Best of Wisconsin Literary Journals: Verse Wisconsin

Verse Wisconsin’s mission statement: “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.”

Verse Wisconsin was originally published as Free Verse from 1998 – 2009. Free Verse was founded by Linda Aschbrenner. When Aschbrenner decided to retire from the magazine, Wendy Vardaman and Sarah Busse took the reins and turned Free Verse into Verse Wisconsin. The name change came about primarily because there was already a magazine called Free Verse.

Verse Wisconsin’s co-editors, Vardaman and Busse, chose the following 10 poems to share with Pulse readers.