Boston Poetry Slam June/July Newsletter
Hello Poet!
Welcome to the June installment of the Boston Poetry Slam's monthly newsletter! We had an incredible month here at the Cantab, with supportive slams, raucous open mics, and… potential bribery? That is all to say we really felt the love from our community this month, whether you are an audience member, a regular open mic-er, a volunteer judge for one of our slams, a passionate poet who brings their friends every chance they get, or a one-time visitor who wanted to speak their truth to a room full of strangers. YOU are what make the Boston Poetry Slam as special and exciting as it is. But what’s even more exciting is what looms just around the corner … NORTHBEAST! Yes, read all about the NorthBeast Regional Slam this issue and learn all you’d ever want to know!
Read on for what occurred in June, a look ahead, and other important updates.
Features and Monthly Recap:
Since the last newsletter, we featured FOUR incredible poets. See below for details, and be sure to check out the Feature Link Corner at the end of the newsletter for details on their work.
Legacy Thornton, a poet with incredible stage presence, gave us a great set of new and polished work, mostly off-book. Her featured was perfectly paced, with the poems and the banter between them entwining as one. Each piece was given plenty of room to breathe, preferring pauses to speed. The overall effect was like watching a slowly undulating and unraveling sky filling with stars that opened up as time went on. See recap from that night here.
Dariana Guerrero, whose presence itself really commanded the room, read about growing up in Lawrence, the power of community, and the strength in family (her mother was in the audience!). Dariana was lovely to have and stayed to chat to discuss bringing the greater Boston poetry community closer together. See recap from that night here.
Ellie Black came all the way from Mississippi to read for us, and impressed with a series of razor-sharp memoir-themed poems that went by in the blink of an eye. It’s been a while since someone read a set of short poems so swiftly without seeming rushed or overzealous! Speed, brevity, confidence, and the substance of life: what more could you want from poetry? See recap from that night here.
Stephanie Burt is a well-renowned local poet, teacher, and literary critic with a large bibliography of books to her name. Yet her feature was no academic exercise, it was in actuality a sprawling, genre-spanning, often off-the-cuff feature that felt like it could sustain its momentum for hours. Banter bled into poems bled into audience poem topic requests that were later fulfilled. There was also some really insightful work on how the X-Men and mutants relate to the trans experience, and even a poem about our own Central Square to cap things off. See recap from that night here.
On Juneteenth, we had a series of mini spotlight features throughout the open mic, highlighting black poets and artists in the community. We got to hear a plethora of topics covered, spanning from the broad impact of imperialism, to the intersections of language and black history, to one’s relationship to their ancestry, to what it means to really feel unapologetically. It was a really special night to see such a force of talent, beautiful craft, and diversity of perspective on stage. See recap from that night here.
Juneteenth Spotlight - Featured Poets:
Left Eye
Donovan Beck
mynameisblueskye
Briana Crockett
Lastly, we had two exciting, moderately chaotic, and generative slams!
The Contrapuntal Slam was one of the craziest spectacles of the year so far, with the anticipation building exponentially round-by-round. It featured coming-of-age poems, fever-dream poems, a GROUP PIECE, and TWO CANTAB DEBUTS. The energy was truly unmatched. Brynna Boyd, 2024 BPS Slam Team member did emerge victorious by three-tenths of a point with her magnificent piece about Phyllis Wheatley’s desk. There’s even more where that came from - check out the full recap from that night here.
We also had a fun, more lighthearted Tag Team Slam, where poets in teams of two would send one poet up for round one, the other poet up for round two, and for round three, they combined powers and did a group piece. Definitely a win of a night for all our group piece fanatics out there! We heard heart-wrenching work from Will and Mary, poems ranging from childhood emotional trauma to absurdist ice cream sandwiches from Amy and Aparna, the deeper meanings of niche anime plotlines from Youssef and Sara, but in the end, Otto and Alex took the win! Full recap here.
Coming up at the Cantab:
7/3 – Haiku D’Etat w/workshop by Jade Kleiner
7/10 – TBD
7/17 – NorthBeast Fundraiser
7/24 – Tongo Eisen-Martin
7/31 – Youssef Mohamed
Right around the corner … THE NORTHBEAST REGIONAL!
The time has finally come! The NorthBeast Regional Poetry Slam is in a few short weeks! NorthBeast, for those who are unfamiliar, is the quintessential New England poetry slam event of the YEAR where teams from all over come together in an epic celebration of slam, and it will take place July 20-21st, at The Foundry in Cambridge MA. Outside of the main competition event, there will be workshops, open mics, and more.
We have 16 INCREDIBLE teams signed up to compete, several from the Northeast, but some hail from much farther away, whether it be Minnesota or Canada (you heard that right, NorthBeast is going international in 2024!). It’s always a centerpiece of peoples’ years for inspiration, community, and of course amazing and dedicated art. I’ll say it once and I’ll say it again - you do NOT want to miss this!
Now, it’s that fun time where I bombard you with helpful links!
Tickets are available NOW at this link.
Want to show your support, get in for free, and use your particular set of skills to help the event run as smoothly as possible? Please fill out this form to volunteer!!
If you fill out the form, our wonderful NorthBeast Team will follow up with you closer to the event to schedule you for a shift, and they will do our best to make sure that everyone is able to attend the workshops, competitions, and events they are most excited about. As always, be sure to keep track of the NorthBeast Instagram account.
Event Spotlight: Boston Book Festival Lit Crawl
Early this month, we got to host a quick, fun haiku slam at the Boston Book Festival Lit Crawl in Somerville. The Lit Crawl is one of several annual literary events around the city. This year’s featured dozens of activities across different locations of Somerville, including book readings, trivia, games, and, of course, the featuring of other literary-focused organizations like ourselves! Our haiku slam consisted of three haiku categories – traditional, dirty, and experimental – and was hosted by Myles Taylor. Tons of fresh faces were amongst the crowd and the performers, as well as familiar faces including the Haiku Slam host extraordinaire himself - Michael F. Gill - and 2023 Haiku Slam Tournament champion - Aparna Paul.
Thank you BBF for hosting this eclectic, creative event!
REMINDER: SLAM ADAMS
Looking for another poetry show? Looking to try out slamming in a low-stakes, highly-supportive environment? Do you like beer of the alcoholic or non-alcoholic varieties? Is "every Wednesday" simply not enough for you? Behold! Boston Poetry Slam has now officially STARTED a monthly slam series at the Sam Adams Brewery in Jamaica Plain, appropriately named "Slam Adams."
Slam Adams is every first Monday of the month, from 6-8pm. It is slam-only, meaning no open mic. Cover is $4, but if you volunteer to judge you may get in free! Sign ups for the slam take place IN ADVANCE - if you would like to sign up, email myles@bostonpoetryslam.com.
The fifth-ever Slam Adams is taking place MONDAY, AUGUST 5TH! We hope to see you then.
Our current Slam Adams winners have been Mckendy Fils-Aime, Jennifer Martinez, Zeke Russell, and Will Leonard. Sign up to see if you will join the ranks!
Regular Interview: Skylar Pape
Skylar is a poet, BPS 2023 Slam Team member, wonderful organizer, and official Volunteer Coordinator of the NorthBeast regional this year! Thanks to her efforts, we are ready for a fun, engaging, and inspiring event for poets, audience members, and volunteers alike! Learn more about Skylar below.
What first brought you to the Cantab?
"Before the pandemic, my friend Lace. I never read though. A couple years later, I started reading at Trident and some of the regulars there started reading at Cantab as well. When I heard that it had re-opened, I remembered what a great community it was and wanted to go, although I was initially very nervous to read."
What is your favorite Cantab memory?
"Reading at finals at NorthBeast last year was so special and profound. Everyone from scenes all over brought their absolute best shit. It was so powerful to hear everyone’s stories and to share mine as a part of that. I remember getting a big hug from my teammate Logan after my performance."
Do you have a favorite topic to write about or form to write in? If so what is it?
"I write a lot about being trans or autistic, but I honestly feel like I’ve said a lot of what I wanted to say about those topics. I’m not saying that I won’t ever write about them again, but I’m trying to write about other things in my life and the world around me."
What do you like to do outside of poetry?
"I’ve been learning swing dancing and American Sign Language (ASL) lately. I’ve got the basics down for swing dancing and as I’m writing this, I’m on the train back from an ASL immersion camp. I’ve learned a ton and am hoping to continue making progress in the coming years."
What’s your go-to order at the bar?
"These days it’s a ginger beer. I’m lightweight AF xD"
Drop some music/book/poem recs!
"If you’re a fan of “lyrical essay” style poems, boy do I have some musicians for you:
Penelope Scott
Tom Lehrer
Tim Minchin
The Orion Experience
Ben Visini
Hey Steve
Todd the Band
Flight of the Concords
Also The Devil Makes Three, if you’re a fan of bluegrass.”
Do you have a memorable poem you’ve either read or heard at the Cantab? If so, what was memorable about it?
"I read a poem to the tune of Fly like an Eagle about finding my ability to cry after doing therapy and taking estrogen. I memorized the poem but forgot my lines halfway through and froze up. Everyone was so sweet and supportive though, which is what made it really special."
What would you tell someone coming to the Cantab for the first time?
"If you are a human being, you have a story to tell, and there is a community whose stories are waiting for you at the bottom of the stairs."
Photo Gallery
Feature Link Corner:
Legacy Thornton: Check out their music video here. Follow them on Instagram here.
Dariana Guerrero: Check out her poetic card deck here. Check out her website here.
Ellie Black: Check out her website here.
Stephanie Burt: (This poet has too many links including her own Wikipedia page so I encourage you to Google her yourself). Buy her book We Are Mermaids here.
Poetry Around the Country - Pennsylvania:
Boston Poetry Slam is one of several poetry communities across the country, and I've begun making a list of all of them by state. This week, we are looking into the poetry scene in Pennsylvania!
– Pittsburgh Poetry Collective (Pittsburgh) - Home of Steel City Slam, the city’s official slam league. Their slam and open mic take place on the second Wednesday of the month at The PA Market in the Strip District. Please check out their website for all the other events they hold and their published works!
– Pittsburgh Poetry Calendar (Pittsburgh) - An updated, handy Facebook page detailing all poetry events, large and small, across the city.
– The Philly Pigeon (Philadelphia) - The Philly Pigeon aims to elevate and popularize the art form of performance poetry, while serving the people. They strive to foster a sense of community across gender, color, religion, sexuality, and class. They believe in empowering both poets and our audience to participate in shaping the art form. They also have an award-winning, monthly show, details of which can easily be found on their Instagram.
– The Moonstone Poetry Series at Fergie’s Pub (Philadelphia) - Fergie's Pub has poetry every Wednesday (every Wednesday!) at 7 p.m. presented by Moonstone Poetry. Emerging poets are featured during this weekly poetry reading, and Moonstone Poetry also hosts poetry slams open to the public, including a haiku slam, which cost $5 to enter.
– Voices in Power (Philadelphia) - Voices in Power is a group that says it curates the experience with one goal: to create diverse, inclusive spaces for like-minded individuals to connect and express themselves. Open mics are held every First Saturday and Third Tuesday, with hundreds turning out for poetry, live art, vendors, food, drinks, and games. Things kick off at 6 p.m., with the open mic at 7 p.m. Tickets are $25-$30; location varies.
– Mad Poets Society (Philadelphia area) - Every First Wednesday, the Mad Poets Society invites a poet or a group to speak, followed by an open mic session. It’s a chance for poetry lovers and aspiring poets to hear professionals give life to the written word, and an opportunity to ask artists about their craft. The event is free and starts at 7 p.m. In-person events take place at the Community Arts Center in Wallingford, Pa, (about a half-hour west of Philly in Delaware County).
– Blue Stoop (Philadelphia) - If you’re an aspiring poet or prose writer seeking a sense of togetherness, The Blue Stoop was formed for you. This nonprofit community-focused literary project prides itself in “radical inclusivity.” The weekly “Thursdays on the Stoop” events bring live readings with professional writers and craft workshops hosted by scholars and poets. All events are free, usually begin at 4 p.m., and take place virtually over Zoom.
– Tattooed Mom (Philadelphia) - This dive bar hosts a poetry open mic? What a concept! This dive bar hosts all sorts of literary events, but primarily they host a monthly open mic series with a featured poet. It’s worthy to note that each month’s show has a different name, with their upcoming July show being called “Slutty Poems Night.”
– Lehigh Valley Poetry (Lehigh Valley) - This org keeps great track of and records all poetry events in Lehigh Valley. Definitely follow their Facebook page if you want the most up-to-date info.
– York Poetry Events (York) - Though some poetry events may not have their own website/link, this handy section of the city’s official website gives you their locations and contact info if you’re in the area and want to read!
About Boston Poetry Slam:
The core Boston Poetry Slam show runs at the Cantab Lounge in Cambridge, Mass. every Wednesday night, giving poets a chance to share their work in the open mic or slam and featuring a headlining poet or theme slam. Doors @7:15, show starts at 8pm. 21+. $4 cover (cash preferred, Venmo available). Follow our Instagram (below) for the most up-to-date info. The show and its community are curated entirely by unpaid volunteers.
Website: https://bostonpoetryslam.com/
Instagram: @bostonpoetryslam
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bostonpoetryslam
The recently-released third issue of our official zine, The Cantabernacle, is available online and at our Wednesday night shows! Submissions are also now open for the next issue, so please send us your work at michael@bostonpoetryslam.com
Questions? Comments? Concerns? Contact questions@bostonpoetryslam.com
Newsletter Credits: Written by Amy Argentar, edited by Michael F. Gill