MFA Students
WILLIAM COUGHLIN grew up in Oak Park and received his B.A. from Loyola University and M.A. from DePaul University. He will be completing the MFA in Poetry at Columbia very soon. Among his favorite poets: James Wright, Elizabeth Bishop, Wallace Stevens, Emily Dickinson and Andrew Marvell.
STEVIE CURL hails from a fair land just north of Pittsburgh called Zelienople: known by few; loved by all; rarely pronounced correctly. Her poetry is of the yinzer persuasion. Read "Passiflora Incarnata" (pdf)
YULYA MYKHIEL DEYCH hails from Olympia, WA via Detroit via Ahzerbaijain. She received a liberal arts B.A. from Evergreen State College where she focused on poetics and letterpress printing. Her interests include poetry that blows your head off, typesetting, book arts, dancing, rabble rousing with her two kiddos, biking, living without causing harm, local economies and alter-egos. Her heroes include Gertrude Stein, Lydia Davis, Linh Dinh, Alice Walker, Italo Calvino, Daniil Kharms, Arundhati Roy, Yoshihiro Tatsumi, M.I.A. and Utah Phillips. Many others inspire her but she must be stopped somewhere. In a nutshell the driving force is living fully engaged. Her greatest weakness is obsessive compulsive tendencies—but she doesn’t let that get in the way. Read "maybe inside a map" (pdf)
TYLER FLYNN DORHOLT studied English, Philosophy, and Theatre at Gustavus Adolphus College and Trinity College Dublin. He currently teaches first-year writing at Columbia, where he also works in the Writing Center and is an MFA Poetry candidate. Flynn is a poet-in-residence for the Poetry Center’s Hands on Stanzas program, where he teaches poetry in public schools throughout the city. He serves as co-editor for the Columbia Poetry Review and he is also the co-founder and editor of Tammy, a literary print journal based in the Midwest. His work has been translated into window art and set to music here at Columbia and can be most recently found at Hawk & Handsaw. 
MAUREEN EWING is in her final year of Columbia’s MFA in Creative Writing-Poetry program. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Secondary Education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and received her MA in English from Rhodes University, South Africa with her thesis “South African Women’s Literature and the Ecofeminist Perspective.” She taught high school English for four years, and now she teaches a section of Writing and Rhetoric I at Columbia. Maureen’s favorite poets include T.S. Eliot, Dr. Seuss, Brian Turner, Beth Ann Fennelly, and Jane Kenyon. If she could, Maureen would travel all the time. In fact, she may be out of the country right now. Read "With Her Voice in My Head" (pdf)
HAFIZAH GETER is from Columbia, South Carolina and received her undergraduate degree in English and Economics from Clemson University. She is an avid reader of Susan Sontag and enjoys libraries and bookstores. Read "what disturbs" (pdf)
TED JACKLE will soon graduate with his MFA from Columbia College Chicago.
Originally from Charleston, South Carolina, MEGHAN M. LEE currently lives in Chicago, where she is pursuing her MFA in Poetry at Columbia College. She is a co-editor of the Columbia Poetry Review. 
Born and raised in Milwaukee, WI, DOLLY LEMKE graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with a BA in English, concentration in Poetry. She is interested in the reading and writing of poetry and the publishing and editing of poetry, and looks forward to acquainting herself with a new poetic community in Chicago. She likes poetry, muted colors, vintage clothes, and collecting odd and beautiful items, such as colored glass, resin molds, and richly patterned fabrics. 
TODD McCARTY recently moved to Chicago from Boulder, Colorado. There he worked as Graduate Academic Advisor for Naropa University’s Department of Writing & Poetics. He also worked for Naropa’s Audio Archive Project and as a producer and host for KGNU radio. His poetry has recently appeared in Bombay Gin and Columbia Poetry Review. Read "Point" (pdf)
KYLE MINER writes: “I am from Bloomington-Normal, IL, where I completed my undergrad at Illinois Wesleyan. Some of my favorite writers currently are: Josh Bell, Richard Siken, Frederick Seidel, Bret Easton Ellis, Irvine Welsh, Chuck Klosterman. Some of my favorite books include A Clockwork Orange, AVA, Killing Yourself to Live, Trout Fishing in America, and Less Than Zero. Aside from an obvious interest in poetry, I am especially interested in the varying forms of hoax poetry, and am an often unhealthily avid film lover.” Read "Where you went" (pdf)
THOMAS MOWE is an MFA candidate at Columbia College Chicago. His work has appeared in Black Clock, Columbia Poetry Review, and The Round Table. He received a BA in Philosophy and Creative Writing from Beloit College. He joined the faculty at Columbia College Chicago in Spring 2008. His professional goals include teaching Nietzsche to 10-year-olds, and teaching Peewee Herman to 50-year-olds. Read "Classified" (pdf)
TISHA NEMETH-LOOMIS is an East Coast native who grew up dividing her time between Connecticut and Boston. She holds a B.A. in Art History from Boston University. Her literary interests include the New York School of Poets. She is also devouring contemporary poets such as Donna Stonecipher, Richard Siken, Dana Levin, D.A. Powell, Diane di Prima, Rachel Zucker and Sarah Vap. Other interests are cognitive science, psychology and Husserlian phenomenology. Favorite authors are Douglas Hofstader and Antonio Damasio. 
HIDEAKI NOGUCHI writes: “I am from Northbrook, IL. I received a B.A. in English from Northern Illinois University. I enjoy reading from my favorite poet: Li-Young Lee (I can’t wait to see his reading!). Besides writing poetry, I enjoy scoring film soundtracks (currently working on compositions for a film about a serial killer) and playing in bands.” 
IZZY ONEIRIC has lived and traveled all over the country. She holds a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies from the California Institute of Integral Studies. Her areas of academic interest include Media Literacy, Beat and Modernist Poetry, Queer History, Body Modification, and Performance Studies. In her copious free time she enjoys pinball, scouring yard sales and thrift stores, and geeking out over obscure movies and bands.
KRISTIN RAVEL is from a mélange of rural pockets in Michigan. She graduated from Central Michigan University with a B.A. in English and a quickly diminishing understanding of the French language. At the moment, she is improving her yoga skills, teaching poetry through the Hands on Stanzas program, and consulting a pleasant array of students at the Columbia College Writing Center. Read "Sleeping in Corncobs" (pdf)
MEG REILLY is a second year graduate student in the MFA Poetry program, who has relocated to Chicago from San Francisco. She is happy to be in Chicago where she writes, teaches yoga and English. 
KENYATTA ROGERS was born and raised right outside of Cleveland, Ohio. He attended Kent State University and has a degree in English. His favorite poets and writer include Ai, Taylor Mali, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, and Arundhati Roy. Kenyatta is a big movie-goer and fan of hip-hop music and its culture. His most recent writing is inspired by his personal life experience and those of the people around him. Read "Death Angels" (pdf)
STEVE SMACZNIAK is originally from Cheektowaga, NY (a suburb of Buffalo) which is nowhere near New York City. He attended the Borough of Manhattan Community College for his AA in Writing and Literature and attained his BFA in Creative Writing: Poetry at Knox College in Galesburg, IL. His influences include William Carlos Williams, Dr. Seuss, Keith Ratzlaff, Jack Gilbert, Charles Bukowski, Monica Berlin, Lucas A. Street, the subway, summer jobs at Target, and the poetic tradition at large. Steve is currently interested in Environmental Studies. And life. Read "Rooftop Gravity" (pdf)
ANDREW TERHUNE is originally from Memphis, Tenn and received a BA in English/Writing from Union University in Jackson, Tenn. He likes to read Gregory Orr, David Berman, & Anne Sexton. He enjoys living in Chicago with his lovely wife Cassie, and their two beautiful daughters, Eleni and Romy. Read "Los Angeles, California" (pdf)
YVETTE THOMAS is a Cleveland native, and did her undergraduate work at Ohio University graduating with degree in journalism and a double minor in creative writing and Japanese. She counts Rainer Maria Rilke, Brenda Shaughnessy, Kenji Miyazawa, Mahmoud Darwish and Noelle Kocot among her favorite poets and has a bad habit of reading trashy young adult novels when she ought to be doing something else.
CHRIS WILLIAMS was born in Michigan, hustled a bachelor’s degree from Central Michigan University, and makes a fine roulade. Poets he likes include Karen Volkman, Loren Goodman, Terrance Hayes, and Karyna McGlynn. Current interests include Bucky Fuller and theremins. He runs GO-GO RASPUTIN Press, a micro-press specializing in hooliganry. Read "In This Situation" (pdf)
SUSAN YOUNT was born and raised on a farm in Southern Indiana where she learned to drive a tractor, feed chickens and hug her beloved goat, Cinnamon. Soon after receiving her BA from Indiana University in Photo-Journalism, she married a physicist and moved to Ohio. While attending Kent State University, she worked at the largest flour mill in northeast Ohio. Recently moved, she and her husband built a home on the south side of Chicago with a view of the Sears Tower. In the middle of the upheaval she found time to give birth to a bouncy baby boy! She is Editor and Publisher of Arsenic Lobster Poetry Journal and works (for pay!) at the Associated Press. Having begun graduate studies in poetry at Columbia College in Chicago, she now balances her studies with work, the magazine, her new home and delightful baby…err, toddler. Read "This is my long poem in honor of the Rachel Zucker reading" (pdf)