Cantab Feature for Wednesday, February 3, 2016: Emmanuel Oppong-Yeboah (was: Muggs Fogarty)

Due to circumstances beyond their control, Muggs Fogarty will be rescheduling their feature later in 2016. In the meantime, the Boston Poetry Slam is pleased to present an excellent last-minute fill-in of the utmost quality:

Boston poet, thinker, and teacher Emmanuel Oppong-Yeobah. Photo by Rachel Nyakako.

Boston poet, thinker, and teacher Emmanuel Oppong-Yeobah. Photo by Rachel Nyakako.

Emmanuel Oppong-Yeboah is a Boston-based poet and a recent graduate of the University of Connecticut. As an English and Urban and Community Studies major, Emmanuel spent his time at UCONN considering space— its vastness— and how the very concept of space as real and social construct can simultaneously restrict and enable movement. Emmanuel also spent his time at UCONN writing essays and poems. As you can see he is fan of long sort of incongruous sentences. In 2015 he was proud to serve as performance crew leader to UCONN’s spoken word organization, Poetic Release, and to compete at the 2015 College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational as a member of the UCONN slam team. He was also proud to co-found Exsistentia, a multimedia literary journal centered around addressing existential questions through art and artistic expression.

More recently, Emmanuel is proud to serve as the Director of Curriculum for Boston Pulse, a youth-empowerment organization focused on promoting positive change for young people and their communities through spoken word. Wow, there is a lot of pride going on here. This is a good thing; but 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.

Note that tonight’s open poetry slam is a speed slam 3-, 2-, and 1-minute rounds. Slam winners qualify 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. An open speed slam in the 8×8 series will follow. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $3.

Biography of the POSTPONED feature:

Providence poet Muggs Fogarty. Photo by Emma Glory.

Providence poet Muggs Fogarty. Photo by Emma Glory.

Muggs Fogarty is a genderqueer poet and teaching artist from Providence, Rhode Island. Since 2007, Muggs has represented Providence at seven inter/national spoken word competitions, and is the only person in Providence’s history to be a Grand Slam Champion in both the youth (2009) and adult (2015) finals. After graduating from The New School in 2013, Muggs has been mentoring with New Urban Arts, ¡CityArts!, ProvSlam Youth and is now serving as co-director at Providence Poetry Slam. Their published work can be found in FreezeRay, Wicked Banshee, and Bluestockings Magazine, among others. You can now send @muggsfogarty crystal ball emojis on Twitter.

Cantab Recap for Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Welcome back, Cantabbers! It was super to see lots of new faces alongside a great selection of long-lost returnees last night, all braving the January chill to catch a super easy-going open mic night featuring the very excellent Eve Ewing. Eve made leaving the house on a winter night one zillion percent worth it with her thoughtful, clever, and well-crafted set. Were you bummed that this Breakbeat poet didn’t have a book to sell you last night? No worries, you can still commission a custom poem from her of your very own: all you have to do is present her with proof that you’ve donated $50 (cash or goods via Amazon!) to the Liberation Library, an organization dedicated to providing books for incarcerated youth. That’s right, you can do everybody some good AND get yerself your very own Eve Ewing poem… Get at her via her website or @eveewing on Twitter.

Meanwhile, back in the slam series… It’s time for our annual SPEED SLAM series! That means that the next eight slams will consist of 3-, 2-, and 1-minute rounds, like a speeding train racing a cheetah to the other side of a MarioKart chevron yup yup yup, it’s that fast. The first slam in the series came down to newcomer Ian vs. crusty ol’ regular Ed Wilkinson. Ed dug deep for a last burst of energy to win the final round, but watch out, veterans: fresh legs are coming for your slam wins!

Next week: we’re back with teacher, philosopher, poet and proud UCONN grad Emmanuel Oppong-Yeboah. And, yes (don’t blink): the second speed slam in the 8×8 series.

Tips From the Bar: Adam Says It’s an Easy One

Try out a poem wherein you have a conversation with inanimate objects.

Bonus MacKenzie family prompt: see if you can be inspired by “water.”

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, January 27, 2016: Eve Ewing

Boston poet Eve Ewing. Photo by Ricky Orng.

Boston poet Eve Ewing. Photo by Ricky Orng.

Eve Ewing is a Chicago-born poet and essayist whose work has been published in Poetry Magazine, The New Yorker, Union Station, Bird’s Thumb, joINT, and Blackberry, and the anthology The Breakbeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hop (Haymarket Books). She has been a Pushcart Prize nominee, a finalist for the Pamet River Prize, and a scholarship recipient for the New Harmony Writers Workshop. She is the former managing editor of Kinfolks: a journal of black expression and a current editor and staff writer for the website Seven Scribes. She is also one of the organizers of MassLEAP, which is home of the Louder Than A Bomb Massachusetts youth poetry slam, and a doctoral candidate at Harvard University, where she studies race, education, and inequality.

Note that tonight’s open poetry slam is a speed slam 3-, 2-, and 1-minute rounds. Slam winners qualify 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. An open speed slam in the 8×8 series will follow. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $3.

Cantab Recap for Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Official results from the second of our two heats of Team Selection Preliminaries have been tabulated!

The top six poets have qualified to move on to Semi-Finals on February 17:
1. Meaghan Ford 52.2
2. Zeke Russell 50.4
3. Quentin Lucas 49.3
4. Nora Meiners 48.7
5. Mckendy Fils-Aimé 48.6
6. Manvir Singh 48.3
7. Emily O’Neill
8. Jess Rizkallah
9. Ed Wilkinson

Congratulations to our finishers, and special thanks to our guest host, all the way from Worcester: Eirean Bradley!

Next Wednesday: let’s give our competitors a break, shall we? We’ll be back to our regular $3 cover, two-hour open mic, and excellent local feature Eve Ewing. And for those who want to try their hand at this little slam thing, we’ll offer the first in our series of open SPEED slams: bring a 3-minute, a 2-minute, and a 1-minute poem if you want a chance at the $10 prize.

Tips from the Bar: Balderdash!

Find a word you don’t know the meaning of. Let your poem be its definition.

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, January 20, 2016: Team Selection Preliminaries (Second Heat)

The Cantab’s Team Selection Slams have always been the venue’s biggest, wildest poetry slams of the season. For 2016, the venue will split the rowdy preliminary slam into two separate sessions, with this event being the second prelim pool of two; the rest of the field will have already competed at the January 13 event. The top six poets after two poems each will meet the top poets from the second heat at the Semi-Finals on February 17.

The following poets will compete tonight (order TBD):

  • Mckendy Fils-Aimé
  • Quentin Lucas
  • Meaghan Ford
  • Ed Wilkinson
  • Nora Meiners
  • Zeke Russell
  • Jess Riz
  • Emily O’Neill
  • Manvir Singh

  • Sacrifice poets: 1. Tom Slavin, 2. Cassandra de Alba

Host: Eirean Bradley
Bout Manager: Tom Slavin, Scorekeeper: Jamei Bauer

Team Selection Slams are a three-session affair for Cantab poets, with the top five poets after seven rounds comprising the venue’s National Poetry Slam Team. The 2016 Boston Poetry Slam Team will travel to the National Poetry Slam in Decateur, Georgia 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. A SHORTENED open mic begins at 8:00 and the slam begins at approximately 9:30. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $5; proceeds will go toward funding the National Poetry Slam in August.

Cantab Recap for Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Official results from last night’s Team Selection Preliminaries are in, folks!

The top six poets have qualified to move on to Semi-Finals on February 17:
1. Bobby Crawford 58.1
2. JR Mahung 57.4
3. Neiel Israel 56.6
4. Simone Beaubien 56.2
5. Marshall Gillson 55.9
6. Joshua Elbaum 55.8
7. Colin Killick
8. Adam Stone

Congratulations to our finishers! Special thanks go to our intrepid judges: Ron, Nina, Chanell, Caitlin, and Andrew, as well as our very excellent host, Porsha Olayiwola.

Next Wednesday, six more poets will qualify for Semi-Finals in the second heat of the Team Selection Slam Preliminaries. Click the link to see the roster and don’t forget to pack a $5-spot: it’ll be another fundraiser to help send the eventual 2016 team to the National Poetry Slam in Georgia.

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, January 13, 2016: Team Selection Preliminaries (First Heat)

The Cantab’s Team Selection Slams have always been the venue’s biggest, wildest poetry slams of the season. For 2016, the venue will split the rowdy preliminary slam into two separate sessions, with this event being the first prelim pool of two: the rest of the field will compete at the January 20 event. The top six poets after two poems each will meet the top poets from the second heat at the Semi-Finals on February 17.

The following poets will compete tonight (order TBD):

  • Simone Beaubien
  • Neiel Israel
  • JR Mahung
  • Adam Stone
  • Joshua Elbaum
  • Marshall Gillson
  • Bobby Crawford
  • Colin Killick

  • Sacrifice poets: 1. Anna Binkovitz, 2. RebeccaLynn Gualtieri

Host: Porsha Olayiwola
Bout Manager: Tom Slavin, Scorekeeper: Jamei Bauer

Team Selection Slams are a three-session affair for Cantab poets, with the top five poets after seven rounds comprising the venue’s National Poetry Slam Team. The 2016 Boston Poetry Slam Team will travel to the National Poetry Slam in Decateur, Georgia 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. A SHORTENED open mic begins at 8:00 and the slam begins at approximately 9:30. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $5; proceeds will go toward funding the National Poetry Slam in August.

Cantab Recap for Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Is it 2016 already? Have we already said goodbye to 2015, including our beloved 2015 Boston Poetry Slam Team? Okay, very well, time marches on… But first: for our last show with the reigning team, we were extra-proud to present long-time Cantab regular, team favorite, and *temporary* New York City resident Sophia Holtz! Sophia’s set was an intense, poetry-packed half-hour of nearly all new work from her program, including a selection of beautiful new hand-made, hand-numbered chapbooks. The house was packed, so if you’re reading this, chances are you were there– and can hold this in your heart as a “remember when” for later years when Sophia’s too big to hope to fit all her fans in our bar.

The night finished up with the Last Chance Slam, a last chance (obvs) for eight poets to try to sneak into tryouts for the 2016 Boston Poetry Slam Team. Poets came from far and wide to compete, with the finals coming down to the uncasual personal work of Angelica Aguilera vs. the performative political poems of Colin Killick. Colin took the top score in the final pairing, making him the two! time! back-to-back! champion! of the Last Chance Slam.

Colin’s invited back to slam NEXT WEEK, by the way: that’ll be the first heat of the Team Selection Slams, where we winnow the field to see who survives to Semi-Finals in February. Our Last Chance Slam winner joins Adam Stone, Bobby Crawford, Josh Elbaum, JR Mahung, Marshall Gillson, Neiel Israel, and Simone Beaubien in a two-round elimination slam hosted by 2015 IWPS champ Porsha Olayiwola. Remember that we’ll have a special $5 cover that night to raise funds to send the team to the 2016 National Poetry Slam in Decatur, Georgia!