A Wednesday night at The Cantab Lounge in Central Square is like an Orlando Cabrera-Doug Mientkiewicz double play during a Red Sox game. A lot happens in a short amount of time.
Every Wednesday night, the Cantab Lounge plays host to The Boston Poetry Slam and Open Mic in their softly-lit basement. The open mic session begins at 8:00 p.m., the featured poet performs at 9:30 p.m., and the slam begins at 10:30 p.m.. By 8:15, the room is usually full.
"In a blizzard, we might have twenty [people here]. If we have a national champion, there could be 120," Slammaster Simone Beaubien said.
Competitive poetry slams date back to the 1970s. The organized events feature poets going head-to-head as they take turns reciting their own compositions within a set time limit.
Judges selected from the audience typically give each competitor a score (usually on a scale of one to 10) based on their impression of the poem and the poet's performance, and the top competitors move on to the next round. The process is repeated until only the victor remains.
The Cantab Lounge has played home to the Boston Poetry Slam for 12 years now, since it was tapped to host the 1992 International Poetry Slam. The regular Boston meetings began taking place a few weeks later, and they have turned into a weekly fixture within Beantown's poet community.
The event's usual audience is composed of all ages and genders, from small groups of college students to middle-aged couples and seniors. Slam regulars and adventurous newcomers alike come to take part, and any "first-timer" poets are greeted throughout the evening with cheers and whistling.
Though anyone can perform during the "Open Mic" portion of the evening (poets are allowed to read as many poems as they'd like, so long as they keep them to within three minutes), those wishing to take part in the poetry slam must sign up in advance.
The lounge's audience judges the winner-take-all competition.
Scanning the list for last Wednesday's event, Beaubien commented on the variety of poets who have signed up.
"There are people on the slam team, people who are here every night, and also names I don't recognize," she said.
Performances in both the slam and the "Open Mic" readings range from spicy and cutting-edge to traditional. Each poet has a distinct style. Some are artsy and uplifting; others intellectual and mythical.
Topics span vegetables, superheroes, gun-wielding librarians, marriage, broken hearts, and sex. Deeper poems draw especially positive responses from the audience.
Last week's highlights included a performance by Yvette Leaphart and Zilla McCue, recently named "Most Erotic Female Poet" by the Cambridge Poetry Awards.
Cassie Valentin, a Tufts student who attended the event with a friend, considered the evening a worthwhile outing.
"I've been to poetry readings before where all the poems were a little bit boring and over my head, but this reading was especially entertaining," Valentine said. "It kept my attention the whole time."
Valentin noted that each poet had something new to add to the dynamics of the evening.
"It was interesting to see the diversity of poets up there and the different styles that each displayed," she said. "They were all talented and they made it very enjoyable for the audience because each poem was unlike the next."
During more serious poems, audience members listen intently, closing their eyes as if to envision the descriptions.
Some poems, the literary equivalent of decadent desserts, send murmurs of "mmm" coursing through the room.
As the night progressed, the audience became looser and louder, and the clapping grew more enthusiastic.
This fall promises many more such Wednesday evenings. Next week's featured poet is West Coast sensation Rachel Kann. Local favorite Michael Zack will be featured Oct. 13, and nationally-touring poet Corrina Bain will be
featured Oct. 20.
The atmosphere is casual and the night fast-paced. For those looking for something refreshingly different, The Cantab Lounge might be just the place.
<I>The Cantab Lounge is located at 738 Massachusetts Ave, in Central Square, Cambridge. Guests must be eighteen or older. Tickets cost $3. To contact The Cantab Lounge, call (617) 354-2685.
