“It is difficult/to get the news from poems/yet men die miserably every day/for lack/of what is found there.” — William Carlos Williams, from Asphodel, That Greeny Flower & Other Love Poems.
The inaugural reading of the 2025-2026 season of Chapter and Verse on Friday, Oct. 17 will feature two popular Massachusetts poets followed—for the first time ever—by an open mic where people from the audience can read a poem of their own or someone else’s.
The literary reading series has been providing the Jamaica Plain and greater Boston communities with the necessary news that poetry provides for more than 25 years.
“An open mic is a great way to engage the community in a reading,” said co-director and poet Dorian Kotsiopoulos about the reason the open mic is being added.
“It’s exciting to hear the featured readers, but it’s also a good place people can read their work in front of a supportive audience,” she said.
The historic Loring-Greenough House, at 12 South St. across from the Civil War Monument, will continue as it has for decades to provide a warm, friendly venue for the in-person readings and a reception with refreshments afterwards.
The Revolutionary War era house is owned and managed by the Jamaica Plain Tuesday Club, then a women’s group which saved the House from destruction in 1924. The Tuesday Club, which also welcomes men as members now, continues to manage the property as a venue for a variety of popular community events.
Eight Chapter and Verse readings, usually on the second Friday of the month, will include two that will only be on Zoom on January 9 and February 13, when the weather can be difficult. The other in-person readings in addition to the one on Oct. 17, will be on Nov. 14, Dec. 12, March 13, April 10 and May 8.
“In these times I’m inspired by the potential for strengthening resilience in individuals and communities that the sharing of voices provides,” co-director and poet David Miller reflected on the William Carlos Williams’s poem.
“That can be most valuable when it happens. But beyond this, bringing people together for poetry readings allows us all not to feel alone,” the long-time JP resident said.
North Shore poets M.P. Carver and January Gill O’Neil will read from their work on Oct. 17. Carver is director of the Massachusetts Poetry Festival and teaches creative and digital writing at Salem State University. Her chapbook, Selachipmorpha, was published by Incessant Pipe in 2015, and a chapbook with Lily Poetry Review Books, Hard Up, is available now from Lily Poetry Review Books.
O’Neil is associate professor at Salem State University, and the author of Rewilding, Misery Islands, and Underlife, all published by CavanKerry Press. She has been recipient of fellowships from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Cave Canem, and the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund. From 2012 to 2018, she served as executive director of the Massachusetts Poetry Festival.
Chapter and Verse began at St. John’s church on Roanoke Avenue in JP, but it was suspended there after a few years when the building underwent extensive renovations. Poet Dorothy Derifield—who served as a Chapter and Verse director since then until stepping down this spring—agreed to take over the series and arranged to hold the readings at the Loring-Greenough House.
Chapter and Verse then came under the sponsorship of Jamaica Pond Poets, of which Derifield is a member. Workshop members, including the current co-directors, pitch in to facilitate the readings.
As a literary reading series, Chapter and Verse sometimes features literary prose writers reading from their work, but the vast majority of readers are poets.
For more information, go to JamaicaPondPoets.com/chapter-and-verse-revised/. To have your name added to the Chapter and Verse emailed announcements list, contact Miller at [email protected]. Admission is free, but donations to help cover expenses are much appreciated.
Sandra Storey is Publisher Emerita of the Jamaica Plain Gazette and is a member of Jamaica Pond Poets.