Chapter and Verse
Chapter and Verse is a literary reading series sponsored by Jamaica Pond Poets, usually on the second Friday of the month, from October through May at 7:30 pm. The readings resume in fall, 2024, at the historic Loring Greenough House, 12 South Street in Monument Square in Jamaica Plain where they have been held for more than 20 years.
Readings in January and February will be on Zoom only. (From October, 2020 to May 2022 all of the readings were held on Zoom due to the pandemic). The other readings will be live only. Chapter and Verse usually features three readers per event. Chapter and Verse managers are: Dorothy Derifield (Director) and David Miller (Co-director). For more information, contact dorothy.derifield@gmail.com
Please join us. To be on our email list for readings, email dpmiller1955@outlook.com with your name and email address. In January and February, to receive a Zoom invitation with a link on the day of the reading, RSVP to dpmiller1955@outlook.com with your email stating that you want to attend.
Upcoming Readings: Fall 2024 – Spring 2025
April 11 (live only)– Mary Buchinger, Tim Gager, and Jennifer Markell*
Mary Buchinger, whose recent books include Navigating the Reach (Salmon Poetry, Honors, 2024 Massachusetts Book Award), The Book of Shores (2024), and Virology (2022) both from Lily Poetry Review Books, is the winner of the 2024 Elyse Wolf/Slate Roof Chapbook Prize. She volunteered for the Peace Corps in Ecuador, served on the New England Poetry Club board for many years, and teaches at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in Boston. Her poetry appears in AGNI, Plume, Salamander, Salt Hill, Seneca Review, and elsewhere.
Timothy Gager has published 20 books of fiction and poetry, which includes his latest novel, The Shadows of the Seen, forthcoming with Pierian Springs Press in 2025. He hosted the successful Dire Literary Series in Cambridge, Mass., from 2001 to 2018, and started a weekly virtual series in 2020. He has had over 1000 works of fiction and poetry published, 18 nominations for the Pushcart Prize. His work also has been nominated twice for a Massachusetts Book Award, The Best of the Web, The Best Small Fictions Anthology and has been read on National Public Radio.
Jennifer Markell’s* first poetry collection, Samsara, (Turning Point, 2014) was named a “Must Read Book” by the Massachusetts Book Awards. Her second collection, Singing at High Altitude, was published in 2022 by The Main Street Rag. She has received awards from the Chester H. Jones Foundation, The Comstock Review, The New England Poetry Club, and the Rita Dove Prize for women writers at Salem College. Her poems have been included in numerous publications, including The Bitter Oleander, Consequence, Diode, RHINO, Storm Cellar, and The Women’s Review of Books. Jennifer served on the board of The New England Poetry Club for five years and is a long-standing member of the Jamaica Pond Poets. In her work as a psychotherapist and writer, she continues to believe in the power of words to help us feel what we feel and know what we know.
May 9 – Josh Coben, Dorothy Derifield*, and Jennifer Martelli
Previous Readings
with links on how to buy readers’ books and to videos of some of the readings
Readings: Fall 2024 – Spring 2025
October 10: Mary Bonina, David Miller, and Richard Wohlman
November 8: Shari Caplan, Linda Carney-Goodrich, and Mark Pawlak
December 13: Richard Hoffman, Susanna Kittredge*, and Sara Letourneau
January 10: Katie Daley, Oliver de la Paz, and Anya Johanna DeNiro
To view a recording of this reading, click here
To order Katie Daley’s book, click here
To order Oliver de la Paz’s books, click here
To order Anya Johanna DeNiro’s book, click here
February 14: Matthew Clark, Jessica Purdy, and Adam Scheffler
To view a recording of this reading, click here
To order Matthew Clark’s books, click here
To order Jessica Purdy’s book, click here
To order Adam Scheffler’s book, click here
March 1: Kevin Gallagher, Matthew Henry, and Anastasia Vassos
Readings: Fall 2023 – Spring 2024
October 13: Vivienne Shalom, John Fulton, and Jan Schreiber
November 10: Daniel Brock Johnson, Dorian Kotsiopoulos, and Ladette Randolph
December 8: Ben Berman, Jason Tandon, and Lynne Vitti
January 12: Gloria Mindock, Rodrigo Restrepo Montoya, and Christine Tierney
To view a recording of this reading, click here
To order Gloria Mindock’s books, click here
To order Rodrigo Restrepo Montoya’s book, click here
To order Christine Tierney’s books, click here
February 9: Vivian Eyre, Rebecca Turkewitz, and Margot Wizansky
To view a recording of this reading, click here
To order Vivian Eyre’s book, click here
To order Rebecca Turkewitz’s book, click here
To order Margot Wizansky’s book, click here
March 8: Holly Guran, David Surette, and Gary Whited
April 12: Martha Collins, Charles O. Hartman, and Susan Rich
May 10: Lesley Bannatyne, Gary Duehr, and Maureen McElroy
Readings: Fall 2022 – Spring 2023
October 14: Kathleen Aguero, Eileen Cleary, and Steven Riel; MC: Sandee Storey
To order Kathleen Aguero’s World Happiness Index, click here
To order Eileen Cleary’s 2 a.m. with Keats, click here
To order Steven Riel’s Fellow Odd Fellow, click here
November 11: Jennifer Barber, Charles Coe, and Aaron Tillman; MC: Dorothy Derifield
December 9: Ann Bookman, Harris Gardner, and Sandra Storey; MC: David Miller
January 13: Susan Donnelly, Jim Nichols, and Melissa Peters; MC: Susanna Kittredge
To view a recording of this reading, click here.
To buy Susan Donnelly’s books, click here.
To buy Jim Nichols’s book, click here.
February 10: Jean Dany Joachim, Mark Smith-Soto, and Alan Smith Soto; MC: Audrey Henderson
To view a recording of this reading, click here
To buy Mark Smith-Soto’s book, Time Pieces, click here
March 10 – Wendy Drexler, Holly Guran*, and Tom Laughlin; MC – Sandra Storey
April 14 – Jean Monahan, Robert Pessek, and Lloyd Schwartz; MC – Alan Smith Soto
May 12 – Tom Daly, Rebecca Kaiser Gibson, and Cheryl Clark Vermeulen; MC – Dorothy Derifield
Readings: Fall 2021 – Spring 2022
October 15: Frannie Lindsay, Maureen McElroy, Brian Simoneau; MC: Sandee Storey
To view a recording of this reading, click here.
To order Frannie Lindsay’s The Snow Wife, click here
To order Maureen McElroy’s chapbook, contact her at mcelroy55@rcn.com
To order Brian Sim0neau’s No Small Comfort, click here
November 12: Gail Mazur, *David Miller, Elizabeth Chiles Shelburne; MC: Dorothy Derifield
To view a recording of this reading, click here
To order Gail Mazur’s book, click here or here
To order David Miller’s book, click here or, write to him at dpmiller1955@outlook.com
To order Elizabeth Chiles Shelburne’s book, click here or here
December 10: Danielle Legros Georges, *Jennifer Markell, Jan Schreiber; MC: David Miller
To view a recording of this reading – click here
To order Danielle Legros Georges’s book, click here or here
To order Jennifer Markell’s book, click here or go to her site for a signed copy
To order Jan Schreiber’s books go to Amazon.com
March 11: *Dorothy Derifield, Mark Pawlak, and Sheryl White
To view a recording of this reading – click here
To purchase Dorothy Derifield’s book, click here
To purchase Mark Pawlak’s book, click here
To purchase Sheryl White’s chapbook, click here
April 8: Sam Cha, Gloria Mindock, and Peter Schmitt; MC: Sandee Storey
To view a recording of this reading – click here
To purchase Sam Cha’s books, click here or here
To purchase Gloria Mindock’s book, click here
To purchase Peter Schmitt’s book, click here
May 13: Kevin Gallagher, Marcia Karp, and Chandreyee Lahiri; MC: Dorothy Derifield
Readings: Fall 2020 – Spring 2021
October 16: Mary Buchinger, *Valerie Loveland, *Jennifer Markell; MC: *Alan Smith Soto
November 13: Allison Adair, Robbie Gamble, *Susanna Kittredge; MC: *Jennifer Markell
December 11: Joshua Coben, Steven Cramer, Joyce Peseroff; MC: *Sandra Storey
January 8: Poetry in Spanish and Translations into English and into Music
Poet: Pedro Granados Translator: Leslie Bary
Poet: Daisy Novoa Vásquez Translator: *Alan Smith Soto
Poet: Juana Borrero Translator/Composer: Stephany Svorinić
MC: *Alan Smith Soto
February 12: Susan Buttenwieser, Jennifer Martelli, Scott Withiam; MC: *Dorothy Derifield
March 12: Sally Bliumis-Dunn, Robert Carr, and Jennifer De Leon; MC: *David Miller
To view a recording of this reading, click here.
April 9: Clare Beams, Greg LeStage, and David McCann; MC: *Mary Birnbaum
To view a recording of this reading, click here.
May 14: Jane Brox, Jeffrey Harrison, and Jennifer LeBlanc; MC: *Susanna Kittredge
To view a recording of this reading, click here.
Buy Jane Brox’s bookshere
Buy Jeffrey Harrison’s bookshere
Buy Jennifer LeBlanc’s book here
*Member of the Jamaica Pond Poets
October 14: Kathleen Aguero, Eileen Cleary, and Steven Riel: MC: Sandee Storey