Lizard Lounge Poetry Jam

“Whether they’re the fierce undercurrent of a poet’s musings or simply jammin’ on their own, the Jeff Robinson Trio exhibit a power and confidence that flirts with perfection.” Patricia Smith

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September

Jamie Lisa - 7
I have been in love with and writing poetry since the age of 12 when I first discovered Kahlil Gibran and was “published” not long after by what I believe was a national poetry magazine. Unfortunately my babysitting money would not cover the cost of ever actually seeing that poem in print and I have damned ads in the back of teen magazines ever since!

By 8th grade I was allotted a page in my junior high yearbook for a poem dedicated to my class. However I did not like my class photo so I lack a copy of that poem as well. Once I reached college I decided all of my high school writing was as horrible, dramatic, and immature as the “love” I wrote about. In effect I have “lost” all of that as well.

My first surviving poem, titled “I” was written for my Global Studies class project and it went on to earn me an A in that class as well as earning me two more in other classes! One of my professors submitted it to a school publication which I have not seen printed either but heard it was the first page and did receive many congratulations.

By my senior year, with the help of a patient and pushy roommate, I was able to gain a little confidence sharing my work. Finally, almost 10 years later, I got to see myself published. The school’s annual literary journal, the Miller Hall Portfolio, chose 5 of my pieces, the most selected for publication than any other contributor.

Around the same time my college initiated a “poetry slam” night and there one of the professors directed me to the Cantab Lounge. I didn’t realize there was more than one difference between my school’s slam and the Cantab’s legitimate version. Though I was prepared to be judged, I was unaware of proceeding rounds and had nothing ready for a second go of it. Lesson learned, I research every place before I go there now. Since moving to the area I’ve become an adoring fan of the broad talent gracing the Cantab and Lizard Lounges’ stages.

More self-indulgent than anything else, I write for mostly myself. Though I prefer the role of a voyeur when it comes to performance poetry; when so many powerful, brave, and awe-inspiring poets share themselves on a weekly basis it seems only fair to put myself out there from time to time as well.

I have found nothing but graceful hosts along with open and supportive listeners of which I am very grateful. I am absolutely honored (and nervous) to be going on the same stage as the many artists I have come to love, admire, and respect. Throw in the Jeff Robinson Trio for the real charm and I feel like my 20 minutes of fame has been scheduled!!!

Oh yeah, my haphazard Media/Communications degree has bestowed upon me the lofty title of the most inappropriate receptionist in the greater Boston area as well as an assistant manager at one of the local music clubs.

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CD Collins - 14
Kentucky native CD Collins has published short fiction in numerous literary journals including StoryQuarterly, The Pennsylvania Review, Salamander and Phoebe. With funds from the St. Botolph Club Foundation, Harvard University, the Cambridge Arts Council, and the Somerville Arts Council, she has produced three award-winning compact discs of spoken-word with music. Ms. Collins has performed widely at such venues as Berklee College of Music, Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art and Club Passim.

Her lyric documentary, Understory, which chronicles the environmentally devastating practice of mountaintop removal to retrieve Appalachian coal, may be viewed at www.cdcollins.com. Ms. Collins lives in Massachusetts and Kentucky with her notorious movie-star cats.

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Carla Schwartz - 21
Carla Schwartz is both a lyricist and a poet. A seasoned performer, she performs her poetry and lyrics to music at several Boston area venues. She performs some of her lyrics while improvising on the piano. She has also performed her work while accompanied by Geoff Bartley, The Jeff Robinson Trio, and Dennis Brennan’s band, including Kevin Barry and Duke Levine. She is the author of several chapbooks, including Desire: Poems and Lyrics, and the illustrated First State: Ruminations of Conversations of a First Date, both published by First Aid Press, as well as the full length audio book available on CD and mp3, I Could Love. Here poems have appeared or have been accepted to appear in Equinox, Fulcrum, Eroshia, 05401, and the South Boston Literary Magazine, among others. “[Her] poetry runs the gamut of lively, spirited, playful and reflective. She is alternately belligerently coquettish, wise-crackingly curious, erotically explosive, [and] irreverently meditative.” Tom Daley.

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Crystal Johnson - 28
Poet, youth/community worker, psychologist, and member of the universe, who attempts to live a life of peace and goodwill.

I have lectured, conducted workshops and trainings all over country regarding youth civic engagement and the connection to arts and activism, as well as a host of other topics.

One of the founders and Former member of Blackout Boston, a chapter of the BlackoutArts collective. has performed with Askia Toure Amiri Baraka, Saul Williams, Dead Presidents, Pharoah Monch, UNO the Prophet, VCR, Adilson, Iyeoke and a host of others, in many places around the country.

An advocate and activist for youth and their families. In addition to being a provocative poet, rejecting any categorization as “corny and condescending”, I am a compelling author of the recently published Soul Sister’s Diary, A Collection of Short Stories and Poems with Cynthia Simmons and Kathy Andrews. The performance of my poem, Millennium Blues, featured on WGBH was given at a community forum sponsored by the ACLU on their recently released report on Disproportionate Minority Confinement.

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October

Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai - 5
“Experience one of her performances and you will understand that fierce artists do not need to scream to be heard… that the world matters too much to let things just slip by…” Anida Esguerra (www.atomicshogun.com)

Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai is a Chinese Taiwanese American spoken word artist, playwright, essayist, and choreographer currently based in Brooklyn, New York. She has been featured at over 275 performances across the United States, Canada, China, England, France, Germany, and Kenya including over 40 colleges and universities and notable venues like the Nuyorican Poets Café, House of Blues, Apollo Theater in Harlem, Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, and three seasons of the award-winning “Russell Simmons Presents HBO Def Poetry.”

She has shared stages with Mos Def, KRS-One, Sonia Sanchez, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Talib Kweli, DMX, Michael Eric Dyson, Suheir Hammad, Wyclef Jean, Tracy Morgan, Amiri Baraka, Kenny Lattimore & Chante Moore and many more.

Born and raised in the Chicago area, Kelly got an early taste of the Chicago poetry slam scene as a high school student and went on to flex her skills as a founding member of Sirenz (a women of color spoken word crew that wove together stories of the Asian, Black, and Latina diasporas). As a teenager, she also wrote regularly for the Chicago Tribune and appeared weekly as a teen movie critic on PBS’ nationally televised “Sneak Previews.” Her formative experiences as a community organizer, domestic violence counselor, oral historian, and youth worker ground her commitment to social justice, non-violence, and the uplift of youth voices through the arts.

She has been involved in numerous arts organizing efforts including Women Outloud, the Asian American Artists Collective Chicago, Young Asians with Power (YAWP), No Thanks!giving, and the 2nd National Asian Pacific Islander American Spoken Word Summit. She has also hosted the National Poetry Slam Asian American Showcase, Chicago’s Louder Than A Bomb Teen Poetry Festival, and Brave New Voices National Teen Poetry Slam.

She was a long-time collaborator with both Mango Tribe (Asian Pacific Islander American women’s multidisciplinary theater collective) and We Got Issues! (art-based civic transformation project based on feminine-center leadership) and toured nationally with both companies for multiple years. She acted as choreographer and movement coach for both of these companies as well as for Julia Ahumada Grob’s solo show “he(r)evolution.” She also performed as a part of Ping Chong’s “Undesirable Elements: Asian America” for the 1st National Asian American Theater Festival.

Other collaborations include dance and spoken word projects with companies and choreographers like Urban Bush Women, Inspirit, VT Dance, Joanna Norris, Ase Dance Collective, and Malinda Allen. She also worked on a ground-breaking spoken word video with director Karen Lin (ZuZu Films) based on her poem “By-Standing: The Beginning of An American Lifetime,” winner of the War & Peace Award at the 7th Annual Media That Matters Film Festival and Honorable Mention in the Narrative Short category at the 11th Annual Urbanworld VIBE Film Festival.

The video has been screened at the 1st Annual Black Lily Film and Music Festival, the 12th Annual Chicago Asian American Showcase (Foundation for Asian American Independent Media), the 2007 Los Angeles Visual Communications Asian Pacific Film Festival, the 30th Annual New York Asian International Film Festival, the 5th Annual Hip Hop Odyssey International Film Festival, 2007 Asian Film Festival of Dallas, 2007 San Diego Asian American Film Festival, Vancouver Asian Film Festival, DC Asian Pacific American Film Festival, and select venues across the US and Europe.

She has released two self-published chapbooks: Inside Outside Outside Inside (2004) and Thought Crimes (2005), and her debut spoken word album produced by Celena Glenn, “Infinity Breaks” (2006). Her poetry and essays have been featured in: Montage, Monsoon, Asian American Resource Workshop Newsletter, YAWP Summer Reader 2006, Tea Party, The F-Word, The Indypendent, Wicked Alice, AWOL Magazine, Shades Magazine, Versal Amsterdam, The Kartika Review, New York Theater Review, Just Like A Girl: A Manifesta (Girlchild Press), We Got Issues!: A Young Woman’s Guide to A Bold, Courageous, and Empowered Life (Inner Ocean Publishing), We Don’t Need Another Wave: Dispatches from the Next Generation of Feminists (Seal Press/Avalon), His Rib (Penmanship Books), and The Spoken Word Revolution Redux (Sourcebooks, Inc.).

She has been the recipient of awards, grants, and residencies from the Illinois Arts Council, New York Foundation for the Arts Urban Artist Intiative NYC, Poets & Writers, Inc., Norcroft Retreat for Women Writers, and Unit One/Allen Hall. She is an alum and scholarship recipient of the Kundiman Asian American Emerging Poets Retreat and the Voices of Our Nation Foundation Writers of Color Workshop. She was a delegate to both the 6th Women Playwrights International Conference in Manila, Philippines and the World Social Forum in Nairobi, Kenya on behalf of the Hip Hop Theater Festival. She was also the youngest poet featured at the first International Conference on Chinese Poetry.

While living, writing, and loving in Brooklyn, she tours the country (and increasingly the world) extensively as a solo spoken word performer. Current projects in addition to her touring schedule include her spoken word/hip hop theater-based solo show, “The Grieving Room,” her ensemble theatrical piece “Murder the Machine” which was excerpted at the 2006 Chicago Hip Hop Theater Festival, upcoming spoken word video collaborations, and her first full-length collection of poems.

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Jamaal St. John - 12
Are you ready for the King?!! The King of Slam Poetry that is. Born Jamaal Robert St. John in the quaint town of New Rochelle, New York, this performance poet/spoken word artist has been honing his literary craft for ten (10 years). Jamaal is a graduate of New Rochelle High School and attended Northeastern University majoring in Criminal Justice. This poet’s lyrical style is like no other. Jamaal’s poetry is a cross between old school hip-hop rhyme schemes with cunning wordplay, accentuated with relevant social, political, cultural and economic topics. Jamaal manages to layer these aspects with a comical dexterity that only few poets can match. Jamaal has many accolades to his credit. He is a three (3) time Nuyorican Poets Café Grand Slam Finalist for years 1996, 1997, and 2000 (he is the only poet in Nuyorican Poets Café history to do so) and has won the coveted title of Nuyorican Slam King (December 2000). Jamaal highly contributed to the success of the Nuyorican National Slam Team placing third in August 2000 as a member along with fellow teammates Bryonn Bain, Helena D. Lewis and Tehut-Nine. Jamaal has had the auspicious title of Captain of the Poetic Battles Slam Team at the World Famous Apollo Theatre in Harlem, New York. He currently is the poet with the second most wins at the acclaimed Hottest Poets slams based at Jimmy’s Uptown Restaurant in Harlem, New York. Jamaal taped for Russell Simmons’ Def Jam Poets during the second season. He has also had the illustrious title of New Jersey Grand Slam Finalist at Serengeti Plains in Montclair, New Jersey. Jamaal has performed on various stages and colleges throughout the northeastern portion of the United States and Canada to enthusiastic crowds. Jamaal has won the Toronto International Poetry Slam two years in a row (2004, 2005). A few of these venues comprise of Nuyorican Poets Café (where Jamaal got his start), Brooklyn Moon Café (NYC), Lizard Lounge (Cambridge, MA), Christiana Cultural Arts Center (Wilmington, Delaware), The Apollo Theatre (NYC), Justin’s (Sean “Puffy” Combs’ establishment - NYC), The Pulse Theatre (NYC), WordStock @ Prospect Park (NYC), Teaism (Washington, D.C.), Silver Shadows (Maryland), Serengeti Plains (Montclair, New Jersey), Bogie’s (New Jersey), Verse 4 Verse (hosted by Ras Baraka- New Jersey), The Circle Theatre (Toronto, Canada), The Comfort Zone (Toronto, Canada), Harbour Front (Toronto, Canada), St. Laurence Centre for the Arts (Toronto, Canada), Russell Simmons Presents DEF POETRY (NYC), WLIB (Radio Station -NYC), WBAI (Radio Station - NYC, Spitfire Poets segment), Vibe Theory (NYC), Rich Forum (Stamford, CT) and The Schomburg Library (Harlem, NYC). Some of the colleges Jamaal has been welcomed include Rutgers University (NJ), Columbia University (NY), Yale University (CT), NYU (NY), Hunter College (NY), Temple University (PA), Morgan State University (MD), Princeton University (NJ) and William, Hobart and Smith University (Upstate NY). Jamaal belongs to several poetic collectives such as the Spitfire Poets, A Mortal and His Goddess and Melanin Flow. He has shared stages with some of the most dynamic and influential poets known. Some he has the pleasure to know personally. These persons are Roger Bonair Agard, BoogieMan, Mums da Schemer, Saul Williams, Jessica Care Moore, Liza Jesse Peterson, Helena D. Lewis, Sarah Jones, Steve Coleman, Jerry Quickley, Mayda Del Valle, Vanessa Hidary, Reg E. Gaines, asha bandele, Stacey Ann Chin, Flowmentalz, Bassey, Kayo, Kirk Nugent, Taylor Mali, Beau Sia, Twin Poets, Dr. Haki Madhibuti, Suheir Muhammad, Ras Baraka, Abiodun Oyewole (The Last Poets), Talib Kweli and Sharif Simmons and countless more. Recently, Jamaal has had the pleasure of performing in the off-Broadway show “Snippets: Which Way To Broadway?” with Helena D. Lewis, Vanessa Hidary, Daniel Beatty, Yolanda K. Wilkerson, Harlym 125 and others. Currently, Jamaal will be an actor/poet in the play “The Male Ego” presented by Urbintel Productions starring Akil Dasan, Anthony Morales and Buddha Love Jones. Jamaal is the author of a collection of poetry entitled The Horror and the Hype as well a CD Enterlightenment and another well-anticipated CD Won’t Catch Me Runnin’. He is also a partner and Creative Director of his production company, A Mortal and His Goddess. For additional information please contact Jamaal St. John at JamaalStJohn06@aol.com.

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Brian Ellis - 19
I live in Jamaica Plain, a part of the the city of Boston. I read poems of my own devising to friends and family and strangers. On Wednesday nights you can usually find me at the Cantab lounge. On Friday nights you can find me at the Whitehaus Hootenannies. I am a founding member of the Treemausers. If you need something to do, let me know. Uncontrolled Experiments in Freedom is available now go to: http://writebloody.com/store

I began slamming in the spring of two thousand six. Since then I have been on the Cantab Lounge Slam team twice and have represented the Cantab at the individual World Poetry Slam. I am a slam champion of the Cantab and have been featured at poetry venues throughout New England.

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Trish Ginese Halloween Birthday Party - 26
And now, about me: Smartass, sweetheart, performing and visual artist, burlesque dancer, Agent Provocateur. Word Crafter. Stage Name: Blossom Blue. Currently learning Brazilian Portuguese and writing a fantastical screenplay to star Bill Murray. Longing to study with the Himalayan Masters and indigenous Shamans. Impromptu Mistress of Fire Ceremonies. Have been known to sing What’s New Pussycat upon demand and show off my special comehitherboy dance. I also speak to trees, burn sage, and design spiritual altars out in the urban landscape. Have a strange sexual attraction to Cartman impersonators, a vast collection of flavored lip gloss, and I love to smell the pages inside of books. And I have really pretty hair, and that means something.

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November

Adrea Gibson - 2
Rousing audiences throughout the United States and Canada with her poignant message and her genuine interest in generating change, Andreas words are powerful, compassionate, and inspiring. She is a queer poet/activist whos work deconstructs the foundations of the current political machine, highlighting issues such as patriarchy, gender norms, white-supremacy, and capitalist culture.
Andrea moved from New Orleans to Colorado in 1999, where she began attending weekly poetry readings at Denver’s political hub, The Mercury Café. In a years time she had rushed the scene, making her mark with the 2000 Denver Slam Team at The National Poetry Slam in Providence, Rhode Island. In the same year, Andrea joined Vox Feminista, a multi-passionate performance tribe of radical, political women bent on social change through cultural revolution. She went on to become a four-time Denver Grand Slam Champion, taking 4th place out of 350 competing poets in the individual finals at the 2004 National Poetry Slam in St. Louis. In 2006 she captured 3rd place at the Individual World Poetry Slam in Charlotte, North Carolina. In 2007 she captured third again at IWPS Vancouver, BC.

Andrea has headlined everywhere from the Nuyorican Poet’s Café, to Pride Fests and Lady Fests, to high schools and universities throughout the country. She has been showcased on Free Speech TV, Dyke TV, the documentary Slam Planet, and Independent Radio Stations nationwide. She is currently a member of the prestigious Bullhorn Collective “comprised of 30 of the highest ranking slam poets and most accomplished performance poets in the world.”

Andrea is an independent artist who has self-released three CDs, Bullets and Windchimes, Swarm and When The Bough Breaks as well as three books, Trees that Grow in Cemeteries, Yellow Bird, and What the Yarn Knows of Sweaters.

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