fabulous years!
The calendar year is drawing to a close, folks, and you know what that means… Cold nights, old memories, and fresh new shows from your favorite locals! Outgoing Boston Poetry Slam Team member Marshall Gillson featured for us this past week with a really excellent set, showing all his strengths and a few of his influences. The slam was an inspired six-some, coming down to Emerson College coach Bobby Crawford up against Northeastern captain Austin Hendricks. Bobby took the win, the ten bucks, and, yes, the chance to compete in the upcoming Champion of Champions slam on December 30.
Next week: we’re back for a bright December night featuring Breakbeat poet and Harvard grad José Olivarez. We’ll also hold the seventh open poetry slam in the 8×8 series. See you there!
Moonlighting icon by Emily Carroll.
This reading is the FINAL SHOW in our once-monthly LGBTQ series, Moonlighting. Click here for more information about the show.
UPDATE: THE LOCATION FOR THIS EVENT HAS CHANGED. It’ll be right next door! Due to staffing issues, Fazenda can’t welcome us tonight, but no worries: Eugene O’Neill’s pub at 3700 Washington, where we usually carouse after the show, has offered to host us. Come grab a drink and a snack with your friends, round-robin some poems around the table if you like, and toast the end of the show and the continuing stories of all our Moonlighting friends.
After close to three beautiful years of Moonlighting, the series will finish its run with a final show. (Don’t worry: you can still catch many of your favorites at the Wednesday Cantab reading, or at other great spaces like If You Can Feel It, You Can Speak It.) Join us on Thursday, December 3, for one last extended open mic and lovefest. Bring a few poems to share on the mic and say farewell!
This show in our monthly Thursday LGBTQ series takes place at Fazenda Coffee Roasters, 3710 Washington St. in the Jamaica Plain area of Boston. An open mic begins at approximately 7:00 p.m. and the headliner follows the open mic. The show is all-ages and a $3 donation is requested.
Boston Poetry Slam Online