Poet Biographies

Meet the authors behind Issue 11 of Gleam:

Rose Mary Boehm | Jamey Boelhower | Kate Copeland | Lisken Van Pelt Dus |
Arvilla Fee | J.I. Kleinberg | Kila Lim | Odin Meadows | Ann E. Michael |
K. Alma Peterson | Michelle Rochniak | Marsha Segerberg | Jenner Shaffer | Susan Stiles | John Van Pelt | Susan Vespoli | Sterling Warner | Jon Yungkans

Rose Mary Boehm

Rose Mary Boehm is a German-born British national living and writing in Lima, Peru. Author of two novels, short stories, eight poetry collections and one chapbook, her poetry has been published widely in mostly US poetry reviews (online and print). She is a several times ‘Pushcart’ and a ‘Best of Net’ nominee. All her books are available on Amazon. The new chapbook, ‘The Matter of Words’, was published in June 2025, and a new full-length collection has been slated for publishing before end 2026.
https://www.rose-mary-boehm-poet.com/

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Jamey Boelhower

Jamey Boelhower is a husband and father of six children. He has spent the past 20 plus years in education as a high school English teacher, coach, professional developer, and college instructor. Jamey’s writing expresses his view of the world, both the joy and the pain. He explores the depths of life with a unique style that challenges the reader to see the world on a deeper level. He is the author of a number of books of poetry: And I Never Told You, From My Years, Farther and Son: Words Apart, April 2020: A Poetic Time Capsule of Writing and Living During a Pandemic, and his newest release These Words Believe in Ghosts.

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Lisken Van Pelt Dus

Lisken Van Pelt Dus is an award-winning teacher of writing, languages, and martial arts, who lives, writes, and translates in western Massachusetts. Her poetry appears in many journals and anthologies, including recently Naugatuck River Review, Third Wednesday Magazine, and Sky Island Review. Recent translations can also be found in Epiphany. Books include What We’re Made Of (Cherry Grove 2016) and a chapbook, Letters to My Dead (Three Bunny Farms 2022).

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Arvilla Fee

Arvilla Fee lives in Dayton, Ohio with her husband, three of her six children, and two dogs. She teaches for Clark State College, is the lead poetry editor for October Hill Magazine, and has been published in over 130 magazines. Her four poetry books, The Human Side, This is Life, Mosaic: A Million Little Pieces, and The Stars Above Us are available on Amazon. Arvilla’s life advice: Never travel without snacks. Visit her website and her online magazine: https://soulpoetry7.com/

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J.I. Kleinberg

An artist, poet, and freelance writer, J.I. Kleinberg lives in Bellingham, Washington, USA, and on Instagram @jikleinberg. Her chapbooks include The Word for Standing Alone in a Field (Bottlecap Press, 2023) and Sleeping Lessons (Milk & Cake Press, 2025) as well as three collections of her visual poems. All of We is forthcoming from Anhinga Press.

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Odin Meadows

Odin Meadows is a first-generation graduate with a BA in English from Yale University currently living in the midwest with his husband and two dogs, not too far from the rural town where he grew up. His work has appeared in manywor(l)ds, The New Monuments, Palette Poetry, and more.

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Ann E. Michael

Ann E. Michael lives in eastern Pennsylvania. Her latest collection is Abundance/Diminishment. Her book The Red Queen Hypothesis won the 2022 Prairie State Poetry Prize; she’s the author of Water-Rites (2012) and six chapbooks. She maintains a long-running blog at http://www.annemichael.blog

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K. Alma Peterson

K. Alma Peterson is a graduate of Warren Wilson MFA for Writers. She has published two books of poetry with Blaze Vox Books, and her poems have been widely published in online and print journals. She is also a painter of abstract art. She lives in Florida.

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Michelle Rochniak

Michelle Rochniak (she/they) is a 19-year-old bisexual poet from Wallingford, CT. She is a sophomore at Western Connecticut State University (WCSU) majoring in professional (creative) writing and minoring in women’s studies. She received the AWP Intro Award for Poetry at the university level and is a 2022 CT Collegiate Poet with the Connecticut Poetry Circuit. Current and forthcoming publications include Heartland Society of Women Writers, Pile Press, and WCSU’s Perspective. When they aren’t writing, they like to read about ancient history, play the ukulele, and crochet. Follow her on Instagram @shell.songs and Twitter @shellroch!

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Jenner Shaffer

Jenner Shaffer is an Ozark native living at Pomme de Terre Reservoir in southwest Missouri. He is a graduate of Missouri State University, former editor of Moon City Literary Review, a veteran of the 101^st Airborne Division, former college educator, worked for Dell Computer Corporation, Bass Pro Shops, and Tim Burrows Metal Art & Design. Currently he manages a farm specializing in heirloom peppers and rare chicken breeds. In his free time, he enjoys reading literature, writing, photography, fishing, and painting.

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Susan Stiles

Susan Stiles is a writer whose work explores landscape, memory, and belonging. Her poetry is published or forthcoming in Connecticut River Review, eratio, Trampoline, The Lake, Gleam, Slant, The Westchester Review, and elsewhere. She’s been awarded a La Baldi Residency and lives in Croatia. More at susan-stiles.com.

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John Van Pelt

John Van Pelt is an artist and poet from Maine, USA, whose poetry has appeared in Farmer-ish Journal and EAP: The Magazine. In the almost eleven years that John and his partner have been “on the land,” they have renovated an abandoned cottage, raised sheep for fiber, and published a line of fantasy romances.

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Sterling Warner

A Washington-based author, poet, educator, and Pushcart Nominee, Sterling Warner’s works have appeared in such literary magazines, journals, and anthologies as the Lothlórien Poetry Journal,Gleam, Anti-Heroin Chic, Poets Online, and Verse-Virtual. Warner’s volumes of poetry include Rags and Feathers, Without Wheels, ShadowCat, Edges, Memento Mori, Serpent’s Tooth, Flytraps, Cracks of Light: Pandemic Poetry & Fiction, Halcyon Days: Collected Fibonacci, Abraxas, Gunilla’s Garden, and Seaboard Magic: Poetry (2026)—as well as Masques: Flash Fiction & Short Stories. Currently Warner writes, hosts “virtual” poetry/fiction readings, and enjoys fishing along the Hood Canal.

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Jonathan Yungkans

Jonathan Yungkans continues typing at odd hours of the night, even as he hears owls hoot and watches yet another skunk meander beneath his house’s foundation. He remains thankful his writing is less noxious than the creature under his bathroom’s floorboards. His work has appeared in Book of Matches, MacQueen’s Quinterly, Sonic Boom, Synkroniciti and other publications. His third chapbook, The Ravens Will Arrive Later, will be published by Gnashing Teeth Publishing in 2026.

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