September 17, 2025

Boston Poetry Slam - 🍂September Newsletter🍂

Hello Poet!

Welcome back to another installment of the Boston Poetry Slam's monthly newsletter! Thank you for a fabulous end of summer, where we had slams, features, and community nights galore (shoutout to everyone who completed the 📖Sealey challenge!). Additionally, a huge shoutout to everyone who competed in, attended, or volunteered at VoxPop🍭 this past weekend in New Hampshire. Keep reading for the best highlights of the past month, plus some key details on upcoming events and the beginning of our regular open slams!

Photo of the Issue: Slam Adams Champion of Champions Slammers

September Community Night

Our September Community Night’s theme is “Liner Notes: Poems about your Favorite Songs” on 9/24. Inspired by thre 32nd anniversary of Nirvana’s album Nevermind, this is your opportunity to write about your favorite songs and albums! If you are interested in this super rad show, email Zeke at zekerussell@gmail.com.

What are community nights, you ask? Courtesy of our wonderful programming assistant Brynna Boyd, we have begun a monthly tradition here at the Cantab of COMMUNITY NIGHTS! These nights take place during the feature slot on approx. one Wednesday every month. They each have a different theme, however one thing they all have in common is the feature: YOU! That’s right, once a month we are offering the community a chance to take to the stage for some extended time on the mic to strut their stuff/bare their soul/perform the shit out of something/what have you in accordance to that night’s theme.

Event Recap: SLAM ADAMS CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS!

At the beginning of this month, all winners from the last 8 months of Slam Adams faced off against reigning champion of champions Zeke Russell in a crazy slam at the Sam Adams Brewery in JP. Not only was this one of the biggest, loudest📣 (they could apparently hear us throughout the entire brewery!), most exhilarating slams of the ENTIRE year, we had a lot of folks in the audience who were witnessing slam for the first time ever. What a treat!

There were ties, coin flips, new poem debuts and polished performances, but ultimately, after a fierce face-off with Will Leonard, Tru Kwene won the title of 2025’s Champion of Champions. BUT, her challenges were not over for the night - no! She had to face reigning champion ZEKE RUSSELL in a head-to-head round where both poets had to debut a BRAND-NEW, NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN poem. While both poets had us on the edge of our seats, Tru Kwene’s new poem “this is my queer poem” was explosive (receiving an instant standing ovation👏), and she earned her victory over Zeke and now holds the ultimate Champion of Champions crown👑 … for now! Congratulations to everyone who came out, thank you to all the slammers for your work, and onto the next!

As a reminder, our next Slam Adams (and start of a new season) is Monday, October 6th.

General info about 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 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.

Monthly Recap

(psst… there’s a series of Michael F. Gill haiku hidden amongst these recaps…)

We had an incredible month here at the Cantab, lots of newcomers, an open slam, a tag-team slam, tons of features, each with their own unique vibe and tone, and several incredible poems. Art is here, and then it’s gone, folks! Luckily, Michael F. Gill captures as much as he can for us to peruse and reminisce.

Read on for the recaps of the last few Wednesdays, and a look ahead to the rest of the summer!

Recap for 8/6/25

Open Mic Highlights

• It was an incredible night of first timers, who made up nearly HALF the open mic! It was amazing how many newcomers seemed to fit in to our community right away, so hopefully you will all come back!

• Sam F’s ode to diners and “patriotic indigestion”

• The return of open mic veteran Dave Mingolla, who gave us two memorized poems, both with intriguing first lines (“If I could stop talking…” and “When I decided to join the other non-zombie neighbors”)

• Greg M’s “To the Person I Love, During A Bank Crisis”

• Lily K’s farewell poem / love letter to Massachusetts: “I’m going back to California where sadness makes sense”, after Danez Smith

• The debut of Jarvis hosting the open mic!

• The JV SMOOVE EXPERIENCE (which consists of a bombastic intro where he gets the audience to yell “I Heard That”, followed by shy, tender poem read slowly)

• Jennifer Martinez thunderous poem for an “expired crush” that focused itself around weightlifting

• Aparna’s reverse abecedarian about her Mom’s name (which begins with Z) and her name (which begins with A)

Feature

Our feature was the two-decade slam veteran Tim Stafford, finally gracing our feature stage for the first time! Poems from Tim’s new book “Broke Stay Broke” (Write Bloody Books, 2025) were the centerpiece of the night, and with a lot of local Chicago flavor as the backdrop, he regaled us with poetic adventures in being broke. Highlights included pieces on how to show up to a party hosted by “Old Money”, the yearning for a lazy, well-paid office job, being stuck in a loop of working too much even when you are able to pay the bills, and the phenomenon of “Wilco Dads” in Chicago (Don’t say anything bad about the band Wilco in the windy city!) Tim also graciously gave us entertaining and informative stories behind his work between poems, including the tale of a surprise meeting of Cantab veteran Ryk McIntyre in the Lizzy Borden House. Thanks Tim!

Recap for 8/13/25

Open Mic Highlights

• Dave Mingolla’s poem about “quietly interrogating the universe until it speaks”

• First timer Rob M with a short and surprising poem about ladybugs

• The open mic debut of recent BPS feature Kelsey Bigelow, on the road from Iowa

• Donovan’s tribute to Andrea Gibson and Will S’s mantra that “You will not die on Route 1”

• Connor’s awkward-yet-endearing tales of failed and non-existent second dates, which was a very close cousin to John Lee’s wryly funny-but-also-uncomfortable poem about autism

• Sue Savoy’s exploration of the lobster emoji that went so many dark and hilarious places that we had to stop to catch our breath afterwards!

Feature

This week we had our 2nd-ever tag team slam! Teams of two came up to the mic to each do one individual piece in the first two rounds, and then perform a group piece together in the final round. After the novelty of a Sue Savoy/Michael F. Gill (aka me!) group piece sacrifice, we heard a lot of tried-and-true individual poems, with some surprises with Mary S’s “I’m a closed book” poem and Edie revisiting their proposition on why we should all streak down Massachusetts Ave. Fireworks did happen the group piece round, with Kaitie D and Ilse writing about being accidentally locked in the Kmart overnight, Ilse and Mary taking on what might be called “the lesbian gaze”, and Myles and Aparna deliberately going over time with a deconstructed tale about what happens after they get a “boy body” delivered in the mail. But the big winners were the powerhouse duo of Jen Martinez and Amy Argentar, who once again left the audience stunned with their piece on woman and gossip. Thanks to everyone who stayed late for this very fun slam that really builds to a crescendo as it goes on!

Recap for 8/20/25

Open Mic Highlights

If you were at the show last week, you may have heard my slot on the open mic, where I read haiku about each poem that was read before me that night! Here they are for the sake of posterity.

Adam M

what to do with this
poetry journal i just found:
write a haiku

Lou C

i’m going to spit a little
watch out
it’s intensely joyful

Alex Kist

welcoming a tear
for each question i have about love
welcome home

[s.m.] DECKER

roger’s got no head
it’s an interlocking rollercoaster
instead

Speros P

we never wanted
indigo apples
indigo apples stone still

Tyler B

nine times eight times
seven times six times five times
four times three times two one

Edie

happy spelled with backwards p’s
stained
with the comfort of generations

Lauren

what if you were dead
let me tell you a cold hard fact:
you were hit by a bus

Bailey

queer
queer
queer
queer meat suit with the check engine light flashing queer
queer
queer
queer

Mariana

last stop
called at every station—
plausible deniability

Cheyanne

durability of concrete
white cement mold
what is a birthplace?

Kaitie D

gluten-free jesus will not save me so i don’t say anything about how long a haiku should be just do you want to die or kill the part of you that’s hurting? anyway my dad says some weird stuff

Donovan Beck

the light in the oldest lighthouse is still on
who is keeping it?
who

Isaiah

tomato / basil
coconut / lime
the fruit the follows grows the soil

Will S

normal’s hard to resist
surveillance capitalism
is normal

Otto Vock

poetry closes doors
i became an architect
to replace the doors

Mary S

can you believe in me
long enough
for me to finish this haiku

Aruna

holding hands with the divine
i told him nothing right
empty soul alight

Sue Savoy

to the long list of things
i can’t do anymore
you can add parties

Nick Roberts

here comes
cameras-out confidence men with
mosquito bites between both breasts

March Penn

there is a you inside a you
that is all body
falling towards truth

Brynna B

the kind of laugh
where you forgot to breathe:
too loud too proud too much joy

Briana Crockett

does a survivor’s haiku
sound like anger, broken glass,
or reciprocity?

Aparna

i think they only have
the unasked question in my heart
on the menu

Kai W

epiphanies lost in the “watch later” tab
migrate to me
in sleep

Amy Argentar

in two hundred feet
i want to keep on moving
while staying at home

Feature

We had a short (!) and beautiful feature from Jess Yuan this week. Jess gave us some unique persona poems voicing the dreams of a “project manager”, a poem about her long-distance relationship that was written while actually-travelling-the-long-distance on train, a four-part poem relating to the four stomachs of a cow (wild writing prompt alert!) and finished with a vulnerable poem involving secret languages and a refrain admitting “It’s true I don’t know anything about love / So you must not believe my poems”. The audience disagreed with the point, as they were keenly listening and enthusiastic throughout! Thanks Jess!

Recap for 8/27/25

Open Mic Highlights

• For our second community night, we had bilingual spotlight features from Mariana (Portuguese), Kaitie D (Spanish), and John Lee (Taiwanese). Each performed beautifully, with a special shout out to John for reading and translating a poem from 700 A.D.!

• Joshua forgot the poem they were prepared to read on the way to Cantab, and ended up bravely improvising a poem about numbers and his father

• Edie’s late-night poem walking through Somerville with the line “At night the streets become a ghost town / and I also become a ghost”

• Lily K’s farewell poem (part 2) riffing off Elizabeth Bishop’s “One Art” – we’ll miss you Lily!

• First timer Helena’s devastating breakup poem that left the audience (ok, maybe just me!) gasping at the end

• Bob S’ poems on hitchhiking 50 years ago and a memorable family dinner from 60 (!) years ago

• First timer Frannie’s stunning 2 poems – a list of what should/shouldn’t be sent to her on her death bed, and a disarming poem-prayer for a past abuser

Feature

We had a mini-feature from touring poet K.E.R.M. this week! K.E.R.M gave a very energetic and fast-paced set–so fast-paced at times the audience wondered where he even took the time to breathe–that wrapped up rhyming, comedy, Spiderman, litanies, and the black experience into an overflowing melting pot of a meal. Other highlights include a poem about your alternate “perfect” self that is not so perfect in the end, and a renunciation of billionaires told through the lens of hating on Batman (despite the poet themselves having a Batman tattoo!) Thanks K.E.R.M.!

Recap for 9/3/25

Open Mic Highlights

• It was another great night for first-timers! We heard great subtly rhyming work from Isaac and Kay brought us the words of other poets who are consistently speak to her

• Helena’s striking poem about trying to learn how to draw and sketching their partner the way they see them during unseen moments

• TJ Jones’ first memorized poem, which was “experimental…because Myles is not here tonight!”

• Jan’s poem about the “pain and sleep aisle” you find in stores/pharmacies

• Edie’s “I Wrote My Pain a Letter Again” and Will S revisiting the experience that is the combination Pizza Hut/Taco Bell

• Keaton’s poem titled “A Vampire named ‘Daddy Issues'”

Feature

We had a full open poetry slam this week! It was a throwdown of many established poets, with scores very tight throughout. Shawn opened up with his meta “This is the first poem of the poetry slam” piece, and we also heard good work from first-time slammer Ember on queerness and familial acceptance. The dreaded time-penalty reared its head for Isaiah and Otto, preventing them from moving on, as second round ties pushed us into a three-person final round. Kaitie D and Kelsey brought highly polished, explosive work, which was in contrast to Roxy Luis Martinez-Dobbs, who did 3 ramshackle manifestos all under 2 minutes that were fuming on attitude, style, and the complications of gender identity and relation/situationships. In the end Kaitie took the win, with Roxy coming in second! Both will qualify for the 2026 Boston Poetry Slam Team Selection slam next year!

Recap for 9/10/25

Open Mic Highlights

• Ember’s “My Body Is Not A Temple—It’s A Dive Bar Bathroom”

• Jack’s “Health Scare Boyfriend” who may or may not have erroneously convinced him that he had cancer

• Roxy’s returned with an advertisement for their coffee roaster cafe that turned into a poem, and Cameron came back in persona as a Charles Bukowski-esque character

• Elaborate contrapuntal-ish work from Mugs Myers and Kelsey Kessler

• First timer Victor’s funny poem about being on a Greyhound bus while someone was having sex in the background that resonated with a lot more audience members than you would have thought

• We had our penultimate haiku slam of the year! There was fun stuff by Will S, who wrote haiku about their competitors, and great written-on-the-spot haiku by first-timer Victor. The final round was led by the sensual-and-stinging work by Briana, and the off-kilter quietude/freakiness by Oliver, both longtime regulars. Oliver took the win, and both finalists qualify for next month’s Haiku Tournament!

• Heartbreaking poems by Kai (on familial neglect) and Amy (meditating on the middle of their body)

• Myles’ dumpster-diving/Allston Christmas poem that some serious swift flow/rhythmic cadence to it as it went on

Feature

Our feature was local poet/teacher/open-mic & slam regular Otto Vock! Reading from their new chapbook as well an older “angstier” one (by their own admission), Otto Vock ran through both established performance favorites and some great new material. Highlights include persona poems in the voice of Plastic, a conversation between humankind and The Sky (told from the voice of the Sky), and a poem in which they become an architect instead of a poet. We also heard moving material about the aftermath of being positive during the 2024 election cycle, the experience of trying to get a gig / be a teaching artist in 2025, and an ode to Yukie, a rather scrappy and not-always-so-nice dog (“she was easier to love when toothless”). Thank you Otto!

Coming up at the Cantab:

• 9/17 (TONIGHT) - Tatiana Johnson-Boria

• 9/24 - COMMUNITY NIGHT: Liner Notes - Poems about your favorite songs/albums

• 10/1 - Quintin Collins

• 10/8 - HAIKU TOURNAMENT

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.

The show and its community are curated entirely by unpaid volunteers. Boston Poetry Slam Inc is a registered 501c3 non-profit organization in the United States. Donations (https://bostonpoetryslam.com/donate) are tax deductible to the full extent provided by the law.

Website: https://bostonpoetryslam.com/
Instagram: @bostonpoetryslam
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bostonpoetryslam

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? Fill out our anonymous feedback form and/or contact questions@bostonpoetryslam.com

Newsletter Credits: Written by Amy Argentar, edited by Michael F. Gill