Live Poetry: Ebs Sanders, Michael Joseph Walsh
2025-09-24 19:00 (America/New_York) | Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Wednesday September 24, 2025 – 7pm – LIVE
Live at Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street
Ebs Sanders is the author of Low Ecstasies, Intimacies that did not destroy us and A Fallow Channel. Their writing has appeared in bæst, b l u s h, Discount Guillotine, Full Stop and Tripwire, among others. They co-edit the tiny and are one of ten 2025 Convent Arts fellows. Michael Joseph Walsh is the author of A Season, winner of the Georgia Poetry Prize, and Innocence, winner of the Lighthouse Poetry Series. He is co-editor of APARTMENT Poetry, and his poems, reviews, and translations have appeared in various publications.
Amy Saul-Zerby Host – Open Reading Follows

Live Poetry: Camille Llawella Ralphs, Ernest Hilbert
2025-09-28 17:00 | Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Sunday September 28, 2025 – 5pmEDT – LIVE
Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street
Camille Llawella Ralphs is an English poet, critic and editor. Ralphs’ first collection of poems After You Were, I Am was a book of the year in The Telegraph and The Guardian, and was widely reviewed elsewhere.Since 2020, Ralphs has been poetry editor at The Times Literary Supplement. She is the first woman to hold this role.
Ernest Hilbert is the author of the poetry collections Sixty Sonnets, All of You on the Good Earth, Caligulan—selected as winner of the 2017 Poets’ Prize—Last One Out, and Storm Swimmer, winner of the 2022 Vassar Miller Prize.
Host – Open Reading Follows

Live Poetry and Music
2025-10-01 19:00 | Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Wednesday October 1, 2025 – 7pm- LIVE – Poetry & Music
Live at Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street
Launch of A Little Music For the Soft War by Mark Svenvold
Poet, songwriter, and nonfiction writer, Mark Svenvold’s book of poems, Soul Data, won the Vassar Miller Award, selected by Heather McHugh; Empire Burlesque, won The Journal Prize. Svenvold’s poems have been published in The New Yorker, The Nation, The Atlantic Monthly, and others. He teaches creative writing at Seton Hall University. A denizen and regular performer at CBGB’s before it became a clothing store, Ted Sabety studied guitar with Larry Coryell, electronic music with Morton Subotnick, and composition with Marty Bresnick. Recently, his punk-wave act Les Techno’s “Edge of the World” reached # 20 and #144, respectively, on the Indie DRT and Global DRT charts.
With Special Features
“Elliot Levin on tenor saxophone and flute, has a career as a published poet and likes to combine the two aesthetics in his performances, much to the delight of the growing live poetry audience, there is nothing watered-down about his performances, no attempt to make the music a bit more accessible to the novices, tender-hearted or just plain wimpy. On the poetry scene he has performed with Miguel Algarin, Gloria Tropp, Mbali Umoja, Marty Watt, and Frank Messina.
Lindsay Hargrave is a poet, first mate at Scribes on South, a coproducer at House Poet, half of the experimental group Kelpius, the author of two chapbooks and a copywriter for Temple University. Aaren Perry Host: Open Reading Follows

Poesía sin Fronteras: Poetry in Spanish in the United States
2025-10-04 11:00 - 16:00 | Kimmel Center, 300 S Broad St
Poesía sin Fronteras
¿Escribes poesía en español y te gustaría publicar uno de tus poemas? ¡Este llamado es para ti! ¡Esperamos tu voz!
La convocatoria a la primera edición de Poesía sin Fronteras (2025-2026) busca nuevas voces para promover la paz, la concordia y la armonía a través de la poesía. Da rienda suelta a tu imaginación y sé parte de esta celebración de la poesía y el espíritu creativo. ¡Anímate a participar y cuéntales a otros!
https://moonstoneartscenter.submittable.com/submit/333410/poesia-sin-fronteras-poetry-without-borders
Do you write poetry in Spanish?
Poetry without Borders seeks voices to promote peace, concord and harmony through poetry. Unleash your imagination and be part of this celebration of poetry and the creative spirit, get involved and tell others!
The Latin American Book Fair connects authors, illustrators, writers, designers, book lovers and our community in the city. Organized by Philadelphia’s Latin non-profits organizations such as Acción Colombia, Casa de Venezuela, Taller Puertorriqueño as well as an amazing group of volunteers.
The International Poetry Festival Everywhere is a solidarity proposal that allows simultaneous readings in various parts of the world during the month of May. Today the “Word in the World” Festival is presented as a proposal of SUR International Cultural Project, Isla Negra Magazine and Havana International Poetry Festival and had more than 2500 events in 2025.

Live Poetry: Alicia Askenase, Cassie MacDonald & Aaren Yeatts Perry
2025-10-08 19:00 - 21:00 | Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Wednesday October 8, 2025 – 7pm – LIVE
Live at Sueno Restaurant, 114 S. 12th Street
Alicia Askenase is the author of several books, was a founding co-editor of the literary journal 6ix, and director of the Walt Whitman Art Center Literary programs for many years. Her poetry has appeared in various journals.
Cassie MacDonald serves as Hearthkeeper of Brigid’s House in Camden, New Jersey where facilitates a twice-monthly writing circle, organizes readings, workshops and other writing arts events, and creates neighborhood murals as part of the Poetry Liberation Front.
Aaren Yeatts Perry has performed his poems at the Nuyorican, Kimmel Center, World Café, Fringe Festival, Kelly Writers House and the Philadelphia Writers Conference, he received a PA Council on the Arts Grant. His collections include Open Fire, Poetry Across the Curriculum: An Action Guide for Elementary Teachers.
Alina Macneal & Jennifer Hook Hosts – Open Reading Follows

Virtual Reading: Indigenous Peoples Day
2025-10-12 14:00 - 15:00 | Virtual
Indigenous Peoples Day
Sunday October 12, 2025 – 2pm VIRTUAL
Register for Zoom here: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/ITiexC3URACn-4yLkowizw
Submit to be a part of the anthology before Oct. 5th: https://moonstoneartscenter.submittable.com/projects/edit/3d76a3e1-a9d1-403b-b835-d63e8c9d4b51
Indigenous Peoples Day will be celebrated on Monday, October 13th. The date falls on the same day as Columbus Day, giving us a chance to shift the focus toward honoring Indigenous cultures and reflecting on colonialism’s impact. Indigenous Peoples Day shines a light on the histories, cultures, and contributions of Native American communities. It’s a reminder of the strength and resilience Indigenous peoples continue to show today, particularly to highlight the importance of acknowledging the historical injustices faced by Native Americans. It’s a chance to listen to Indigenous voices and recognize their efforts in keeping their land, language, and culture alive. Join us as poets reflect.

Wednesday October 15, 2025 – 7:00pm - LIVE
2025-10-15 19:00 | Sueño Restaurant, 114 S 12th St, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
Heather Bowlan, author of Highlights and Blackouts and co-director of Philadelphia Small Works, an art gallery and performance space.

Christopher K.P. Brown aka KP ULTRA is the founder of Pecola Breedlove & The Freedom Party, ran 2 Pens & Lint, under which he published chapbooks for over 400 runs Poetry215.com. His newest poetry book and album is titled 84 ULTRA.
Krystle Griffin is an Aquarian alien who emerged from the depths of the Delaware River. Krystle teaches a monthly poetry workshop at Philly Typewriter, is a masthead on a couple of publications such as Meow Meow Pow Pow.
Bonafide Rojas is a Poet, Musician & has five collections of poetry: is a Mellon-Flamboyan Letras Boricuas Fellow, A BRIO award winner & has appeared on Def Poetry Jam and performed at Lincoln Center, Brooklyn Museum, and Philadelphia Museum Of Art among others.
Alexis Young is a writer, visual artist, and teacher. Her poems have appeared in a Moonstone Press anthology and The Swarthmorean, and she recently completed her first public mural.

Sean Hanrahan Host – Open Reading Follows

House Poet: Beyond the Grave with Nicole Coladonato & Rachel Eve
2025-10-29 19:00 - 21:00 | Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
House Poet: Beyond the Grave with Nicole Coladonato & Rachel Eve
Wednesday, October 29th at 7pm
Live at Fergies Pub, 1214 Sansom St.
Nicole Coladonato @fouronefivetwo began performing in her youth and quickly developed an affection for the spotlight. She quit being a failed visual artist to become a writer, embracing this new path with the same passion. Her writing abuses grammar, memes, and the audience. Nicole’s poetry is found in zines and at open mics around Philadelphia, where she continues to explore her work.
Rachel Eve @rachelevemusic writes and sings from a place that is at once personal and universal, taking inspiration from the mysteries and complexities of the human experience. Rachel’s voice has been described as “passionate,” “soulful,” “songbird-like,” and her diverse and lyrical songwriting infused with folk, jazz and blues influences. Her newest single “Right Where You Are” is out now on all major streaming platforms
Lindsay Hargrave, Host – Open Mic to follow
Setlist by @khaleelmason

Remembering Ezra Pound - Sunday November 2nd - 2pm - Virtual
2025-11-02 14:00 | Virtual
Pound was an American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a collaborator in Fascist Italy during World War II. His works include Ripostes (1912), Hugh Selwyn Mauberley (1920), and his 800-page epic poem The Cantos (c. 1917–1962).
Pound’s contribution to poetry began in the early 20th century with developing Imagism, a movement stressing precision and economy of language. Working in London as a foreign editor of several American literary magazines, he helped discover and shape the work of contemporaries such as H. D., Robert Frost, T. S. Eliot, Ernest Hemingway, and James Joyce. Hemingway wrote in 1932 that, for poets born in the late 19th or early 20th century, not to be influenced by Pound would be “like passing through a great blizzard and not feeling its cold”.
Pound blamed the war on finance capitalism, he moved to Italy in 1924, embraced Mussolini’s fascism, and expressed support for Hitler. Ruled mentally unfit to stand trial, Pound was incarcerated for over 12 years at St. Elizabeths psychiatric hospital in Washington, D.C., whose doctors viewed Pound as a narcissist and a psychopath, but otherwise completely sane.
While in custody in Italy, Pound began work on sections of The Cantos, which were published as The Pisan Cantos (1948), for which he was awarded the Bollingen Prize for Poetry in 1949 by the Library of Congress, causing enormous controversy. Reflections on Ezra Pound.

"Headless" Book Release - Wednesday November 5 - 7:00 PM - LIVE
2025-11-05 19:00 | Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
“In Headless, poet Sean Hanrahan takes us on a winding road that twists through desire, intellectual curiosity, and various explored icons—pop culture, mythic, historic, political, sexual—traveling with a speaker always seeking to understand who and what society expects him to be. If art is a conversation with everything before and after, then so is identity, moving from “paper silhouette of a boy” to reveling in the middle-aged body, declaring “we are all of us orchids.” The self is multifaceted, multitalented, and—belying the title—multiheaded. Hanrahan, at the height of his poetic power, has learned to navigate this hydralike path and “choose the sacramental in-between.” In these pages, we are blessed to be invited to walk beside him.” – Chad Frame, author of Little Black Book.
Sean Hanrahan is the author of Headless, Safer Behind Popcorn and Ghost Signs, Hardened Eyes on the Scan and Gay Cake . His work has also been included in various anthologies and journals, he has taught classes titled “A Chapbook in 49 Days,” “Ekphrastic Poetry,” “Poetry Embodied,” and has hosted and read at poetry events throughout Philadelphia.
Adam Gianforcaro is the author of the poetry collection Every Living Day and Poems to Stage Dive to. A Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee, his work can be found in Ninth Letter, The Offing, Poet Lore, Third Coast, Northwest Review, and elsewhere.
Alison Lubar teaches high school English by day and yoga by night. They are a queer, nonbinary, biracial Nikkei femme whose life work has evolved into bringing mindfulness practices to young people. They’re the author of The Other Tree, and METAMOURPHOSIS, as well as four chapbooks and is a board member for Philadelphia’s Blue Stoop.
Amy Saul-Zerby is the author of Paper Flowers, Imaginary Birds, Deep Camouflage, and Choose Your Own Beginning, her poems have appeared in various journals and she is the Director of Marketing and Development for The Free Books Project and Editor-in-Chief of Voicemail Poems.
Aaren Perry Host – Open Reading Follows

"Without You" Book Release - Sunday November 9 - 5pm - LIVE
2025-11-09 17:00 | Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
“In flashes of recollection, in flares of supposition and speculation, the fragments and fables of Ditta Baron Hoeber’s Without You trace the aftermath of a childhood trauma, with its attendant guilts and resentments and mystifications. Terse, taut, gnomic, wrenching, and subtly evocative, Without You offers a compelling demonstration of a reality at once irrecoverable and irrevocable.” — Nathalie Anderson, Professor Emerita, Swarthmore College, author of Stain
Ditta Baron Hoeber’s first book, Without You is just out, her poems have been published in magazines including Gargoyle, Burningword Literary Review, Noon, Pank, the American Poetry Review and the American Journal of Poetry. Her photographs, drawings and book works have been exhibited nationally and have been acquired by several collections in the US and in the UK.
Lisa Isaacson has published poems in antiphony, New American Writing, Colorado Review, Fence and Denver Quarterly among others. She has recently returned to the United States after 22 years teaching World Humanities and World Poetry in Abu Dhabi, UAE and now lives in Milwaukee.

Peace like War is Waged: Reading with Jan Barry and W.D. Ehrhart
2025-11-13 17:30 - 18:30 | The Free Library of Philadelphia, 1901 Vine Street, 1901 Vine Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, United States
Peace like War is Waged
A Discussion and Reading with Jan Barry and W.D. Ehrhart
Thursday, November 13th @ 5:30pm
Live Poetry @ Central Free Library, 1901 Vine Street, History Department on 2nd Floor
“One Jan Barry’s most characteristic beliefs comes from a poem called “The Peacemaker” by Walker Knight: “Peace, like war, is waged.” Jan Barry has been actively and energetically waging peace since he turned away from an appointment to the US Military Academy and chose a very different path into his own future.
All through the book, I encounter over and over again Jan’s refusal to give in to despair, his unwavering belief that good will eventually come of good-willed people acting together. He challenges Americans to protest and resist the agenda of the “tyrannical head of state” now occupying the White House. He urges all of us to vigorously and actively support federal employees, LGBTQ rights, immigrant rights, Palestinian self-determination, and a free and independent Ukraine.
Here, in a few words, is what Jan Barry taught me: take that rage and pain and frustration and do something constructive with it.” – W. D. Ehrhart
Waging Peace: From Vietnam to Volgograd ($30.00 – 2025) is a collection of essays, poetry and art by Jan Barry, a Veterans For Peace Poet Laureate and cofounder of Vietnam Veterans Against the War. The memoir conveys memorable stories about the transformation of soldiers in war zones into communities of peace activists. Jan Barry is the author of Waging Art: Tackling Grief and Trauma with Creative Arts, among other works.
Smart Fish Don’t Bite ($22.00 – 2025) by W. D. Ehrhart, a Marine Corps veteran of both the Vietnam War and Vietnam Veterans Against the War. The author of multiple books of both prose and poetry, including Vietnam-Perkasie: a Combat Marine Memoir, and Thank You for Your Service: Collected Poems. As the poems in this most recent collection demonstrate, he is a writer who fought in Vietnam, not a Vietnam writer.

Live Poetry: Magnus Mateo, Jane Edna Mohler, & Louisa Schnaithmann
2025-11-19 19:00 - 21:00 | Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Live Poetry: Magnus Mateo, Jane Edna Mohler, & Louisa Schnaithmann
Live @ Fergies Pub, 1214 Sansom Street
Magnus Mateo is a genderfluid, neurodivergent poet, performer, and event organizer based in the Lehigh Valley. In addition to their debut chapbook, She’s Jealous of my Purple Sky, Magnus has been published in various literary magazines and poetry anthologies. When he’s not writing and performing, Magnus is the main host and event organizer of Noble Quills in Easton and of IceHouse Literary Arts Committee in Bethlehem.
Jane Edna Mohler is a Bucks County Poet Laureate (PA) emeritus, and winner of the Main Street Voices. She was nominated multiple times for a Pushcart Prize and once for Best of the Net. Recent publications include Gargoyle, One Art, and Verse Virtual. Her collections, Broken Umbrellas and Autumn Clears are both from Kelsay Books. She is Poetry Editor of the Schuylkill Valley Journal. www.janeednamohler.com
Louisa Schnaithmann is the author of the poetry chapbook Plague Love and the consulting editor for ONE ART: a journal of poetry. Her poems have appeared in Cultural Daily, Gargoyle, The Mantle, SWWIM, and the Summerset Review. She lives in southeastern Pennsylvania.
Sean Hanrahan Host, Open Reading Follows

Book Release: And If You Saw Me by Craig Czury
2025-11-23 17:00 - 19:00 | Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Book Release: And If You Saw Me by Craig Czury
Featuring: Craig Czury, J. C. Todd, and Olga Livshin
Live at Fergies Pub, 1214 Sansom Street
Craig Czury has been conducting innovative life-writing and poetry workshops in schools, shelters, prisons, psych wards, community centers, and universities for over 30 years. A native of the Wilkes-Barre area of Pennsylvania, Craig is also an editor, publisher, and tireless arts advocate. He has authored over 20 books of poetry, many of which are translated into other languages, and he has been featured in poetry festivals all over the world. Craig lives, writes, and teaches in northern Italy and in northeastern Pennsylvania.
You can purchase copies at the event or online on Square here.
J. C. Todd explores the traumatic effects of war on women and the environment. Author of six books of poetry, most recently Beyond Repair (Able Muse Press, 2021) and a bilingual new and selected What Kept Me Awake? / Kas neleido užmigti? (PDR, 2024), she is a co-editor of Convergence: Poetry on the Environmental Impacts of War, a ground-breaking anthology addressing war’s damage to the natural world (Scarlet Tanager Press, 2026). Awards include fellowships from the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage and Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. She has taught Creative Writing at Bryn Mawr College and in the Rosemont MFA Program.
Olga Livshin’s poetry and translations recently appear in Poetry magazine, the Southern Review, the New York Times, and Ploughshares. She is the author of A Life Replaced: Poems with Translations from Anna Akhmatova and Vladimir Gandelsman (Poets & Traitors Press, 2019). Livshin co-translated Lyudmyla Khersonska’s Today is a Different War (Arrowsmith Press, 2023) and Vladimir Gandelsman’s A Man Only Needs a Room (New Meridian Arts, 2022). She lives just outside Philadelphia.
Open Reading Follows

Live Poetry: Barb Gonzalez & c.r. hooker
2025-11-26 19:00 - 21:00 | Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Live Poetry: Barb Gonzalez & c.r. hooker
Live @ Fergies Pub, 1214 Sansom Street
Barb Gonzalez (they/he) is a Philadelphia based poet just here to prove that there is something charming, or maybe a lesson to be learned in the mundane. as a haunter of dreams, naturally they write about nightmares and woes of their own.
c.r. hooker (they/them) is a nonbinary, bisexual poet and artist born and raised in the unforgiving heat of the Arizona desert. They are the photographer for Scribes on South and currently call the concrete jungle of Philadelphia their home
Mac Chandler Host, Open Reading Follows

New Voices: Live at Parkway Central Library
2025-12-02 17:30 - 19:30 | PA
New Voices: Fall 2025
A series for emerging poets between the ages of 10 and 25. This bi-annual publication invites poets to voice their experiences, introduce their new ways of thinking, and create the next generation of poetry. New Voices brings diverse voices and perspectives to print, from varied ethnic, gender, and class backgrounds.
Join us as contributors read their poems!
Tuesday, December 2nd, 2025 – If you live near Philadelphia please join us live.
LIVE at 5:30 EDT – Central Library, 1901 Vine St.

Philly Loves Poetry Interview and Readings Series - Live Broadcast
2025-12-02 18:30 - 20:00 | PA
Moonstone Poetry @ PhillyCAM: Can be viewed on the Phillycam website Or Cable 66/966HD/967 or Verizon FIOS, 29/30. In Philadelphia.
Leonard Gontarek is the author of eight books of poems, his poems have appeared in American Poetry Review, Field, Poet Lore, Fence, and in the anthologies, The Best American Poetry among others. He coordinates The Philadelphia Poetry Festival, Peace/Works: Poetry Readings for Peace, the Green Line Café Reading and Interview Series, and Poetry In Common. Since 2006 he has conducted 1000 poetry workshops in venues including, The Moonstone Arts Center, Musehouse, The Kelly Writers House, University City Arts League, Free Library of Philadelphia, Mad Poets Society, Philadelphia Arts in Education Partnership, and a weekly Saturday workshop from his home in West Philadelphia. In 2014 he created the first Philly Poetry Day.
Charles S. Carr, Host

Live Poetry: Peter E. Murphy, Karol Wasylyshyn, & Bernardine (Dine) Watson
2025-12-03 19:00 - 21:00 | PA
Live Poetry: Peter E. Murphy, Karol Wasylyshyn, & Bernardine (Dine) Watson
Live @ Fergies Pub, 1214 Sansom Street
Peter E. Murphy is the author of thirteen books and chapbooks of poetry, his writing has appeared in The Michigan Quarterly Review, The North American Review, Poetry Wales, and elsewhere. The founder of Murphy Writing of Stockton University, Peter leads workshops for writers in the US and Europe.
Karol Wasylyshyn has published volumes of poetry, in the wake of her husband’s death in 2024, she edited a collection of his grammar columns in a book entitled The Queen’s English, and is now working on a series of illustrated grief poems. Karol and Ken Butera are pictured here.
Bernardine (Dine) Watson has written on social policy issues for major foundations, nonprofit organizations and for the Washington Post. Her memoir, Transplant, won the 2023 prize for nonfiction and appeared on National Public Radio’s 2023 list of “Books We Love.” Her poetry has been published in Beltway Poetry Quarterly, Bourgeon/Mid Atlantic Review, and others. While living in Philadelphia, Dine served as president of The Painted Bride Art Center board of directors and as a board member for Scribe Video Center. She recently joined the board of the Washington Writers’ Publishing House.
Aaren Perry Host, Open Reading Follows

Live Poetry: Derrick C. Brown & Erica Miriam Fabri
2025-12-07 08:00 - 17:00 | Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Live Poetry: Derrick C. Brown & Erica Miriam Fabri
Wednesday December 10, 2025 – 7pm
Live at Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street
Derrick C. Brown is a renowned poet, comedian and former Paratrooper. He is the poet laureate of Los Feliz, CA. His album, ‘A Close Shave with Heaven’ earned him Paste Magazine’s ‘2023 Album of the Year.’ Winner of the Texas Book of The Year award for Poetry, owner and president of Write Bloody Publishing, hailed by Forbes and Filter Magazine as one of the nation’s premier independent poetry presses with a sister company, Write Bloody North in Toronto. He has authored ten poetry books and four children’s books. Brown’s impact on literature is undeniable. He’s toured stages worldwide, from Glastonbury to The Tonight Show, and collaborates with poets and comedians like Bobcat Goldthwait, Kristin Schaal, David Cross, and Eugene Mirman.
Erica Miriam Fabri is a NYC-based poet and the author of Dialect of a Skirt (a finalist for the Paterson Poetry Prize) and Morphology (winner of the Write Bloody Publishing Jack McCarthy Book Prize.) Her poetry has been widely published in magazines, anthologies, and featured in multi-media formats including art installations, short films, and television commercials. She teaches writing at Pace University and for The City University of New York.
Amy Saul-Zerby Host – Open Reading Follows

Live Reading: 30th Annual Poetry Ink
2025-12-13 14:00 - 16:00 | The Free Library of Philadelphia, 1901 Vine Street, 1901 Vine Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, United States
30th Annual Poetry Ink – LIVE READING
Saturday, December 13, 2pm
Central Free Library, 1901 Vine Street, Literature Dept. 2nd Floor

The 30th Annual Poetry Ink Anthology contains 118 poems by poets from around the world.
We want you all: Published Poets, Unpublished Poets, Academic Poets, Street Poets, Poets who write Sonnets, Villanelle, Haiku, Ekphrastic poems, Concrete Poems, Epitaph, Limerick, Ballad, Ode, Free Verse. Join us for our 30th year of Presenting Poetry Ink.
You can also purchase the 30th Poetry Ink anthology on our ecommerce site here.
There will also be a virtual Zoom reading for poets who are not in the Philadelphia area to participate.

Virtual: 30th Annual Poetry Ink
2025-12-14 14:00 - 16:00 | Virtual
30th Annual Poetry Ink – LIVE READING
Sunday, December 14, 2pm
Online via Zoom: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/GeRraO9xQ_yAefQXVw3J2g

The 30th Annual Poetry Ink Anthology contains 118 poems by poets from around the world.
We want you all: Published Poets, Unpublished Poets, Academic Poets, Street Poets, Poets who write Sonnets, Villanelle, Haiku, Ekphrastic poems, Concrete Poems, Epitaph, Limerick, Ballad, Ode, Free Verse. Join us for our 30th year of Presenting Poetry Ink.
You can also purchase the 30th Poetry Ink anthology on our ecommerce site here.

Virtual: Bill of Rights 2025 Anthology
2025-12-21 14:00 - 15:00 | Virtual
Virtual: Bill of Rights 2025
Sunday December 21, 2pm EST
Register for Zoom here: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/oYNfQ0_WTCSJj2p4dFC62Q
The United States’ Bill of Rights was ratified on December 15, 1791, meant to guarantee civil rights and liberties. Below is a reminder of the rights included in the ratification.

Our last anthology of the year – What happened to our rights?

Join us and reflect on the founding of the United States.

Free and open to everyone; not all poets will be reading
Virginia Alcott
Patricia Bailey
A. C. Blake
Linda M. Crate
Jeanne DiGrazio
Francis Flavin
William Scott Galasso
Marjorie Gowdy
Bruce Grossberg
Steven Halpern
Annie Hartford
Valdez Hill
Jones Irwin
Annie Lanzillotto
Lynn Lipinski
George Schaefer
Jennifer Schneider
Karamo Muchuri Sulieman
Eike Waltz

Live Reading: Moonstone Hosts
2026-01-07 19:00 - 21:00 | Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Live Reading: Moonstone Hosts
Wednesday, January 7th at 7pm
Live at Fergies Pub: 1214 Sansom Street
Featured readers for this live event are all of Moonstone’s poetry reading hosts. We hope you join us in the new year to meet our hosts, hear their latest work, and gather in community.
Featured Moonstone Poetry Hosts
Liz Allen
Charles Carr is author of 3 collections, and his poetry has been published widely in the small press. He is the host of Philly Loves Poetry on Philly Cam and is active with the Moonstone Arts Center.
Mac Chandler is a writer. They have been published in some places and not in others. You can find them hosting for Moonstone, as well as reading, bartending, and, i don’t know, just kinda waiting around.
Julianna Forlano, writer, radio host, and educator, whose work weaves personal narrative with politics, culture, and Italian-American history, her writing explores cultural memory, and family.
Sean Hanrahan, author of Headless, Safer Behind Popcorn and Ghost Signs, Hardened Eyes on the Scan and Gay Cake. His work has also been included in various anthologies and journals..
Lindsay Hargrave is a poet, first mate at Scribes on South, a coproducer at House Poet, half of the experimental group Kelpius, the author of two chapbooks and a copywriter for Temple University.
Warren C. Longmire, Black poet, performer, and technologist from North Philadelphia, whose poetry and hybrid media work investigate race, surveillance, and digital embodiment through generative literature, interactive design, and live performance.
S.W. Lynch is a writer and editor, author of five books of poetry and a novel entitled The Beast in the Pines. He has worked with Moonstone Arts Center for over a decade as an editor and poetry reading host
Aaren Perry, author of Shipping and Receiving and Open Fire, is a grant writer and editor. He co-edited Under Lock and Key: 100 Poems From Death Row; and The Art Of Inclusion.
Amy Saul-Zerby, author of three poetry collections, her poems have appeared in The Rumpus, The Chicago Review of Books, American Poetry Review, , and elsewhere. She edits Voicemail Poems.
Anne-Adele Wight, author of An Internet of Containment, The Age of Greenhouses, Opera House Arterial, and Sidestep Catapult. Her work has appeared in Poets and Writers, Luna Luna, and other publications.
Larry Robin is the director of the Moonstone Arts Center.

Philly Loves Poetry: Reading and Interview with Hayden Saunier
2026-01-13 18:30 - 19:30 | PA
Moonstone Poetry @ PhillyCAM with Hayden Saunier
Tuesday January 13, 2026
6:30pm EST – Live Broadcast
Can be viewed for free on the PhillyCAM website
Or Cable 66/966HD/967 or Verizon FIOS, 29/30
Philly Loves Poetry Interview and Readings Series with Hayden Saunier
Hayden Saunier is a poet, actor, and teaching artist living in the Philadelphia area. Hayden has published six collections of poetry and her work has been awarded numerous prizes including a Pushcart Prize and twelve nominations; the Rattle Poetry Prize; Nimrod International’s Pablo Neruda Prize, among others. She is the founder and director of No River Twice, a group of poets who offer interactive poetry readings that are never the same twice. Hayden is a Poet Laureate Emerita of Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
Hosted by Charles S. Carr

Live Poetry: Herman Beavers, Anisha Bhat, Steve Burke, and Octavia McBride-Ahebee
2026-01-14 19:00 - 21:00 | Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Live Poetry: Herman Beavers, Anisha Bhat, Steve Burke, and Octavia McBride-Ahebee
Wednesday January 14, 2026 – 7pm
Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street
Herman Beavers is an African American writer and the author of The Vernell Poems and Geography and the Political Imaginary in the Novels of Toni Morrison. Beavers’s honors include the Charles Ludwig Distinguished Teaching Award. He is currently a professor of English and Africana studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He lives in Burlington Township, New Jersey.
Anisha Bhat, originally from Chicago, Illinois, is a writer and staff member at Temple University where she directs research and creative programs for undergraduates. She has an MPhil in World History from the University of Cambridge and an MA in History from Northwestern University. In her free time she can be found buying too many books at used book stores, eating at the same five restaurants in South Philly, or working on her first poetry chapbook.
Steve Burke’s poems have been published in numerous journals & magazines; has three chapbooks – After The Harvest, For Now, & Small Answers – published by Moonstone Press. He has been a featured reader at the Painted Bride Arts Center, Moore College of Art, the Free Library, the Philadelphia Poetry Festival, the Big Blue Marble Bookstore, the Mad Poets’ Festival, the Green Line Café, along with Fergie’s Pub. He worked for 25 years as a labor and delivery nurse; lives with wife Giselle in the Mount Airy section of Philadelphia.
Octavia McBride-Ahebee’s work is influenced by the convergence of cultures and the many ways in which people move throughout the world, she explores relationships within the broader framework of global inequality and contributes to The Africa Migration Report Poetry Anthology Series (exploring African and diasporic migration through poetry and is involved with Forced Migration and The Arts.) Her work has appeared in journals and anthologies including For Harriet, Raising Lilly Ledbetter; Women Poets Occupy the Workplace, Yellow Medicine, South Philly Fiction, Damazine; A Literary Journal of the Muslim World, Fingernails Across The Chalkboard: Poetry And Prose on HIV/AIDS From the Black Diaspora, Under Our Skin: Literature of Breast Cancer, The Journal of the National Medical Association, Art in Medicine Section, International Quarterly; Faces of the Americas, the Beloit Poetry Journal. Her poetry collections include Assuming Voices, Where My Birthmark Dances and Praise Song for the Gravediggers.
Liz Allen Host – Open Reading Follows

Live Poetry: E. Lynn Alexander, Holiday Noel Campanella, Shannon Frost Greenstein & C.L. Liedekev
2026-01-21 19:00 - 20:00 | Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Live Poetry: E. Lynn Alexander, Holiday Noel Campanella, Shannon Frost Greenstein & C.L. Liedekev
Wednesday, January 21st at 7pm
Live at Fergies Pub: 1214 Sansom St.
E. Lynn Alexander is an artist, poet, maker of unlikely things from other things, independent publisher, and cemetery walker. She cohosts The Friday Collapse reading series and has a book of meandering femwarrior poetry called Find Me in the Iris. She says the following: “Why are we destroying everything at such an alarming rate, turning the corner on so much that is irreversible? Our path is one that rewards extremes: self centered, immediate and empty gratification, consumption, competition, exhibitionism, self interest. To commune and cooperate is to be “weak”, to share knowledge is to lose “advantage”. Where shame is the tool, coerced participation is the result. The desire to diminish and destroy pushes us to channel our energies defensively and we are depleted.”

Holiday Noel Campanella is a multi-disciplinary writer and artist from South Philadelphia. Her work has been published in numerous lit mags and journals, (Gigantic Sequins, San Pedro River Review, Pink Disco, Meow Meow Pow Pow) exhibited and sold nationally, (The Smithsonian Museum, Anthropologie, The Clay Studio) and collected in public and private collections (The Free Library of Philadelphia, Vanderbilt Libraries Special Collections). She has a BFA from the University of Pennsylvania and The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in painting and creative writing. You can find out more at holidaynoelcampanella.com.

Shannon Frost Greenstein is the author of Through the Lens of Time, and These Are a Few of My Least Favorite Things. Her work has appeared in McSweeney’s, Pithead Chapel, Nimrod Journal, and elsewhere. Shannon’s passions include Friedrich Nietzsche, anti-racism, the Seven Summits, the Hamilton Soundtrack, and acquiring more cats.

C.L. Liedekev is a poet living in Conshohocken, PA, with his real name, wife, and children. He is a two-time nominee for Best of the Net, with his poem “November Snow. Philadelphia Children’s Hospital” being a finalist in 2021. His poem, The Hungry, was a 2023 Inaugural Plentitudes Prize finalist. Alien Buddha Press released his debut collection, No Damage Visible, in 2024.
Open Reading Follows

Virtual Reading: ICE Immigration and Murder
2026-01-25 14:00 - 15:00 | Virtual
ICE: Immigration and Murder
In immediate response, Moonstone is hosting a virtual reading on Sunday, January 25th at 2pm EST via Zoom for all to attend and read. You can register for the Zoom here: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/FoHS3q61SQy1zuoz9aIJZA
We are also organizing a poetry anthology in response to ICE’s violence, the murder of Renee Nicole Good, and many others who have been killed by ICE. We hope the reading on January 25th will serve as inspiration.
Anthology Deadline: February 1st, 2026
Submit to the anthology here.
Below we’ve included snippets of more information on the catalyst for this anthology through the murder of Renee Nicole Good. Many have been
Excerpt from ICE Agents Can Be Charged With Murder
by David Dayden, the executive editor of The American Prospect
On Wednesday afternoon, ICE agents carrying out an operation in south Minneapolis were briefly obstructed by a car blocking traffic. ICE agents approached the female driver, 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, yelling, “Get out of the fucking car,” and one of them attempted to open the driver’s-side door. After the driver backed up to turn around and move, another agent drew his gun and unloaded three shots into the car. The car barreled into a light pole about 100 feet down the road, and the driver was quickly pronounced dead.
This is confirmed by eyewitness accounts and videos from multiple angles. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), while confirming the broad details, claims that the ICE agent acted in self-defense to avoid being run over by the vehicle.
Read the full article here.
Renee Nicole Good, murdered by ICE, was a prize-winning poet. Here’s that poem.
excerpt from Jonny Diamond, January 7, 2026
Renee Nicole Good, 37, mother to a six-year-old boy, was murdered earlier today by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, a few blocks from her home. According to the Minnesota Star Tribune:
[An ICE agent] shot and killed a woman in south Minneapolis during a morning confrontation between community members and federal officers […] Several residents of the area who witnessed the scene said agents were ordering the woman out of the vehicle. A video showed agents around the vehicle as the driver reversed and then pulled forward. One agent appeared to fire multiple rounds into the car.
The bio from a now-private Instagram account belonging to Good describes her as a “Poet and writer and wife and mom and shitty guitar strummer from Colorado; experiencing Minneapolis, MN.”
In 2020, when she went by Renée Nicole Macklin, she won the prestigious Academy of American Poets Prize for a poem called “On Learning to Dissect Fetal Pigs,” which begins:
i want back my rocking chairs, solipsist sunsets, & coastal jungle sounds that are tercets from cicadas and pentameter from the hairy legs of cockroaches.
i’ve donated bibles to thrift stores (mashed them in plastic trash bags with an acidic himalayan salt lamp— the post-baptism bibles, the ones plucked from street corners from the meaty hands of zealots, the dumbed-down, easy-to-read, parasitic kind):
remember more the slick rubber smell of high gloss biology textbook pictures; they burned the hairs inside my nostrils,
& salt & ink that rubbed off on my palms.
[READ THE FULL POEM HERE] – https://poets.org/2020-on-learning-to-dissect-fetal-pigs
This is murder in broad daylight by the Trump administration, obvious and brutal. And though each senseless act of violence committed by the state upon its citizens echoes the thousands that have gone before, we cannot become numb to the particular (and intensifying) depravities of this administration.
So if the violence of the deportations, and the crackdowns, and the cuts, and the raids, and the air strikes, haven’t been enough for you, let something so simple and evil as the daytime execution of a poet move you to action.

Live Poetry: Anne Kaier, Massimo Lavelle, and Aaren Perry
2026-01-28 19:00 - 21:00 | Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Live Poetry: Anne Kaier, Massimo Lavelle, and Aaren Perry
Wednesday, January 28, 2026 – 7pm
Live at Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street
Anne Kaier a Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Fellow and has served on a Fulbright screening committee for creative writers. Her poetry collection, How Can I Say It Was Not Enough? won the Propel Poetry Award and was published by Nine Mile Press and the University of Syracuse in Spring 2025. Her essays have appeared widely in venues such as The New York Times, The Kenyon Review, 1966 journal, Alaska Quarterly Review, and the anthology About Us: Essays from the Disability Series of The New York Times for which she appeared on NPR’s Radio Times. “Maple Lane” was mentioned on the list of notables in an edition of Best American Essays.
Massimo Lavelle is a spoken word poet. He performs throughout Philadelphia and has also featured at Yale University African American Studies Department and O’bheal in Ireland. He has hosted different events in the city and has collaborated with musicians, dancers and videographers on a diverse range of projects. He loves seeing people sharing positive and creative work and hopes his poetry encourages that.
Aaren Perry’s most recent book Shipping and Receiving is published by Moonstone. Bilingual with an MFA from Vermont College, Perry is a grant writer and editor. He edited a forthcoming collection of new poems by Lamont B. Steptoe; co-edited with James Villarreal, Under Lock and Key: 100 Poems From Death Row, by Anthony Reid; and co-edited The Art Of Inclusion with John Lavin and Eleanor Wilner.
Anne-Adele Wight Host, Open Reading Follows

Virtual Reading: Remembering Langston Hughes
2026-02-01 14:00 - 15:00 | virtual
Remembering Langston Hughes
Sunday February 1, 2026 – 2pm Eastern
Zoom Registration: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/XXf_26_ZRE6a9MzFrJzzRw

Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967)
During the twenties when most American poets were turning inward, writing obscure and esoteric poetry to an ever-decreasing audience of readers, Hughes was turning outward, using language and themes, attitudes and ideas familiar to anyone who had the ability simply to read… Until the time of his death, he spread his message humorously—though always seriously—to audiences throughout the country, having read his poetry to more people (possibly) than any other American poet.”
Registration: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/XXf_26_ZRE6a9MzFrJzzRw
The Dream Keeper (1925)
Bring me all of your dreams,
You dreamers.
Bring me all of your
Heart melodies
That I may wrap them
In a blue cloud-cloth
from the too rough fingers
Of the world.
Not All Poets will be Reading

Anne Catharine Blake
Jacqueline Braswell
Francisco Carrasco
AJ Chilson
Tony Nicholas Clark
Joan Dobbie
David Eberhardt
Jacalyn Eyvonne
Linda Goss
Paz Griot

Monique Hayes
Valdez Hill
Jones Irwin
Jim LaVilla-Havelin
John Lavin
Maria Lisella
Moises Maldonado
Torie Michelle
Marjorie Moorhead
Derrick Owings
John Pietaro

David Radavich
Janet Restino
Katherine Shehadeh
Jay Shifman
Linda Simone
Robert Lavett Smith
Otis Sprow
Andre Brenardo Taylor
Pam Ward
Anthony Webb
Daniel Williams
Samantha Wright

Live Poetry: Elliott batTzedek, Pheralyn Dove, Mikey Franz, and Alina Macneal
2026-02-04 19:00 - 21:00 | Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
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.
Open Reading Follows
