Chapter and Verse
Chapter and Verse is a literary reading series sponsored by Jamaica Pond
Poets, usually held on the second Friday of the month, from October through
May at 7 p.m.
The readings this 2025-2026 season will be 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. The other readings
will be live only at the Revolutionary War era building.
Chapter and Verse will feature two readers per event. This season, for the first
time, the in-person readings will also feature an open mic afterwards. People
will be welcome to sign up at the reading to share a poem for all to enjoy. After
the readings, refreshments, conversation and book signings by the featured
writers will take place in the dining room, as usual.
Chapter and Verse co-directors are: David Miller dpmiller1955@outlook.com
and Dorian Kotsiopoulos dkotsi99@gmail.com .
To be on the email list for readings or to get a Zoom link to the winter ones,
email dpmiller1955@outlook.com with your name and email address. For
January and February, more information about getting the Zoom link will be
in the emailed announcements of the readings.
Donations to the readings are welcome.
Upcoming Readings: Fall 2025 – Spring 2026
**Note that there is a new, earlier start time – 7:00 PM**
March 13 (live only) – Max Heinegg and Vijaya Sundaram
Max Heinegg is the author of Good Harbor, which won the inaugural Paul Nemser Prize from Lily Poetry Review Press. His second book, Going There, was published by Lily in 2023. A chapbook about teaching, Keepers of the House, was released in 2025. A new book, At the Art of War, will be released in late 2026. His work has appeared in 32 Poems, The Cortland Review, Thrush, Nimrod, and The Night Heron Barks, among others. He has taught English in the Medford Public Schools since 1998, and he is the Poet Laureate of Medford for 2025-2027. His poems have won the Sidney Lanier Poetry Award, the Emily Stauffer Poetry Prize, and been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and a 2025 Boston Music Award for Spoken Word. Max is also a singer-songwriter whose records and adaptations of poems from the public domain can be heard at www.maxheinegg.com He lives in Medford, MA with his wife and two daughters and Winnie, the cat.
Vijaya Sundaram was the second Poet Laureate (2023-2025) for the City of Medford, Massachusetts. Her first collection of poems, Fractured Lens, was published in 2023 by Červená Barva Press. Originally from India, she is now based in Medford, MA. Aside from poems, she has written short stories, plays and a short (unpublished) novel. She is also a musician, singer-songwriter, amateur digital artist, and educator. Her poetry and short pieces have appeared in publications like The Rising Phoenix Press, The Stardust Review, and TELL Magazine, among others. She has read her poems at poetry events in and around the Boston and Greater Boston areas, and currently runs an Open Mic for Poetry and Original Song at the Arts Collaborative Medford, as well as a Medford Poetry Club at the Medford Public Library.
April 10 (live only) – Heather Treseler and Anthony Walton
May 8 (live only) – Julia Thacker and Jenny Grassl
*Member of the Jamaica Pond Poets
Previous Readings
some with links on how to buy readers’ books and to videos of some of the readings
Readings: Fall 2025 – Spring 2026
October 17: MP Carver and January O’Neill
November 14: Dorothy Derifield* and Nidia Hernandez
December 12: Jill McDonough and Shubha Sunder
January 9: Nadia Arioli, Adam Grabowski, and Valerie Loveland*
To view a recording of this reading, click here
To order Nadia Arioli’s book, click here
To order Adam Grabowski’s chapbook, click here
To order Valerie Loveland’s book, click here
February 13: Audrey Henderson*, Cate Marvin, and Carolyn Oliver
To view a recording of this reading, click here
To order Audrey Henderson’s book, click here
To order Cate Marvin’s book, click here
To order Carolyn Oliver’s book, click here
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 14: Kevin Gallagher, Matthew Henry, and Anastasia Vassos
April 11: Mary Buchinger, Tim Gager, and Jennifer Markell*
May 9: Mary Birnbaum*, Josh Coben, and Elizabeth Sylvia
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