Live Poetry: Elliott batTzedek, Pheralyn Dove, Mikey Franz, and Alina Macneal

Wednesday February 4, 2026 – 7pm – LIVE

Live at Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street

Elliott batTzedek is a Pushcart-prize nominated poet, liturgist, and bookseller and was chosen as an attendee for the inaugural conference for Yetzirah: A Hearth for Jewish Poetry. Her poems and translations have been published in: American Poetry Review, Massachusetts Review, Lilith, I-70 Review, Hunger Mountain Review, Sakura Review, Apiary, Cahoodaloodaling, Naugatuck River Review, Poemeleon, Poetica, Philadelphia Stories, and a Split This Rock poem of the week. She is author of  the enkindled coal of my tongue and a chapbook of translations from Shez, A Necklace of White Pearls. She is the co-leader of Fringes: a feminist, non-zionist havurah, which was founded in 2007 and serves as a liturgy lab for Jewish communities across the U.S.

Pheralyn Dove is a word-warrior: poet, writer, educator. She lives in a state of perpetual gratitude. A graduate of Hampton University, she is the author of “Color in Motion, a book of poetry with a foreword by drummer Max Roach. Little Girl Blue, her one-woman show in which she portrays 17 characters, is a multi-media production about a woman’s journey from victim to victor.  She performed at Jazz a la Villette in Paris and was chosen for the juried NYC International Fringe Fest.  She is featured on bassist Tyrone Brown’s, Moon of the Falling Leaves CD.

Mikey Franz is a writer & musician based in the Philadelphia area. His chapbook Terrestrial Sanctuaries was published by Moonstone Press in 2022. His debut album, Cosmic Claw Machine, is forthcoming. You can usually find him at an open mic with a ukulele.

Alina Macneal is a Philadelphia-based educator, writer, and architect. Her poems have appeared in Apiary, Poems for the Writing, The World to Come, Poetry 24, Welcome to the Resistance, and other publications. Born in Poland, she came to the US with her family as a child, growing up bilingual in the mono-lingual suburbs of St. Louis. She lives in University City and has been on the faculty at Drexel University for 30 years.

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