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**
October 16 (live only) – Jennifer Jean and Colleen Michaels
Jennifer Jean ’s collection The Pacific is forthcoming from Tupelo Press. Her other collections include: Where do you live?, VOZ, and Object Lesson. She edited Other Paths for Shahrazad: an Arabic/English Anthology of Contemporary Poetry by Arab Women and co-translated I Drag My Sorrow by His Collar by Hanaa Ahmad Jabr. Her work appears in POETRY, Rattle, The Common, Poetry Northwest, and The Slowdown. She edits the Songs for Fairuz: New Arab Women’s Poetry book series for Black Ocean, organizes for the Her Story Is collective, teaches at Solstice MFA, and manages online learning at the Fine Arts Work Center.
Colleen Michaelsis the author of Prize Wheel (Small Bites Press, 2023) which was a finalist for the Paterson Prize, and coauthor, along with Kevin Carey, of the chapbook, Olympus Heights (Lily Poetry Review, 2023). She is a winner of the 2024 Ginsberg Poetry Prize and a 2024 recipient of a Massachusetts Cultural Council Grant for Creative Individuals. Her poems have been commissioned as installations for The Massachusetts Poetry Festival, The Peabody Essex Museum, and The Trustees of Reservations. She directed the Writing Studio at Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, Massachusetts, where she began the Improbable Places Poetry Tour, bringing poetry to unlikely places like tattoo parlors, laundromats, airports, and swimming pools. Yes, in the pool.
November 13 – (Live only) – Wendy Drexler and Stephen Ratiner
December 11 – (Live only) – Benjamin Bellet and Heather Nelson
January 8 – (Zoom only) – Shanta Lee Honeycutt, Xiaoly Li, and Janet MacFadyen
February 12 – (Zoom only) – Jennifer Franklin, Jenna Le, and Jennifer Militello
March 12 – (Live only) – Matthew Lippman and Chloe Garcia Roberts
April 10 – (Live only) – Jennifer Markell* and Rebecca Hart Olander
May 14 – (Live only) – Jennifer Clarvoe and Cammy Thomas
*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
March 13: Max Heinegg and Vijaya Sundaram
April 10: Heather Treseler and Anthony Walton
May 8: Jenny Grassl and Julia Thacker
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