Live Poetry: Erica Abbott, Elayna Mae Darcy, Thalia Geiger, Diamante “Dimo” Ortiz, and Faith Paulsen

Wednesday July 16, 2025 – 7pm- LIVE

Live at Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street

Erica Abbott is a Philadelphia-based poet and writer whose work has previously appeared or is forthcoming in Epiphany, Shō Poetry Journal, Pirene’s Fountain, Midway Journal, and others. She is the author of Self-Portrait as a Sinking Ship and is a poetry editor for Variant  Literature.  She is currently pursuing her MFA at Randolph College, where she is the assistant managing editor and lead poetry editor for Revolute.

Elayna Mae Darcy is an author, podcaster, and chaotic good bard from Philadelphia. With a Film & Media Arts degree from Temple University, they have spent the last decade creating podcasts, co-founding the local publisher, Elixir Verse Press, and self-publishing three books. They have had pieces published in the Wizards in Space, Impostor Lit, just femme & dandy, and Limited Editions, and usually be found wandering the various branches of the Philly Free Library or snuggling their cat, Bean.

Thalia Geiger is a poet and fiction writer, author of the chapbook Wild Like a Woman, and her debut poetry collection, Red Death, Purple Dark, is forthcoming from Thirty West Publishing. She is the winner of Black Fox Literary’s 2025 Summer Fox Tales Contest, and her work has been featured in New York Quarterly, Allegory Ridge, Coffin Bell, Grim & Gilded and more. She hails from Philadelphia, where she works in journal publishing. You can find her on Instagram and BlueSky @thalierr.

Diamante “Dimo” Ortiz is a poet, community organizer, and journalist based in Philadelphia, originally from the Los Sures area of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Their work explores grief, gender fluidity, and Afro-Boricua heritage. Dimo has collaborated with creatives and organized events, including the Open Treasures open mic in 2023. They have worked as a senior reporter and editor for Protest NYC, founded Protest PHL and does hyper local coverage throughout her years from her start as a storyteller with The Moth’s All City Team since 2016. Dimo also launched “Notes to Self,” a Substack series reflecting on life and self-love.

Faith Paulsen writes poetry from her desk at an insurance agency near Philadelphia. She loves books, art, music and friendship. Her work appears or is upcoming in Scientific American, Blue Heron, Boomerlit, Lunch Ticket, Mania, Poetica Review, Philadelphia Stories, Book of Matches, One Art, Panoply, Thimble, Evansville Review, Mantis and others. She is a proud Moonstone Chapbook Contest award recipient. Visit her website at https://www.faithpaulsenpoet.com/

Sean Hanrahan Host – Open Reading Follows