About Us
Verse Wisconsin is the new incarnation of the Wisconsin poetry magazine, Free Verse, published 1998-2009 by Linda Aschbrenner. In 2009 the magazine moved to Madison, co-edited by Sarah Busse and Wendy Vardaman.
Why the name change? For starters, another online poetry site named Free Verse already exists. We want to reach as many readers, old & new, as we can and knew that using one name in print and another online would confuse everyone, including us!
We hope you agree that the new name echoes and honors the original magazine, and celebrates its regional roots as well. We believe that Wisconsin’s poets can and do hold their own nationally, as well as internationally, and we’re confident that “Wisconsin” won’t limit our horizons any more than the regional references of familiar titles like The Georgia Review or The Iowa Review or even that little magazine, The New Yorker, limit theirs! And if there is a little wink as well, that’s all to the good. We take ourselves seriously, but with a smile.
Verse Wisconsin now has an Advisory Board.
Our Mission
Verse Wisconsin publishes poetry and serves the community of poets in Wisconsin and beyond. In fulfilling our mission we:
• showcase the excellence and diversity of poetry rooted in or related to Wisconsin
• connect Wisconsin's poets to each other and to the larger literary world
• foster critical conversations about poetry
• build and invigorate the audience for poetry
Who We Are
Co-Editors
Sarah Busse received her MFA from Bennington College in 2003. She currently lives in Madison, Wisconsin with her husband and two children. Her chapbook, Quiver, was published in 2009 by Red Dragonfly Press. Another chapbook, Given These Magics, is due out from Finishing Line Press in spring 2010.You can find her online, with a bunch of other cool poets, at Book that Poet!
Wendy Vardaman has a Ph.D. in English from University of Pennsylvania and a B.S. in Engineering from Cornell University. The author of Obstructed View (Fireweed Press, 2009), she has been nominated for several Pushcart Prizes and was runner-up in 2004 for the Council for Wisconsin Writers’ Lorine Niedecker Award. She lives in Madison, WI with husband, Thomas DuBois, has three children, and works for the children’s theater company, The Young Shakespeare Players. Visit Wendy's website for more info!
B.J. Best is the author of four chapbooks, including State Sonnets (sunnyoutside) and Drag: Twenty Short Poems about Smoking (Centennial Press), both forthcoming in Fall 2009. His first full-length book, Birds of Wisconsin, is forthcoming from New Rivers Press in 2010. He teaches at Carroll University in Waukesha. For more, visit B.J.'s website.
Cathryn Cofell is the author of five chapbooks of poetry, most recently Sweet Curdle (Marsh River Editions, 2006) and Kamikaze Commotion (Parallel 
Press,2008). Her poetry can be found in places like MARGIE, Oranges & Sardines, NY Quarterly and Wisconsin People & Ideas, where she was selected for the 2008 John Lehman Poetry Award. She's served as founding Chair of the Wisconsin Poet Laureate Commission, on the board of the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets and as a pro-arts voice wherever she’ll be heard. She is a frequent keynote speaker, workshop facilitator and guest poet at venues throughout Wisconsin, but calls Appleton home. Learn more on Cathryn's website.
Thomas J. Erickson is an attorney in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, whose poems have appeared in numerous publications.
David Graham is the author of six collections of poems, most recently Stutter Monk (Flume Press), and an essay anthology co-edited with Kate Sontag: After Confession: Poetry as Autobiography (Graywolf Press). Individual poems, essays, and reviews have appeared widely in journals and anthologies as well as online. He has been a faculty member several times at The Frost Place in Franconia NH, where he also served as Poet in Residence in 1996. He is Professor of English at Ripon College in Ripon, WI. His online Poetry Library collects a wide variety of resources on poetry. Visit his personal home page which includes extensive links to his work online.
Angela Rydell teaches creative writing workshops for the UW-Madison Division of Continuing Studies. She has also taught in the adulteducation program at Edgewood College, as poet-in-residence in elementary 
schools, and in programs for senior citizens. Her work has been published in Prairie Schooner, Alaska Quartely, Beloit Poetry Journal, Poets & Writers, Crab Orchard Review, The Sun Magazine and other journals. She holds an M.F.A. in poetry from Warren Wilson College and lives with her husband, science-fiction writer Brendan Day. Learn more about Angela.
Advisors-at-Large
Linda Aschbrenner, Founder of Free Verse & Marsh River Editions, Marshfield
Ron Czerwien, Avol's Bookstore, Madison
Fabu Carter Brisco, Madison Poet Laureate, Madison
Marilyn Taylor, Wiconsin Poet Laureate, Milwaukee
Get Involved
Become a part of Verse Wisconsin. Submit. Subscribe. Volunteer. Contact us at editors (at) versewisconsin (dot) org.
