Best of Boston

1997 Best Poetry, Slam

The Cantab Lounge

Next Wednesday about 10 o’clock, shake yourself out of your TV-induced stupor and set out for Central Square. when you spot the Cantab, take a sharp right through the door, go down a narrow staircase, and for a measly three bucks you’ll discover a world of beer-drinking word lovers who are out to rescue poetry from the mannered monotone of more civilized readings. The poetry is usually impressive if not ground-breaking (as those present at the premiere of Patricia Smith and Michael Holly’s collaborative “Funk 101” can attest) and always energetically rendered. And you may even get to judge.

738 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, 617-354-2685,