Boston Poetry Slam

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Boston Poetry Slam

Every Wednesday Night at 8:00 PM at the Cantab Lounge in Cambridge, Mass.! $4 cover / Be vaccinated in Central Square, Cambridge.

Our famous WEEKLY WEDNESDAY show, the Boston Poetry Slam @ the Cantab Lounge, runs downstairs at 738 Mass Ave. Doors open at 7:15 for an 8:00 poetry-only open mic and a 10:00 featured poet or slam! Cover is $4 and the show is strictly 21+. More info here: http://bostonpoetryslam.com/see-a-show/weekly-show

The mission of the Boston Poetry Slam is to foster new work and new voices in performance po

etry, to drive the evolution of the genre, and to promote poetry to the widest and most diverse audience possible using the nurturing environment of the open mic, the appeal of compelling featured poets, and the competition of poetry slam.

03/21/2026

Welcome to our biggest show of the year: TEAM SELECTION FINALS! The top 5 poets from this competition will represent Boston at regionals near and far for the 2026 season! You won’t want to miss this one — GET HERE EARLY! And please note the changes in start times for the slam and cost of the show — extra funds from finals will go toward our team’s travel costs.

YOUR 2026 COMPETITORS ARE:
Aparna Paul
Will Leonard
Mugs Myers
Bobby Crawford
Logan Lopez
Jarvis Subia
Edie Churchill
Kai Wallin

With sacrificial poets: Isaiah Newman, Mary S, and Brynna Boyd!
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The feature might be live streamed on our instagram
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Accessibility information: The portion of the Cantab where the poetry show is hosted is accessible by one flight of stairs. There is seating available as well as standing room. We highly encourage the use of masks and have them available for anyone who wants one, but they are not required, per venue management.
There are two single-stall, gender neutral bathrooms. Both require stepping onto a slight ledge to access. No flashing lights are used and no music is played over the speakers throughout the show; in general, the room is dimly lit/dark throughout, but can often get loud from conversations occurring. Please message us with any specific questions and we will get back to you ASAP.

03/12/2026

NEXT WEEK! Warren C. Longmire is a Black poet, performer, and technologist from North Philadelphia. His poetry and hybrid media work investigate race, surveillance, grief and hope through generative literature, interactive design, and live performance. His poems have appeared in Cartridge Lit, Action, Spectacle, The American Poetry Review, and Best American Poetry 202, with recent digital poetry featured by Taper, The Offing and the New Media Caucus. He is currently pursuing an MFA in poetry at the Iowa Writers' Workshop.
—-———
The feature might be live streamed on our instagram
—————
Accessibility information: The portion of the Cantab where the poetry show is hosted is accessible by one flight of stairs. There is seating available as well as standing room. We highly encourage the use of masks and have them available for anyone who wants one, but they are not required, per venue management.
There are two single-stall, gender neutral bathrooms. Both require stepping onto a slight ledge to access. No flashing lights are used and no music is played over the speakers throughout the show; in general, the room is dimly lit/dark throughout, but can often get loud from conversations occurring. Please message us with any specific questions and we will get back to you ASAP.

03/06/2026

OUR NEXT PRELIM IS APPROACHING! The second half of our qualified poet pool will be battling for Finals placement. Top four poets move on! The open mic will be shortened again to accommodate the longer show, so please get here early!

This prelim will feature the following poets:
Mary S
Logan Lopez
Winston Liao
Jarvis Subia
Kelsey Kessler
Mugs Myers
Aparna Paul
Ember Bricault
—-———
The feature might be live streamed on our instagram
—————
Accessibility information: The portion of the Cantab where the poetry show is hosted is accessible by one flight of stairs. There is seating available as well as standing room. We highly encourage the use of masks and have them available for anyone who wants one, but they are not required, per venue management.
There are two single-stall, gender neutral bathrooms. Both require stepping onto a slight ledge to access. No flashing lights are used and no music is played over the speakers throughout the show; in general, the room is dimly lit/dark throughout, but can often get loud from conversations occurring. Please message us with any specific questions and we will get back to you ASAP.

03/03/2026

TOMORROW!! Our monthly workshop, run by Maria Pinto, & a feature from Michael Lee Vikre!
FEATURE INFO: Michael Lee Vikre is a Norwegian-American writer, performer and educator. Author of The Only Worlds We Know (Button Poetry, 2019), he has received grants and scholarships from the Minnesota State Arts Board, the LOFT Literary Center, and the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. Winner of the Scotti Merrill Award for poetry from the Key West Literary Seminar and the Arthur Lynn Andrews Award for Fiction from Cornell University, Michael’s writing has appeared in the Massachusetts Review, The Missouri Review, Ninth Letter, and Best New Poets among others. Holding an Ed.M in Arts Education from Harvard University and an MFA in English Literature and Creative Writing from Cornell University, Michael teaches in and coordinates the TREC Prison Education Program at Metro State University which offers a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies for incarcerated students in Minnesota. He lives on the Northside of Minneapolis.

WORKSHOP INFO: Nature isn’t something you have to travel outside the city to find: our relationships with our neighbors count as nature, the urban paths where our dogs chase pigeons count, too. Franklin Park, the Boston Nature Center, and Stonybrook Reservation are just a few of the green spaces the city has to offer. Boston is teeming with natural beauty and splendor to which we might write odes and even protect with the written word.

Maria Pinto will read passages from her own nonfiction book, then participants in this workshop will write to prompts designed to help them look closely at Boston’s natural abundance.
—-———
The feature might be live streamed on our instagram
—————
Accessibility information: The portion of the Cantab where the poetry show is hosted is accessible by one flight of stairs. There is seating available as well as standing room. We highly encourage the use of masks and have them available for anyone who wants one, but they are not required, per venue management.
There are two single-stall, gender neutral bathrooms. Both require stepping onto a slight ledge to access. No flashing lights are used and no music is played over the speakers throughout the show; in general, the room is dimly lit/dark throughout, but can often get loud from conversations occurring. Please message us with any specific questions and we will get back to you ASAP.

02/25/2026

TEAM SELECTION IS UPON US! For this week’s featured event, 8 out of the 16 challengers for this year’s team will be facing off. The top 4 poets move on to Team Selection Finals on March 25th! Open mic will be shortened to make up for the longer slam, so get there early!

Come support the following poets this Wednesday:
Edie Churchill
Will Leonard
Amy Argentar
Brynna Boyd
Kaitie D
Isaiah Newman
Bobby Crawford
Kai Wallin
—-———
The feature might be live streamed on our instagram
—————
Accessibility information: The portion of the Cantab where the poetry show is hosted is accessible by one flight of stairs. There is seating available as well as standing room. We highly encourage the use of masks and have them available for anyone who wants one, but they are not required, per venue management.
There are two single-stall, gender neutral bathrooms. Both require stepping onto a slight ledge to access. No flashing lights are used and no music is played over the speakers throughout the show; in general, the room is dimly lit/dark throughout, but can often get loud from conversations occurring. Please message us with any specific questions and we will get back to you ASAP.

02/21/2026

TEAM SELECTION IS UPON US! For this week’s featured event, 8 out of the 16 challengers for this year’s team will be facing off. The top 4 poets move on to Team Selection Finals on March 25th! Open mic will be shortened to make up for the longer slam, so get there early!

Come support the following poets this Wednesday:
Edie Churchill
Will Leonard
Amy Argentar
Brynna Boyd
Kaitie D
Isaiah Newman
Bobby Crawford
Winston Liao
—-———
The feature might be live streamed on our instagram
—————
Accessibility information: The portion of the Cantab where the poetry show is hosted is accessible by one flight of stairs. There is seating available as well as standing room. We highly encourage the use of masks and have them available for anyone who wants one, but they are not required, per venue management.
There are two single-stall, gender neutral bathrooms. Both require stepping onto a slight ledge to access. No flashing lights are used and no music is played over the speakers throughout the show; in general, the room is dimly lit/dark throughout, but can often get loud from conversations occurring. Please message us with any specific questions and we will get back to you ASAP.

02/17/2026

TOMORROW 2/18 is our LAST CHANCE SLAM to qualify for the 2026 Boston Poetry Slam team! Top two placements in each open slam are qualified for team selection next year. Standard slam rules apply: eight poets compete in three rounds with poems that are three minutes or less. No props, costumes, or musical accompaniment. Poems are scored by random members of the audience! Come compete among the best in the region this Wednesday. As the title suggests this is your LAST CHANCE to qualify for our preliminaries later in the month. Don’t miss out on this chance!
—-———
The feature might be live streamed on our instagram
—————
Accessibility information: The portion of the Cantab where the poetry show is hosted is accessible by one flight of stairs. There is seating available as well as standing room. We highly encourage the use of masks and have them available for anyone who wants one, but they are not required, per venue management.
There are two single-stall, gender neutral bathrooms. Both require stepping onto a slight ledge to access. No flashing lights are used and no music is played over the speakers throughout the show; in general, the room is dimly lit/dark throughout, but can often get loud from conversations occurring. Please message us with any specific questions and we will get back to you ASAP.

02/12/2026

This coming week we’re thrilled to announce our LAST CHANCE SLAM to qualify for the 2026 Boston Poetry Slam team! Top two placements in each open slam are qualified for team selection next year. Standard slam rules apply: eight poets compete in three rounds with poems that are three minutes or less. No props, costumes, or musical accompaniment. Poems are scored by random members of the audience! Come compete among the best in the region this Wednesday. As the title suggests this is your LAST CHANCE to qualify for our preliminaries later in the month. Don’t miss out on this chance!
—-———
The feature might be live streamed on our instagram
—————
Accessibility information: The portion of the Cantab where the poetry show is hosted is accessible by one flight of stairs. There is seating available as well as standing room. We highly encourage the use of masks and have them available for anyone who wants one, but they are not required, per venue management.
There are two single-stall, gender neutral bathrooms. Both require stepping onto a slight ledge to access. No flashing lights are used and no music is played over the speakers throughout the show; in general, the room is dimly lit/dark throughout, but can often get loud from conversations occurring. Please message us with any specific questions and we will get back to you ASAP.

01/26/2026

Check it out - We asked some open mic regulars what they valued most about Boston Poetry Slam, and what they want to see in the future. We want to know what you think, too! SEE THE LINK IN OUR BIO for "BPS Community Survey" and give us some feedback, hopes and dreams, haiku, anything!

As we plan for the future of BPS we are prioritizing reinvesting in what makes it great - the community itself - so now's your time to let us know what you want to see.

Thank you to everyone who participated!

10/31/2025

This coming Wednesday 11/5 is our next OPEN SLAM to qualify for the 2026 Boston Poetry Slam team!! Top two placements in each open slam are qualified for team selection next year. Standard slam rules apply: eight poets compete in three rounds with poems that are three minutes or less. No props, costumes, or musical accompaniment. Poems are scored by random members of the audience! Come compete among the best in the region this Wednesday.
—-———
The feature might be live streamed on our instagram
—————
Accessibility information: The portion of the Cantab where the poetry show is hosted is accessible by one flight of stairs. There is seating available as well as standing room. We highly encourage the use of masks and have them available for anyone who wants one, but they are not required, per venue management.
There are two single-stall, gender neutral bathrooms. Both require stepping onto a slight ledge to access. No flashing lights are used and no music is played over the speakers throughout the show; in general, the room is dimly lit/dark throughout, but can often get loud from conversations occurring. Please message us with any specific questions and we will get back to you ASAP.

10/24/2025

Come get spooky at our TRICK OR TREAT SLAM, where every round starts with a trick and ends with a treat! Each head-to-head round will have THREE WAYS to win extra points toward a sweet prize: wear a costume, do a poem that relates to your costume, AND complete the round’s “trick” (a challenge to incorporate into your poem)! You only need to bring one poem to compete! DM us or line up early if you would like to sign up!

NOTE: this slam does NOT qualify poets for team selection, it is for a silly goofy time!
—-———
The feature might be live streamed on our instagram
—————
Accessibility information: The portion of the Cantab where the poetry show is hosted is accessible by one flight of stairs. There is seating available as well as standing room. We highly encourage the use of masks and have them available for anyone who wants one, but they are not required, per venue management.
There are two single-stall, gender neutral bathrooms. Both require stepping onto a slight ledge to access. No flashing lights are used and no music is played over the speakers throughout the show; in general, the room is dimly lit/dark throughout, but can often get loud from conversations occurring. Please message us with any specific questions and we will get back to you ASAP. om conversations occurring. Please message us with any specific questions and we will get back to you ASAP.

Address

Cambridge, MA

Website

http://www.bostonpoetryslam.com/

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