DOROTHY DERIFIELD
Three poets from very diverse backgrounds will read at Chapter and Verse at the Loring-Greenough House Wed., Dec. 6. Two of the poets now live in Jamaica Plain, but the roads they took to get here could hardly be more different.
Elena Harap is a poet, writer and actress who grew up in Nashville, Tenn. and came to the Boston area for college. In the 1960s Harap worked with the People’s Theatre of Cambridge, and in the ’70s she ran theater workshops for children through Summerthing. In 1982 she cofounded the Streetfeet Women, a multicultural company of writer/performers. Currently, Harap tours nationally with her one-woman show, “Meet Eleanor Roosevelt.” On Dec. 6 she will be reading poems about family, living in Boston and her travels with Streetfeet.
The other Jamaica Plain poet arrived here by a route that started in Leipzig, Germany and included stops in Switzerland, Montreal, Canada and Nepal. Sybille Rex studied chemistry at Leipzig University and in Switzerland where she first fell in love with mountains and caves. Following what she calls her “nomadic urge” and a quest for bigger mountains, she moved to Canada, followed by a trip to Nepal, where she met her husband.
Rex is now a cardiovascular research scientist at Boston University. About her poetry she says, “I began writing poetry in English after moving to the US. I like to express my love and respect for mountains, the animal world and nature in general.”
Marc Goldfinger, a well-known Boston poet, will be the special guest Dec. 6. Goldfinger is the poetry editor of “Spare Change News” and also works as a substance use disorder counselor—a job, he says, he arrived at the long way. Now in recovery from three decades of heroine addiction, Goldfinger says he is grateful for every moment he spends walking the Earth. He loves to read, ride motorcycles and hang out with his wife Mary Esther. In a world which now seems oversupplied with addiction memoirs, Goldfinger’s poetry stands out for its honesty, its humility and, not least, for its splendid artistry.
Chapter and Verse will take place at 7:30 p.m. at the historic Loring-Greenough House, which will be elegantly decorated for the holidays. The Loring-Greenough House is at 12 South St. in JP Center, just across from the Monument. The reading is free and open to all. Refreshments will be served. For more information call 325-8388 or email [email protected] or [email protected].
The writer is the director of Chapter and Verse.