This article appeared in the Feb. 5, 2003 Cambridge Chronicle.

Cambridge Poetry Awards Showcase

this weekend at CCAE

By Susie Davidson

CORRESPONDENT

Humor, hip-hop, erotica, slam, street, troupe, solo spoken, talespinner, multimedia, let alone venues, events, Web sites – who knew there were so many types and facets of poetry? The local scene knows, and will showcase its best and brightest this weekend at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education in the preliminaries for the March 9 Cambridge Poetry Award ceremony.

The Poetry Awards, which began three years ago, were dealt a stunning blow last August when the CCAE was forced to pull its funding (it does continue to provide the Showcase space). The core committee of Jeff Robinson, Valerie Lawson, Melissa Goodrum, Ren Jender, Mick Cusimano, Richard Cambridge and Marc Goldfinger decided to bite the bit and keep the wordfest going. On Nov. 6, they held a benefit at Passim which featured Spare Change News editor Marc Goldfinger, slam champ Regie Gibson, performance poet J*mie, Out of the Blue Gallery owner Deb Priestly, and the Zone Poets, comprised of lyrical poet Robin Linn, Boston Poet Magazine publisher Diana Saenz, American Studies Ph.D. candidate Albert Turner and Cusimano, who hosts the Thursday night Squawk Coffeehouse at the Harvard-Epworth Church at 1555 Mass. Ave.

"At first the budget cuts by the CCAE were seen as the end of the poetry awards,” said Cusimano. “Jeff Robinson, however, rallied the poets together to produce the program on our own.”

Committee members Lawson, who co-hosts the Cantab’s Wednesday night Poetry Slam at 738 Mass. Ave.; Goodrum, who runs the Monday Subterranean Ras Café at 286 Franklin St. in Central Square; Jender, who heads Ryles’s Amazon Slam on the last Sunday of each month at 212 Hampshire St.; Cambridge, who leads Club Passim’s Sunday Poets’ Theatre at 47 Palmer St.; and Goldfinger, who edited Spare Change Magazine, came through, as did recent additions Michael Brown of the Cantab Poetry Slam and Tony Brown, who hosts Poetry’s Asylum which meets each Sunday at Java Hut, 1073 Main St. in Worcester.

“The CPA was first entitled the Boston Poetry Awards; the name changed in 2001 to reflect the organization committee,” said Robinson, who with his jazz ensemble hosts the Lizard Lounge’s Sunday night Poetry Jam at 1667 Mass. Ave. “In our three-year span, we have presented 100 awards to poets who are based throughout Massachusetts. We have had winners and nominees from Worcester and Cape Cod.”

The group distributed, collected and evaluated numbered ballots for nominations, which were divided into 28 categories, 18 performance and 10 written (Narrative, Short, Love, Erotic, Political, Traditional, Postmodern or Avant Garde, Poetry Publication, Individual book or chapbook or anthology). The written submissions are currently being evaluated by the Committee; winners from all categories will be announced at the annual ceremony, held March 9 at the Marran Theater at Lesley University, 47 Oxford St. The ceremony, which has in the past been MC’d by comedian Jimmy Tingle, will, this year, be hosted by the nominees for the best poetry venue category.

Cusimano said the success of the effort, though initially formidable, has shown that cooperation and commitment are evident in this scene. “It's a tribute to the spirit of the poetry community that so many poets, despite their different agendas, worked together to keep the event happening this year,” he said.

“The CPA continues its quest to become a statewide event,” said Robinson. “Come show your support for your favorite poets!”

Cambridge Poetry Awards Showcase: February 8 & 9, 2003

The Cambridge Poetry Awards Showcase unfolds from 3:00-5:00 p.m. on

Saturday and Sunday, February 8 and 9 at the Cambridge Center for Adult

Education, 56 Brattle St. in Harvard Square. Cost is $5. For

information, please call 617-547-6789 ext. 1 and/or visit www.cambridgepoetryawards.org or www.ccae.org.

And the nominees are…..

Saturday, Feb. 8

Erotic Male: J*me, Michael Culp, Jeff Paris

Hip-Hop Male: Omoizele Okoawo, Marlon Carey, Bojah

Humorous Female: Su Millerz, Tanya Rubins, Simone Beaubean

Humorous Male: Jack McCarthy, VCR, Bobby Land

Slam Female: Delisile Godfrey, Iyeoka Okoawo, Lani Radick

Slam Male: J*me, Adam Stone, Omoizele Okoawo

Spoken word Female: Iyeoka Okoawo, Ren Gender, Melissa Goodrum

Sunday February 9, 2003

Spoken word Male: J*me, Regie Gibson, Jose Gouveia

Mixed Media: Regie Gibson, Barnum Buddah, Singing With the Enemy

Poetry Troupe: Blackout Boston, Barnum and Buddah, Naked Girls

Street Poet: Billy Barnum, Brother Blue, Marc Goldfinger

Storyteller: Brother Blue, Jack McCarthy, Skian McGuire

Performance Poet of the Year: Iyeoka Okoawo, Bill Barnum, Regie Gibson

Erotic Female: Deb Priestly, Joyce Cunha, Evette Leaphart

Hip-Hop Female: Iyeoka Okoawo, Yvette Leaphart, Shilo

Other award categories include:

Poetry Venue: Cantab, Amazon Slam, Lizard Lounge

Poetry Event of the Year: Megacipher, Tapestry of Voices at the Boston Public Library, Naked Girls & JR 3 at the House of Blues

Spoken Word CD: Jack McCarthy - Breaking Down Outside the Same Gas Station, Omekongo Dibinga - A Young Black Man's Anthem, Michael Bonds - Soul of a Warrior

Poetry Web site: www.BlackoutBoston.com, www.BostonPoet.com,

www.nestovipers.org