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

October 10 (Thursday) at LGH onlyMary Bonina, David Miller*, and Richard Wollman

***Please note that, due to a scheduling conflict at Loring Greenough House, this event will be on Thursday, October 10 and NOT on the usual Friday (October 11). We apologize for any confusion this may cause!***

Mary Bonina was finalist for the Goldfarb Fellowship from Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and awarded several residencies, including at the VCCA retreat, Moulin a Nef, in Auvillar, France. Her newly released poetry collection is Lunch in Chinatown, which includes Bonina’s poem, “Drift,” winner of the Boston Contemporary Authors Prize, which is engraved on a granite monolith, a permanent public art installation outside a busy subway station. Previous publications include My Father’s Eyes: a Memoir and two other poetry collections—Living Proof and Clear Eye Tea, all from Červená Barva Press, which will also publish her novel, My Way Home in 2025. Her poems and essays have appeared in The Lowell Review, Hanging Loose, Poets and Writers, Salamander, Mom Egg, Ovunque Siamo, Adelaide, and many other journals, and her work has been included in several anthologies, including Entering the Real World: VCCA Poets on Mt. Angelo from Wavertree Press.


David P. Miller’s collection, Bend in the Stair, was published by Lily Poetry Review Books in 2021. Sprawled Asleep was published by Nixes Mate Books in 2019. His poems have received Best of the Net and Pushcart nominations, and have appeared in Meat for Tea, Lily Poetry Review, Reed Magazine, LEON Literary Review, Solstice, Salamander, Tar River Poetry, Kestrel, Vincent Brothers Review, and Nixes Mate Review, among other journals. His poems “Interview” and “And You” were included in an issue of Magma (UK) focused on teaching poetry to secondary school students. He lives in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, with his wife, the visual artist Jane Wiley. He serves on the New England Poetry Club’s Board of Directors, and is a member of the Jamaica Pond Poets.   


Richard Wollman, a poet and sculptor, is the author of Evidence of Things Seen (Sheep Meadow), Changeable Gods (Elyse Wolf Prize, Slate Roof Press), and A Cemetery Affair (Finishing Line). His awards include the Gulf Coast Prize and the Anna Davidson Rosenberg Award for Poems on the Jewish Experience, and his poems have appeared in New England ReviewPrairie SchoonerPoet LoreCrazyhorse, & Notre Dame Review. He is Professor Emeritus at Simmons University. Poems & artwork may be found at richardwollman.com.


November 8at LGH only – Linda Carney-Goodrich, Shari Caplan, and Mark Pawlak

December 13at LGH only – Richard Hoffman, Susanna Kittredge*, and Sara Letourneau


*Member of the Jamaica Pond Poets


 

Previous Readings

with links on how to buy readers’ books and to videos of some of the readings 

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


January 14: Indran Amirthanayagam and Dick Lourie
To view a recording of this reading – click here
To order Indran Amirthanayagam’s book, click here or here 

To order Dick Lourie’s book, click here


 

February 11: Graciela Baquero, Katherine Hanulla Hill, Alexis Ivy, and Alan Smith Soto

To view a recording of this reading – click  here  

To order Graciela Baquero’s book,  email her here

To order Alexis Ivy’s books, click here or here

To order Alan Smith Soto’s book, click here


 

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

To view a recording of this reading – click here
To purchase Kevin Gallagher’s book – click here
To purchase Marcia Karp’s book – click here
To check out  Chandreyee Lahiri’s work – click here

 

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