MFA Students
JEFFREY ALLEN is an MFA candidate at Columbia College Chicago and received his undergraduate degree in Music Business from Millikin University. His chapbook, Simple Universal, was published by Bronze Man Books in April of 2008. His favorite writers include Jack McCarthy, Yusef Komunyakaa, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Mark Z. Danielewski. Someone once told him that whatever happens, there are conditions that indicate things could never have gone any other way, and that makes a lot of sense to him.
HOLLY AMOS grew up on the gravel roads of Bowling Green, Ohio and received her BFA in Creative Writing from Bowling Green State University. Before finishing the graduate program at Columbia she would like to write a poem using lines entirely from The Office. She would also like to re-learn French.
NATHAN BREITLING is an MFA Candidate at Columbia College Chicago.
JOSIE BROWN is an MFA Candidate at Columbia College Chicago.
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)
STEPHEN DANOS was born in Providence, RI, and grew up for a time in Montclair, NJ and Glen Ellyn, IL. Prior to pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing-Poetry at Columbia College Chicago, he received a BA in English from the University of Iowa. Some of his favorite poets include: Wallace Stevens, Robert Hass, Matthew Zapruder, Mary Ruefle, Dean Young, Emmie Dickinson, and Johnny Keats. He recently switched from black coffee to green tea. He seldom speaks in the third person.
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)
Reared in a teensy Southern Indiana town, JESSICA DYER earned a journalism degree from Indiana State University. Her bookshelf includes Emily Dickinson, Anne Sexton, David Wojahn and Ayn Rand. Her poetry has appeared in Ariel, IMAGES, Snowvigate, and WordSalad. She loves sipping black coffee and watching the clouds.
SARAH ELLIOTT was born and raised in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. She graduated from Indiana University in 2007 with a Bachelor’s degree in English and Spanish. Her interest in poetry has been influenced by the works of Linda Pastan, Sylvia Plath, Pablo Neruda, Rachel Zucker, Phillip Schultz, and many others. She currently works as a Writing Consultant at the Learning Studio and is preparing to teach first-year writing. Aside from poetry, she enjoys travel and the outdoors.
KELLY FORSYTHE is starting her first year as an MFA candidate at Columbia College after recently receiving a BA in English Writing from the University of Pittsburgh. Her favorite poets are Jan Beatty, Lynn Emanuel, Jean Valentine, Frank O’Hara and Paula Bohince. She has recently been published in Collision Literary Magazine and City Paper, and is a huge fan of tomatoes, Stevie Wonder, and studying the Titanic.
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)
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)
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)
kat "nine-toes" sanchez has blown into chicago from the long, slinky state of california. over the years, she has survived autumn wildfires, air pollution, and increasingly desperate hours of rush hour traffic, comforted only by the sounds of michael jackson and text message alert bells. her loves include sequins, coffee, light beer, and, best of all, poetry-- which, if it were a boy (it's not, though), she would gladly marry and love forever. as it stands now, kat has received a bachelor’s degree from uc riverside, published a chapbook, gotten three tattoos, and is looking forward to her life as future editor of all magazines in existence.
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)
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)