Monthly Poetry Readings

Join upcoming readings, register for the Zoom broadcast, and watch past readings.

Amesbury’s Monthly Poetry Reading Series is hosted by Lisa Usani Phillips, Amesbury’s current Poet Laureate, in partnership with the John Greenleaf Whittier Home. During the summer, readings are held in the garden at the Whittier Home, 86 Friend Street, Amesbury, as well as broadcast virtually on Zoom.

Readings are broadcast via Zoom all year round.

Live poetry, every month

Watch Past Readings

About the Poet Laureate Program

Next Reading: Jessica Purdy and Richard Wollman

When: Thursday, November 20, 2025 | 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.
Where: The Costello Center, 68 Elm Street Amesbury, MA 01913 or Zoom

Jessica Purdy holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College. Her poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best Spiritual Literature, Best New Poets, and Best of the Net. Her poems have appeared in Mom Egg Review, Thimble, About Place, Radar, Gone Lawn, and On the Seawall, among others. She is the author of STARLAND and Sleep in a Strange House which was a NH Literary Award for poetry finalist (Nixes Mate Books). She is the author of the chapbook The Adorable Knife which won the NH Literary People's Choice Award (Grey Book Press) and the chapbook You’re Never the Same: Ekphrastic Poems (Seven Kitchens Press). She lives in Exeter, NH and teaches at SNHU.

Richard Wollman, a poet and sculptor, is the author of Evidence of Things Seen (Sheep Meadow), Changeable Gods (Elyse Wolf Prize, Slate Roof Press), and A Cemetery Affair (Finishing Line). His awards include the Gulf Coast Prize and the Anna Davidson Rosenberg Award for Poems on the Jewish Experience, and his poems have appeared in New England Review, Prairie Schooner, Poet Lore, Crazyhorse, Florida Review, MARGIE, & Notre Dame Review. He is Professor Emeritus of Literature & Creative Writing at Simmons University. Poems & artwork may be found at richardwollman.com.