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
February 14 (Friday – Zoom only) – Matthew Clark, Jessica Purdy, and Adam Scheffler
Matthew J. C. Clark is a writer and carpenter living in Bath, ME. His debut book, Bjarki, Not Bjarki: on floorboards, love, and irreconcilable differences (University of Iowa Press) was published in January 2024. His most recent work, an essay about the Maine Lobster Festival, David FosterWallace and pain, appeared in Rustica. You can find out more at matthewjcclark.com.
Jessica Purdy holds an MFA from Emerson College. She is the author of STARLAND and Sleep in a Strange House (Nixes Mate, 2017 and 2018), The Adorable Knife: poems based on The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death (Grey Book Press, 2023), and You’re Never the Same:Ekphrastic Poems (Seven Kitchens Press). Sleep in a Strange House was a finalist for the NH Literary Award for poetry. Her poetry manuscript Lung Hours was a finalist in Codhill Press’ Guest Editor Poetry Series 2023, The Granite State Poetry Prize, and The Dryden-Vreeland Book Prize. Her poems and micro-fiction have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best Spiritual Literature, Best New Poets, Best of the Net, and Best Micro-Fiction. Her poetry, flash fiction, and reviews appear in About Place, On the Seawall, Radar, The Night Heron Barks, SoFloPoJo, Litro, , and elsewhere. She lives in Exeter, NH. website: http://www.jessicapurdy.com/
Adam Scheffleris an Assistant Professor of Poetry and Creative Writing in the English Department at Wichita State University. He is the author of two books of poetry—A Dog’s Life—which won the 2016 Jacar Press Book Contest and Heartworm—which won the 2021 Moon City Press Prize. His poems have appeared in The American Poetry Review, Poem-a-Day, Verse Daily, Rattle, Narrative and dozens of other literary journals. Adam grew up in California, received his MFA in poetry from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and his PhD in English from Harvard.
March 14 – Kevin Gallagher, Matthew Henry, and Anastasia Vassos
April 11 – Mary Buchinger, Tim Gager, and Jennifer Markell*
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
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