Moonstone Arts Center

Virtual Poetry: Remembering Audre Lorde
2024-02-18 14:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) | Virtual
Remembering Audre Lorde (1934-1992)

Sunday February 18, 2024 – 2pm – VIRTUAL
Join us on Zoom (Registration Required): https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAvdeipqTsoHdwqmC1q3s_Nx34bh3KSabHn
The Black feminist, lesbian, poet, mother, warrior Audre Lorde was a native New Yorker and daughter of immigrants. Both her activism and her published work speak to the importance of struggle for liberation among oppressed peoples and of organizing in coalition across differences of race, gender, sexual orientation, class, age and ability. An internationally recognized activist and artist, Audre Lorde was the recipient of many honors and awards, including the Walt Whitman Citation of Merit, which conferred the mantle of New York State poet for 1991-93. In designating her New York State’s Poet Laureate, Governor Mario Cuomo observed: “Her imagination is charged by a sharp sense of racial injustice and cruelty, of sexual prejudice…She cries out against it as the voice of indignant humanity. Audre Lorde is the voice of the eloquent outsider who speaks in a language that can reach and touch people everywhere.” Join us as poets remember.

Virtual Poetry - Fatal Force: Poetic Justice
2024-02-17 19:00 - 21:00 | Virtual
Fatal Force: Poetic Justice
Saturday February 17, 2024 – 7pm EST Virtual
Join us on Zoom (Registration Required): https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIsduGuqTgjEtIm1XVEz94i3LTtCLb8iG5D
As of December 4, 2023, 1085 people have been killed by police in the United States (Mapping Police Violence 2023).
Police officer, Mark Dial shot and killed Eddie Irizarry on August 14, 2023. On August 15th, Philadelphia police changed their story, stating that Irizarry was actually in the car when he was shot six times. Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw stated that officers’ body-worn camera footage “made it very clear that what we initially reported was not actually what happened.” Read more about the details and legal proceedings here:
(The Killing of Eddie Irizarry).
Martín Espada recently wrote a poem entitled, “Officer Mark Dial, Who Shot Eddie Irizarry, Will Be Fired for Insubordination” to elegize the innocent young man whose alleged murder this past August is an outrage.
Fatal Force : Poetic Justice contributors, featuring Martín Espada, will read their work virtually on February 17th to honor poet/activist, Julia de Burgos’ birthday. She was the foremother for the Nuyorican Poetry Movement in New York who advocated for anti-imperialism and social justice. Fatal Force: Poetic Justice commemorates her ideals.
Presented by Taller Puertorriqueño, Casa de Duende, and Moonstone

Although not everyone will be reading, we have poems by these poets

Mary Anne Abdo
Sonia Aggarwal
Austin Alexis
Star Anderson
Naomi Ayala
Diane Bier
Steve Bloom
Christopher Butters
Cameron Carvalho
Raheem Curry
Martin Espada
Steven Halpern
Zita Holbourne
Ace Howlen
Jane Ellen Ibur
Irving Jones
Ron Kolm
Donald Krieger
Mindy Kronenberg
D Lang
Jeffrey lee
Kostya Malukhin
Aurora McKee
Samuel Miranda
David Mook
Deeci Murphy
Jane Muschenetz
Maureen Nolan
George Northrup
Tauwan Patterson
Alex Phuong
Rescue Poetix
Susana Praver-Perez
David Radavich
Alexis Raymond
Sultana Raza
Janet Restino
Joe Roarty
Jake Rogers
Mykyta Ryzhykh
India Shank
Calvin Shaw
Larissa Shmailo
Megha Sood
Rowan Tate
Alyssa Velazquez
Eike Waltz
Bruce Whitacre
Martin Wiley
Glenn Wright
Samantha Wright

Live Poetry: Joshua Barnes, Sarah Browning, Eileen M. D’Angelo, & Juniper Sweeney
2024-02-14 19:00 - 21:00 | Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Moonstone Poetry Readings
Wednesday February 14, 2024 – 7pm
Live at Fergie’s Pub – 1214 Sansom Street
OR Join Us on Zoom (Registration Required):
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYqc-GrqzwrHNS3jAMLOupFHyUci7eweq4_
Joshua Barnes lives in Philadelphia with his husband. His poetry has previously appeared in &Change, Olney Magazine, Impossible Archetype, Philadelphia Stories, and Moonstone Press. When not writing, he can be found reading poetry, horror fiction, and comic books, and perfecting his handstands. He can be found on Instagram @ jsb1800.
Sarah Browning is the author of Killing Summer and Whiskey in the Garden of Eden. She is co-founder and was Executive Director of Split This Rock: Poetry of Provocation & Witness for 10 years. She is an Associate Fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies. Browning is a recipient of fellowships from the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Yaddo, Mesa Refuge, and the Adirondack Center for Writing. She has been guest editor or co-edited special issues of Beltway Poetry Quarterly, The Delaware Poetry Review, and three issues of POETRY magazine.
Eileen M. D’Angelo, twice nominated for a Pennsylvania Governor’s Award in the Arts, she received two Pushcart Prize / Best of the Small Press nominations from Verse Magazine and Schuylkill Valley Journal. Her poetry, essays and book reviews have been published in The Philadelphia Inquirer, the News of Delaware County, Rattle: Poetry for the 21st Century, Manhattan Poetry Review, Paterson Literary Review, Drexel Online Journal, Wild River Review, Philadelphia Stories, Philadelphia Poets, The Independent Review, Negative Capability, One Trick Pony, and others.
Juniper Sweeney is a nonbinary trans poet, queer community contributor, and outdoorsthem. She helped expand the Philadelphia Voices of Pride as part of their board and is excited to start sharing her own developing creative voice. She also helps organize Phlash, Philadelphia’s gay climbing community, and especially loves climbing outdoors and connecting new climbers to a practice that brings her joy and embodiment. This is their first time being featured and she’s deeply excited to be a new member of the Philadelphia poetry community
Sean Hanrahan Host – Open Reading Follows

Virtual Poetry: David Eberhardt, Stephen Jones, Marjorie Moorhead, Daniel Williams, & Samantha Wright
2024-02-08 19:00 - 21:00 | Virtual
Thursday February 8, 2024 – 7pm -Virtual
Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYrce-spj4pE9Jq0ZszDJHI7vYgFYFf19BY
David Eberhardt, author of Melange, The Tree Calendar, Blue Running Lights, and Poems from the Website, was born in 1941. He retired in 2010 from 33 years of work in the criminal INjustice system at the Baltimore City jail. With Father Phil Berrigan and two others he poured blood on draft files in 1967 to protest the Viet Nam war. For that action, he spent 21 months in Lewisburg Federal Prison. He has completed a peace movement memoir, For All the Saints: A Protest Primer. In 2020 he won the Enoch Pratt Library/ Little Patuxent Review prize for poetry.
Stephen Jones has lived in Detroit for more than forty years, has worked as a journalist, high school English teacher and university history instructor. He is a student of Zen Buddhism, which sparked his interest in such ancient Chinese poets as Han Shan, Su Tung’p’o, Tu Fu, Li Po, and Po Chu-i. Jones’ poems have appeared in Abandon Automobile, an anthology of Detroit poets; Maxis Review; Poet in the House; Buddhist Poetry Review; Third Wednesday, and Temenos.
Marjorie Moorhead lives and writes at the border of NH/VT. She is author of poetry collections Every Small Breeze, What I Ask, and chapbooks Survival: Trees, Tides, Song and Survival Part 2: Trees, Birds, Ocean, Bees. Marjorie’s work appears in journals including Amethyst Review, Tiny Seed Literary, Moist Poetry Journal, Bloodroot Literary, Sheila-Na-Gig, Porter House Review, Poeming Pigeon, Verse-Virtual, What Rough Beast, A River Sings, The Poet’s Touchstone, and others. Her poems are included in anthologies benefitting environmental, women’s, Covid first responder, and refugee aid organizations. She has a poem in The Wonder of Small Things (James Crews, ed. 2023). Marjorie’s local poetry group is 4th Friday Poets.
Daniel Williams has published in many journals and anthologies, he is a long-standing member of Poets’ West, California Federation of Chaparral Poets, Poets & Writers, and the Ina Coolbrith Circle and has poems in Yosemite National Park’s time capsule, a haiku engraved on MAVEN, the Mar’s orbiter, and has been nominated for Pushcart Prize in poetry. His California inspired poems have been featured in Ina Coolbrith Poetry Circle Anthologies, Gathering 14 and Gathering 15.
Samantha Wright, author of Edges Holding Edges and Postcards from the West, lives in the Pacific Northwest. Her poems have appeared in Beyond Words, Prometheus Dreaming, Pontoon Poetry, Minerva Arts, Welter, Cathexis Northwest, among others. Her debut chapbook, Edges Holding Edges, was published by Moonstone Arts in 2022. She currently divides her time between writing and teaching yoga.

Open Reading Follows

Live Poetry: Emiliano Martín, Diane McManus, Keith Woodrow, & Robert Zaller
2024-02-07 19:00 - 21:00 | Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Wednesday February 7, 2024 – 7pm -LIVE
Live at Fergie’s Pub – 1214 Sansom Street and on zoom
OR on Zoom (Registration Required):
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcvcOigqz4qHtCj5tnSWrCaVRobrdm0Q2HM
Emiliano Martín is Spanish born and an advocate of the spoken word, he is the founder of Philadelphia Poetry Forum for the NE Regional Public Library. Past President of Pennsylvania Poetry Society (PPS, Inc) has also served as the Executive Director of Latin American Guild for the Arts (LAGA) in Philadelphia. Author of more than a dozen books of Poetry, like “Selected Bilingual Poems” (2023), at this time he is proud to introduce… his latest title: “Songs out of the Drawer” (2024). Martín is a longtime resident in the Philadelphia area and his verse keeps moving on.
Diane McManus teaches in the English Department of Community College of Philadelphia as an adjunct, writes, swims (including marathon swims), and reflects on the colors of rivers. Her poetry has appeared in Listening Eye, Philadelphia Poets, Mad Poets Review, and in two Moonstone anthologies: the 26th Anniversary Poetry Ink, as well as The Struggle for Liberty.
Keith Woodrow studied Classics at the University of Southern California, focusing on queer Roman poetry. He has been published in New York Quarterly, Moonstone Arts Center Annual Poetry Ink, and River River Journal. He was also a Brooklyn Poets Yawp Poet of the Month.
Robert Zaller is Distinguished University Professor Emeritus at Drexel University. Poet, critic, and historian, his books of verse include Speaking to Power and The Dresden Zoo, both published by Moonstone Press.
Open Reading Follows

Virtual Poetry: Moonstone Poetry @ PhillyCAM with g emil reutter
2024-02-06 18:30 - 19:30 | Virtual
Philly Loves Poetry Interview and Readings Series
Featuring – g emil reutter
Tuesday February 6, 2024 – 6:30pm – EST – VIRTUAL
Watch for free on the PhillyCAM website
Or Cable 66/966HD/967 or Verizon FIOS, 29/30 in Philadelphia.

g emil reutter is a writer of poems and stories. 18 collections of his poetry and fiction have been published, most recently, Until Next Time – Selected Poems 1990-2022. A chapbook, Glint- Down the Shore Poems is pending release.
He can be found here: https://gereutter.wordpress.com/about/
Videos: https://gereutter.wordpress.com/videos/
Charles S. Carr, Host

Live Poetry: House Poet @ Fergie's with Lindsay Hargrave and Noah David Roberts
2024-01-31 19:00 - 21:00 | Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Wednesday, January 31st – 7PM
Live at Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street
And over Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYpd–tpj4uEtTGjg-a2O9NZBvpHqx9GFyw
Welcome to House Poet @ Fergie’s
Since March 2022, House Poet has strived to bring together writers, dancers, DJs and musicians alike. Join us in 2024 as we bring that energy to Moonstone’s Poetry Nights at Fergie’s, featuring an open reading, featured readers, live music and a soundtrack you can bounce to.
Lindsay Hargrave is a poet, editor at Graphic Violence, and a copywriter for Temple University. Read more at https://linktr.ee/Hargrave or follow @notporkroll on Twitter. Noah David Roberts is a non-binary poet, the author of 6 collections, including Mutable Forests. In 2022, Roberts won the Judith Stark poetry contest. They are a 2023 Pushcart nominee. You can learn more on Instagram at @the.apocalypse.poet.
Warren Longmire Host, Open Reading Follows

Virtual Poetry: 27th Annual Poetry Ink
2024-01-29 14:00 - 16:00 | PA
27th Annual Poetry Ink Anthology
Monday, January 29th, 2024 – 2PM
Virtual on Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYqduytqjwjG9dP-hVrP8szAyz7uxDeUXTe
We want you all: published poets, unpublished poets, academic poets, street poets, poets who write Sonnet, Villanelle, Haiku, Ekphrastic Poems, Concrete Poems, Epitaph, Elegy, Epigram, Limerick, Ballad, Ode, Free Verse. Join us for our 27th year of presenting 100 poets reading in alphabetical order. We will have the live event at the Rotunda on Sunday and a Virtual event on zoom on Monday. Last year we presented 50 poets at each event.

Live Poetry: 27th Annual Poetry Ink
2024-01-28 14:00 - 17:00 | The Rotunda, 14014 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, United States
Sunday January 28, 2024 – 2pm
Live at The Rotunda, 4014 Walnut Street
We want you all: published poets, unpublished poets, academic poets, street poets, poets who write Sonnet, Villanelle, Haiku, Ekphrastic Poems, Concrete Poems, Epitaph, Elegy, Epigram, Limerick, Ballad, Ode, Free Verse.
Join us for our 27th year of presenting 100 poets reading in alphabetical order. We will have the live event at the Rotunda on Sunday and a Virtual event over Zoom on Monday. Last year we presented 50 poets at each event.

Live Poetry: W.D. Ehrhart and M.L. Liebler
2024-01-24 19:00 - 21:00 | Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Wednesday January 24, 2024 – 7pm
Live at Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street
And on Zoom:
ttps://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIodOmrqz8sEtaWMbfHtRb-xMHXESjVcrpm
W. D. Ehrhart, Poet, Writer, Scholar and Teacher began writing when he was 15 years old and has been writing more or less continuously ever since. His first published work, a poem about Swarthmore College, appeared seven years later in the Chronicle of Higher Education, and the following year eight of his poems were included in Winning Hearts and Minds: War Poems by Vietnam Veterans. Exclusively a poet until he was almost 30, he has since written and published a wide variety of nonfiction prose from 400-word newspaper commentaries to 40-page scholarly essays to 400-page personal narratives. The influence of Ehrhart’s encounter with the Vietnam War can readily be seen in his writing, but though he is known primarily as a “Vietnam War poet,” in fact his subject matter ranges widely.
M. L. Liebler is a internationally known Detroit poet, university professor, literary arts activist and arts organizer. He is the author of 15 books and chapbooks including the Award winning Wide Awake in Someone Else’s Dream, has read and performed his work around the world, taught English, Creative Writing, American Studies, Labor Studies and World Literature at Wayne State University and he is the founding director of both The National Writer’s Voice Project in Detroit and the Springfed Arts: Metro Detroit Writers Literary Arts Organization. He was selected as Best Detroit Poet by The Detroit Free Press & Detroit’s Metro Time, and his groundbreaking anthology Working Words: Punching the Clock & Kicking Out the Jams was given a 2011 Library of Michigan Notable Book Award.

Poe-sers – The Raven: An Autobiographic Performance
2024-01-18 18:00 - 19:00 | The Free Library of Philadelphia, 1901 Vine Street, 1901 Vine Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, United States
Poe-sers – The Raven
Thursday January 18, 2024 – 6pm
Central Free Library, 1901 Vine Street
In collaboration with The Literature Department of Free Library of Philadelphia
Poe-sers is an autobiographical performance piece. The stories of four personas: child, victim, woman and The Raven – the overseer of them all. They are a keeper of secrets that finds a soulmate in Edgar Allan Poe. The rhythmic counting of OCD keeps them in control of a bit of sanity. Bonding to books and an allegiance to the poems of childhood are the glue which holds the pieces, slightly, together.
Susan DiPronio – the woman – the author of “Poe-sers” (they, she) a queer published writer of poetry, plays, films, essays, an award-winning analog photographer, recipient of ‘The Art for Change Grant’ & ‘The Transformation Award’ from The Leeway Foundation. Their photos, films, plays have been shown worldwide.
Wendie Hetherington – The Raven – Winner of the voice of Poe contest. Her’s is the voice in The Edgar Allan Poe Cottage in New York City and also on their website. She also performed in the Edgar Allan Poe Historic site in Philadelphia.
Gab Fischetti (they/them) is a queer actor who lives in West Philadelphia. They are presently on the artistic team of EgoPo Classic Theater and are happy to be a part of this piece. They look forward to exploring new, artistic avenues.
Carly L. Bodnar (she/they) is a Philadelphia based screen and stage director, teaching artist, coach, and performer. Carly is the Co-Artistic Director and founding member of ReVamp Collective, a feminist artist collective. BA in Theatre from Temple University with a minor in Art History. Carly is an alum of the 2018 Directors Lab West, Directors Gathering Member, and SDC Associate Member www.carlyLbodnar.com.
Elwood (any pronouns) is a performer and choreographer form Bangor, Maine. They received a degree in theater and dance at Oberlin College and continue to create work at the intersection of both of those mediums.

Live Poetry: Jonathan Koven, Pat Rodgers, and Robert Zell
2024-01-17 19:00 - 21:00 | Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Jonathan Koven, author of Palm Lines, Below Torrential Hill (EE) a winner of the Electric Eclectic Novella Prize, and Mystic Orchards, Grew up on Long Island, NY. He holds a BA in English and Creative Writing from American University, works as a technical writer, and reads chapbooks for Moonstone Arts. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife Delana, and their cats Peanut Butter and Keebler. He has had both fiction and poetry published, by Assure Press, Animal Heart Press, Thirty West Publishing, and more.
Pat Rodgers is a poet based in West Philadelphia. His published work can be found in Neptune and several Moonstone anthologies. Recall is the title of his first chapbook.
Robert Zell has published two chapbooks: One and Reflections. His work has also appeared in Whirlwind magazine, North of Oxford, and several Moonstone Arts anthologies. He is also the host of the Sunday reading series at the Pen and Pencil Club.
Sean Hanrahan Host, Open Reading Follows

Live Poetry: Elliott Levin, Ursula Rucker, and Yolanda Wisher
2024-01-10 19:00 - 21:00 | Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Live Poetry: Elliott Levin, Ursula Rucker, and Yolanda Wisher
Wednesday January 10, 2024 – 7pm
Live at Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street
And on Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcoc-msrDgjGNDxkIxf_eV0ZxVv2dn-IOG61/17/2024
Elliott Levin, author of does it swing and his newest poetry CD A Word by Any Other Name is a Philadelphia jazz legend. Whatever it is jazz performers do when they blow into their horn as Levin does a lot of it, on tenor saxophone and flute. He has a quite active 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 and to the chagrin of hipsters who insist jazz poetry is a form of torture, worse than cold showers. Other listeners might find the entire free jazz experience itself torture, in which case it’s back to the beginning as far as advice regarding Levin: there is nothing watered-down or weak about his performances, no attempt to make the music a bit more accessible to the novices, tender-hearted or just plain wimpy.
Ursula Rucker is an interdisciplinary poet, performer, and recording artist whose work reflects on personal history, family, and place. She characterizes her work as situated “along the edge of the terrains of poetry.” Rucker has released five albums and collaborated with a wide range of artists outside of the field of poetry, including The Roots, musicians and Pew Fellows Jamaaladeen Tacuma and King Britt, and, most recently, Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Clarence Williams III.
“I stand for poetry as a source of profound truth. That truth, for me, is connected to the idea that cities are places that redeem our strivings and leave us longing; the ways family life shapes and shakes us, and brings us back; and the thought that artists safeguard stories and struggles” Ursula Rucker
Yolanda Wisher was named inaugural Poet Laureate of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, third Poet Laureate of Philadelphia, and currently serves as chair of the Philadelphia Poet Laureate Governing Committee. She is the author of Monk Eats an Afro and co-editor of the anthology Peace is a Haiku Song with mentor Sonia Sanchez. Wisher performs a blend of poetry and song with her band Yolanda Wisher & The Afroeaters. She co-founded Germantown Poetry Festival and served as Director of Art Education for Philadelphia Mural Arts from, founded of School of Guerrilla Poetics, a training ground for folks interested in nurturing and mobilizing communities through poetryand with Trapeta B. Mayson she co-founded ConsenSIS, an initiative that seeks to count, gather, and memorialize Black femme poets in the Philadelphia area. A Pew and Cave Canem Fellow, Wisher received the Leeway Foundation’s Transformation Award in 2019 for her commitment to art for social change, and last year, she was named a Philadelphia Cultural Treasures Artist Fellow.
Larry Robin, Host

Moonstone Poetry @ PhillyCAM: Autumn McClintock
2024-01-09 18:30 - 19:30 | PA
Moonstone Poetry @ PhillyCAM: Autumn McClintock
Tuesday January 9, 2023 @ 6:30pm VIRTUAL
Watch for free on the PhillyCAM website
Or Cable 66/966HD/967 or Verizon FIOS, 29/30 in Philadelphia.

Autumn McClintock is a freelance writer and editor living in Germantown. Her newest chapbook, Dirt Bird, was recently published by Alexandria Quarterly Press, and poems of hers have appeared in The Account, Cimarron Review, Denver Quarterly, and The Georgia Review, among others. She is Poetry Editor of Doubleback Review. Find her online at autumnmcclintock.com.

Charles S. Carr, Host

Book Release: Eat This Poem by Charles S. Carr feat. David Kertis
2024-01-03 19:00 - 21:00 | Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Book Release: Eat This Poem by Charles S. Carr
Wednesday January 3, 2023 – 7pm – LIVE at Fergie’s Pub
Registration Required for zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0rcu2spz4sGtRH0yB2BbQ5PnqJd-96A05B
Charles S. Carr from Philadelphia graduated from LaSalle College and has an M.A. in American History from Bryn Mawr College. Charles worked in Social and Community Development services for 45 years. Charles has been a lay missionary for Hands Together raising money to serve the poorest of the poor in Haiti. He has two books of poems paradise, pennsylvania, (Cradle Press, 2009) and Haitian Mudpies and Other Poems, (Moonstone Press, 2013). In 2008, one of Charles’s poems won first place in Mad Poets Review. His poems have been published in local and national print and online poetry journals, For five years Charles hosted the second Tuesday Moonstone Poetry series at Fergie’s Pub. For the past seven years he has been the host of Philly Loves Poetry, a monthly broadcast from Philly CAM. Charles has one son, Evan, and is married to award-winning artist Karen Stabenow. His latest chapbook is Eat This Poem with Moonstone Press.
Proceeds from the sales of the chapbook will go to Ukraine Trust Chain.
David Kertis, author of Word of the Day. was born in 1955 and grew up in northern New Jersey. He attended Oberlin College where he studied creative writing with David Young, and has lived in Philadelphia since 1978. He is married and works as a claims adjuster. In Philadelphia, he has studied with Leonard Gontarek and Eleanor Wilner. He has been published on line in Frigate and Apiary and given a number of readings in the Philadelphia area. His book, Word of the Day, has recently been published.
Leonard Gontarek Host, Open Reading Follows

Poetry Reading: Cydney Brown, Savannah Cooper-Ramsey, & Lawrence Dugan
2023-12-27 19:00 - 20:30 | Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Wednesday, 12/27 LIVE @ Fergie’s Pub
7PM ET & on Zoom
Zoom Registration: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEvcOGspzgiG9ISfRlJNdRQj2faXJsWhktf

Cydney Brown is the 2023 Northeast Regional Youth Poet Laureate, 2020-2021 Philadelphia Youth Poet Laureate and author of Daydreaming. She is a Sophomore at Northwestern University and has been writing poetry since she was in 5th grade.
Savannah Cooper-Ramsey’s published an artist book, Not Fit For Print: Forthcoming Titles (Waterhouse Ltd Press, 2018) and poems in publications like the Moonstone anthologies, Whirlwind Magazine, Bomb Magaine, and Cul-de-sac of Blood (forthcoming). She received a PhD in Italian from Columbia University. She works in the service industry and teaches at CCP.
Lawrence Dugan’s new book, The Sea again: Poems, made up of poems that first appeared in magazines and journals such as Daedqlus, Arion, Cyphers, The Gettysburg Review, Nation Review and others. He is retired from The Free Library of Philadelphia where he once ran the Monday Poets Series.

Larry Robi, Host – Open Reading Follows

Bill of Rights Day
2023-12-17 14:00 - 16:00 | Virtual
Sunday, 12/17 @ 2P EDT; VIRTUAL ONLY
Zoom Registration: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEkfuGpqz4rHdBXineZDgxkf1GHD6__eNeO
December 15, 1791: Ten amendments protect the most basic rights of Americans, known as the Bill of Rights.
The Bill of Rights consists of the first ten amendments made to the United States Constitution, and their purpose is to spell out the personal freedoms and rights of the American people. The Bill of Rights was first written on September 25, 1789, and was later ratified on December 15, 1791, which is why Bill of Rights Day is celebrated on this date.
Join us as poets reflect on our rights.

Paul Muldoon, Courtney Sender, & Patricia Davis-Muffet in Equinox Reading Series
2023-12-13 19:00 - 20:30 | Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Moonstone Arts Center in Collaboration with E-Verse Equinox Reading Series
Wednesday, 12/13 LIVE @ Fergie’s Pub & on Zoom @ 7PM
Zoom Registration: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcof-6tpjsqG9XjTAb-Gp1JCqHN2E0OkAAr
Paul Muldoon was born in County Armagh in 1951. He now lives in New York. A former radio and television producer for the BBC in Belfast, he taught at Princeton University for thirty-five years. He is the author of fifteen collections of poetry including Joy in Service on Rue Tagore, which will be published by FSG and Faber and Faber in 2024. Among his awards are the 1972 Eric Gregory Award, the 1980 Sir Geoffrey Faber Memorial Award, the 1994 T.S. Eliot Prize, the 1997 Irish Times Poetry Prize, the 2003 Pulitzer Prize, the 2003 Griffin International Prize for Poetry, the 2004 American Ireland Fund Literary Award, the 2004 Shakespeare Prize, the 2006 European Prize for Poetry, the 2015 Pigott Poetry Prize, the 2017 Queens Gold Medal for Poetry, and the 2020 Michael Marks Award. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society for Literature and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Courtney Sender’s essays have appeared in The New York Times’ Modern Love, The Atlantic, and Slate, and her short stories have appeared in Ploughshares, AGNI, The Kenyon Review, American Short Fiction, and many others. Her debut, In Other Lifetimes All I’ve Lost Comes Back to Me (WVU Press 2023), has been called “a stunner from the very first page” by Deesha Philyaw and “literary rock ‘n’ roll” by Aimee Bender. She is currently at work on a debut novel. www.courtneysender.com
Patricia Davis-Muffett holds an MFA from the University of Minnesota. Her chapbook, Alchemy of Yeast and Tears, was published in spring 2023, and her work appears in Atlanta Review, Whale Road Review, Calyx, and About Place. Visit her at www.patriciadavismuffett.com

Poetry Reading: Juliet Gelfman-Randazzo & Alina Pleskova
2023-12-06 19:00 - 20:30 | Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Wednesday December 6, 2023 – 7PM
Live at Fergie’s Pub & on Zoom
Zoom Registration: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZArceisrj4jGdA8Joyup6aFvmbnFCF3ld1e

Juliet Gelfman-Randazzo is the author of the chapbook “DUH” and her work appears or is forthcoming in The Cleveland Review of Books, Barrelhouse Magazine, Passages North, Annulet: A Journal of Poetics, and The Offing, among others.
Alina Pleskova is author of Toska, a poet, editor, and Moscow-born immigrant turned proud Philadelphian. You can find her work in various places, and her spirit in the astral realm.

Amy Saul-Zerby Host – Open Reading Follows

Philly Loves Poetry Reading Series: Evan Wang
2023-12-05 18:30 - 20:00 | Virtual
Tuesday, December 5 @ 6:30 PM EDT; VIRTUAL ONLY
Can be viewed on the PhillyCAM website, Cable 66/966HD/967
or Verizon FIOS, 29/30 In Philadelphia

王潇/Evan Wang is the first Youth Poet Laureate of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, the 2023 Jacklyn Potter Young Poet, and the current editor-in-chief of Hominum Journal. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Journal, RHINO, Rust + Moth, and more, and has been nominated for Best of the Net. Evan has performed at various venues such as Love Park, the Oval XP, Chinatown Friendship Arch, and The Rotunda at the University of Pennsylvania, and has been featured at and recognized by Button Poetry, TEDx, NPR, the Miami Book Fair, Wawa Welcome America, The Adroit Journal, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation, and more.

Charles S. Carr Hosts.

Remembering Rainer Maria Rilke
2023-12-03 14:00 - 15:30 | Virtual
Sunday, December 3 @ 2PM EDT–VIRTUAL ONLY
Zoom Registration: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0lc-yprD0pGtBXNxHxU9ZE1Z1Zu8CaUbPs
Austrian poet and novelist acclaimed as an idiosyncratic and expressive poet, Rainer Maria Rilke’s work has undertones of mysticism, exploring themes of subjective experience and disbelief. His best-known works include the poetry collections Duino Elegies and Sonnets to Orpheus, Letters to a Young Poet. The Sonnets to Orpheus are a cycle of 55 sonnets.
Join us as poets praise Rilke or present poems inspired by him.

Live Poetry: Jim Cory, Peter F. Murphy, & Sekai'afua Zankel
2023-11-29 19:00 - 20:30 | Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Wednesday, November 29 — 7PM LIVE @ Fergie’s Pub & on Zoom
Zoom Registration: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwrcumpqD4sG9xoEzReApFvVfqvS36PY7KL
Jim Cory published his first poem 50 years ago. His most recent publications are Birds & Buildings, Wipers Float In The Neck Of The Reservoir and 25 Short Poems Recent essays include “What makes a queen a queen?” in the Gay & Lesbian Review, “ Fascinating Asshole (or) How I Came To Love Frank Sinatra” in New Haven Review, and “Where’s the hotboy going tonight?” in Chelsea Station. He has been the recipient of fellowships from the Pennsylvania Arts Council, Yaddo and The MacDowell Colony.
Peter F. Murphy is author of two poetry books: Maps of Three Continents and Underwater and teaches at Murray State University. His books include Studs, Tools, and the Family Jewels: Metaphors Men Live By, Fictions of Masculinity, and Feminism and Masculinities. His essays and reviews have been published in, among others, The Review of Contemporary Fiction, Twentieth Century Literature, Modern Fiction Studies, College Literature, Signs, and Feminist Studies. His poems have appeared in the Birmingham Poetry Review and New Madrid.
Sekai’afua Zankel, actor, writer, and poet, She is the author of Behind These Eyes/Optical Poems, and a winner of the Leeway Foundation, Art and Change Grant for her Poetry Play, Miss Pearl’s Spirit: In the Mysteries of Mirrors. Her poems have been published In the CAP literary magazine, “Poetry Ink”, several Anthologies, and in “Apiary”, 7 Power Issue. Sekai lives in Philadelphia with her husband, musician Bobby Zankel.

Live Poetry: Savannah Cooper-Ramsey, Pheralyn Dove, & Joseph Farley
2023-11-22 19:00 - 20:30 | Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Wednesday November 22, 2023 – 7pm Live at Fergie’s Pub
1214 Sansom Street and on zoom Registration Required for zoom – use this link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0pf-qsrDgqHddl-HC4vUoC0r-JRYbaeol6
Savannah Cooper-Ramsey’s published an artist book, Not Fit For Print: Forthcoming Titles (Waterhouse Ltd Press, 2018) and poems in publications like the Moonstone anthologies, Whirlwind Magazine, Bomb Magazine, and Cul-de-sac of Blood (forthcoming). She received a PhD in Italian from Columbia University. She works in the service industry and teaches at CCP.
Pheralyn Dove, a.k.a. Lady Dove, is a writer, jazz poet, photographer, collage artist, and hopelessly optimistic romantic. She lives her life in a state of perpetual gratitude. A graduate of Hampton University, Pheralyn’s aspirations are guided by Spirit. Her intellectual and creative work are informed by The Struggle for the Liberation of all African People throughout The Diaspora, Cultural Preservation, and Emotional Healing. She is the author of PARADOXES: An Illustrated Book of True-Life Stories. www.pheralyndove.com
Joseph Farley edited Axe Factory from 1986 to 2010 and ran Cynic Press from 2000 to 2010. He is the author of 12 poetry collections including Yellow Brick Pilgrim (Alien Buddha Press, 2023), Written In The Sand (Alien Buddha Press, 2023) and Longing For The Mother Tongue (March Street Press, 2010). His fiction books include Labor Day (Peasantry Press), Farts And Daydreams (Dumpster Fire Press), and Once Upon A Time In Whitechapel (Alien Buddha Press).

New Voices Fall 2023: Virtual Reading
2023-11-19 14:00 - 15:30 | PA
Virtual Reading: New Voices Fall 2023
November 19th at 2pm
Via Zoom (registration required): https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYlcuqpqTwoHt2LdMLO0LIelaovDd0q08NP

Celebrate the release of our Fall 2023 volume of the New Voices anthology for young and emerging poets!

New Voices is series for emerging poets between the ages of 10 and 25. It includes a monthly reading series and a bi-annual publication which strives to bring together younger poets from various communities.

We tend to gather in our own communities. There is nothing wrong with that except we begin to sound alike, look alike, think alike. New Voices is our attempt to expand everyone’s experience, to introduce other ways of everything and to give a platform to the young writers of this generation.

Join us on November 19th at 2pm online to support the next generation of poets and writers.

New Voices Fall 2023: Live Reading
2023-11-16 18:00 - 20:00 | Parkway Central Library, 1901 Vine St
Live Reading: New Voices Fall 2023
November 16th at 6pm
Hosted: Parkway Central Library, 1901 Vine Street
In cooperation with the Literature Department of the Free Library of Philadelphia

Celebrate the release of our Fall 2023 volume of the New Voices anthology for young and emerging poets!

New Voices is series for emerging poets between the ages of 10 and 25. It includes a monthly reading series and a bi-annual publication which strives to bring together younger poets from various communities.

We tend to gather in our own communities. There is nothing wrong with that except we begin to sound alike, look alike, think alike. New Voices is our attempt to expand everyone’s experience, to introduce other ways of everything and to give a platform to the young writers of this generation.

Join us on November 16th at 6pm at the Literature Department of the Parkway Central location of the Philadelphia Free Library.

A virtual reading will be held on November 19th as well for poets who are not local to Philadelphia.

Live Poetry: Erica Abbott, Adriann "Justthepen" Toombs Bautista, Kate Carey, Anne-Adele Wight, & John Wojtowicz
2023-11-15 19:00 - 20:30 | Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Erica Abbott, Adriann “Justthepen” Toombs Bautista, Kate Carey, Anne-Adele Wight, & John Wojtowicz
Wednesday, November 15 @ 7PM
Live @ Fergie’s Pub: 1214 Sansom St. & on Zoom
Zoom Registration: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIucO2gqj0qEtDvbu6-vUf_fJNvAwVhOMaS
Erica Abbott (she/her) is a Philadelphia-based poet and writer whose work has previously appeared or is forthcoming in Stone Circle Review, Shō Poetry Journal, Pirene’s Fountain, Philadelphia Stories, Midway Journal, and other journals. She is the author of Self-Portrait as a Sinking Ship, is a Best of the Net nominee, and is a poetry editor for Variant Literature. She is pursuing her MFA at Randolph College starting this winter. Visit her website at erica-abbott.com.
Adriann “Justthepen” Toombs Bautista, is a native of Philadelphia, Grant Administrator at Moses/Weitzman Health Center located in CT, Poet, Workshop Facilitator, Founder and CEO of Just The Pen, LLC, Founder of Just The Pen Foundation, Founder & Facilitator of The SisterStrength Symposium and Creator and host of “Talks with Just The Pen”. Adriann’s published works include Ballad of a Beautiful Brown King, Sanctuary of Snow, SisterStrength:She/Her/We/Me and in over 15 various anthologies. Adriann has read her life poetry at many venues throughout the Tri-State Area and beyond.
Kate Carey(she/her) is a fat queer polyamorous slut who sometimes spends whole days in bed crying because feelings are hard. Through deeply personal poetry and creative nonfiction, she touches on issues relating to trauma, fat liberation, mental illness and sexuality. December 2022’s Hot Poet in the Bullshit Lit x Olney magazine Hot Poets calendar and producer of Philadelphia’s Slutty Poems Night, you can find more about her & her work at https://www.katemcarey.com/ and on twitter @oldbae_fries
Anne-Adele Wight is the author of An Internet of Containment, The Age of Greenhouses, Opera House Arterial, and Sidestep Catapult, all from BlazeVOX. For four years she curated the multi-genre performance series Jubilant Thicket. Her work has been published internationally in print and online and includes appearances in Poets and Writers, The Adroit Journal, Luna Luna, Apiary, Bedfellows, Oz Burp, Have Your Chill, and Read On 2. She lives and writes in Philadelphia.
John Wojtowicz is author of Roadside Attractions: a Poetic Guide to American Oddities. He teaches social work at Stockton University, been featured on Rowan University’s Writer’s Roundtable, his poems were in Princeton University’s 2021 Unique Minds: Creative Voices art exhibition. He has also published in Rattle, Split Rock Review, Soundings East, Ekphrastic Review South Florida Poetry Journal and others.
Sean Hanrahan Hosts.

Michael Miller @ PhillyCAM
2023-11-14 18:30 - 20:00 | Virtual
Philly Loves Poetry Interview and Readings Series
Tuesday, November 14, 6:30 PM EDT
VIRTUAL: Can be viewed on the PhillyCAM website
or Cable 66/966HD/967 or Verizon FIOS, 29/30 in Philadelphia
Michael Miller is a Spoken Word Artist/Poet who has served 8 years in the Maine Corps and 7 years in the Army/ Army National Guard. He served in Afghanistan amongst other military installations. His new mission in life is to bridge the gap of understanding in civilians about the military experience and the aftermath of serving.

Live Poetry: Anna Prader, Jonathan Todd, & Leonard Gontarek
2023-11-08 19:00 - 21:00 | Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Anna Prader, Jonathan Todd, & Leonard Gontarek
Wednesday November 8, 2023 @ 7PM
Live at Fergie’s Pub @1214 Sansom St.
1214 Sansom Street and on Zoom
On Zoom (Registration required):
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZApcuuuqjosGN2LvQ3zzR2f-PsJwKGmqmve
Anna Prader lives and writes in Philadelphia with her three children. She believes in poetry that betrays codes of social decency and tells the truth instead. She works in harm reduction and peer support, and she would like to take a nap.
Jonathan Todd is a poet/musician/Buddhist/anarchist and generally confused individual. His poems attempt to find moments between and within labor, fusing ideas about emptiness, collectivity, and absurdity. His work has been featured in Prolit and Protean Magazine among others.
Leonard Gontarek is the author of The Long Way Home; Take Your Hand Out of My Pocket, Shiva; and The Paris Poems of Jim Morrison. His poems have appeared in Joyful Noise: An Anthology of American Spiritual Poetry and The Best American Poetry. His poem, 37 Photos From The Bridge, selected by Alice Quinn, was a Poetry winner for the Big Bridges MotionPoems project and the basis for the award-winning film sponsored by the Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis.
http://movingpoems.com/2015/10/thirty-seven-photos-from-the-bridge-by-leonard-gontarek

Live at Fergie's Pub: No River Twice Poetry Reading
2023-11-01 19:00 - 21:00 | Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
No River Twice: An interactive poetry reading with Chad Frame, Joanne Leva and Hayden Saunier, with special guests Charles Carr, Ona Gritz, and Shawn R. Jones
Wednesday, November 1 @ 7PM
Live at Fergie’s Pub @ 1214 Sansom St. and on Zoom
On Zoom (Registration required):
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIpd-uhrD8iE9bkoCmSXYzn-GnHqhrzqlrM

No River Twice creates interactive poetry readings where audiences and a group of poets actively determine the direction of the reading, poem by poem, beginning to end, creating readings that are never the same twice. And then we make a poem of it. Jump in! More information about us at www.norivertwice.org

Chad Frame is the author of Little Black Book, Director of the Montgomery County Poet Laureate Program, a Poet Laureate Emeritus of Montgomery County, PA, Poetry Editor of Ovunque Siamo, and founder of the Caesura Poetry Festival and Retreat. His work has appeared in Rattle, Pedestal, Barrelhouse, Rust+Moth, and elsewhere, including on iTunes from the Library of Congress, and was sent to the moon as part of the Lunar Codex Project.

Joanne Leva, an advocate for creative writing and community service, is the founder and executive director of the Montgomery County Poet Laureate Program (MCPL) and author of the poetry collections Eve Would Know and Eve Heads Back.

Hayden Saunier is the author of five books of poetry and her most recent is A Cartography of Home. Her work has won a Pushcart Prize, Rattle Poetry Prize, and Pablo Neruda Award and has been published in journals such as Plume, 32 Poems, Beloit Poetry Journal, Pedestal, Thrush, and Virginia Quarterly Review. She is the founder and director of No River Twice.

Special Guests:

Charles Carr of Philadelphia has two published books of poems, paradise,pennsylvania and Haitian Mudpies & Other Poems. Charles has been active in the Philadelphia poetry community for 20 years and he hosted a Moonstone Arts Center Poetry series at Fergie’s Pub for 5 years and is currently the host of a live monthly broadcast Philly Loves Poetry now in its seventh season. Eat This Poem, a Chapbook of Charles’s poems published by Moonstone Arts, will be released in November. Proceeds from the sales of the chapbook will go to Ukraine Trust Chain.

Ona Gritz’s poems have appeared in Ploughshares, Bellevue Literary Review, River Teeth, Catamaran Literary Reader, One Art, and have been widely anthologized. Her poetry collection Geode was a finalist for the Main Street Rag Poetry Book Award. Everywhere I Look, Ona’s memoir, will be on March 12, 2024. She also has two verse novels for teens forthcoming. Recent honors include two Notable mentions in The Best American Essays, a Best Life Story in Salon, and a winning entry in The Poetry Archive Now: Wordview 2020 project.

Shawn R. Jones was born in Hartford, Connecticut and grew up in Atlantic City, New Jersey. She is a 2023 Civitella Ranieri Fellow, and her poetry collection, Date of Birth, has won the 2022 Lexi Rudnitsky First Book Prize in Poetry. She is also the author of two poetry chapbooks, Womb Rain (2008) and A Hole to Breathe (2015). Her work has appeared in Tri-Quarterly, New Ohio Review, Cider Review, Passengers Journal, Rattle, Essence, and elsewhere.

Remembering Sylvia Plath on the 80th Anniversary of Her Death, VIRTUAL
2023-10-29 14:00 - 15:30 | Virtual
Sylvia Plath is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for The Colossus and Other Poems (1960) and Ariel (1965), as well as The Bell Jar, a semi-autobiographical novel published shortly before her death. The Collected Poems was published in 1981, and was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in Poetry in 1982, making her the fourth to receive this honor posthumously.
Join us as poets remember and praise her.
Zoom Registration Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUqfumoqj0tHdaENGdEFTMOKcVXcP-utDIH
