Who We Are

Who We Are

At the start of the pandemic, we found our old friendship under new stress. We were moving to new cities, beginning new careers, and starting new chapters in our lives.

As we navigated the inherent uncertainties of adulthood, we turned to poetry to enrich our friendship. By exchanging individual poems and book recommendations, we were able to connect — both through shared emotions and increased empathy for where our lives diverged. Poetry grounded our friendship by transforming everyday joys and despairs into opportunities for collaborative meaning-making.

Emily Ulrich, PhD

Emily fell in love with poetry before she even understood what it was. 

This love first manifested in an unexpectedly archeological way. Combining a BA in History and Linguistics (Dartmouth) with an MA in Early Modern English (King’s College, London), Emily specialized in medieval manuscripts – a material manifestation of literary form. Each bespoke page is a unique collaboration between sound, sight, and semantics to transcend the limitations of the human mind. She went on to earn a PhD in Medieval Studies (Yale).

While teaching in Yale’s English department, Emily surprised herself by falling in love with teaching creative writing and poetry. Trained in canonical close-readings, she rediscovered the vibrant world of contemporary lyric.

This rediscovery came just in time. Motherhood was glorious but claimed so much bandwidth that it was hard to find five minutes to think about anything other than diapers. A lived “poetic practice” could transform daily life. Mundane chores stopped being mentally corrosive (*another* sleepless night?) and became emotionally transcendent (a meditative vigil on the nature of fragility).

Emily faced a difficult decision at the start of 2022: continue in traditional academia, or move north with her new family and strike out on her own. She consoled herself with the Dante’s loss of a “straightforward pathway” through the forest, or Frost’s “diverg[ing] roads” in the woods. She now works as a free-lance editor, educator, curriculum developer… and poetry enthusiast. 

Her blog @wordcoloredglasses has grown (with long-time-friend-and-muse Hannah’s partnership) into a mission to empower anyone and everyone to enjoy poetry’s transformative influence in the day-to-day.

Hannah Smith, MFA

Hannah Smith is a writer from Dallas, Texas. She received a BA from Stanford University and an MFA in Poetry from the Ohio State University. At Ohio State, she served as the Managing Editor of The Journal, OSU’s award-winning literary magazine. She has taught many undergraduate writing courses including: Intermediate Poetry Writing, Introductory Poetry Writing, Literary Publishing, and First-Year Writing and Rhetoric. As an artist and teacher, Hannah is particularly interested in written and interdisciplinary collaboration. She has led classroom collaborative projects on zine creation, and she is the co-writer of a collaborative poetry chapbook, Metal House of Cards, which is forthcoming from Finishing Line Press.


Hannah’s own poetry explores the intersection between landscape, gender politics, and climate change. She is a Best of the Net Nominee, and her poetry appears or is forthcoming in Gulf Coast, Image Journal, Nimrod International Journal, Palette Poetry, Fugue, North American Review, Muzzle Magazine, and elsewhere. View her personal website at hannahsmith.net

Reviews from Past Students

  • "I cannot stress enough how wonderful of a teacher Professor Ulrich is. She brought an energy level to our zoom class that made every student feel comfortable enough to participate and engage with the material."

    Emily’s Student

  • Professor Ulrich is that best English teacher I've had. She excels at leading discussions; while she gave us ample room to voice our ideas, she also came to each class with a plan for what she wanted us to get out of the text, and she was able to naturally guide our discussion so we explored these central topics. Her insights were so eloquent and engaging that I always left class with a much richer view of the text than I had initially formed.

    Emily’s Student

  • "Hannah helped me grow in confidence as a poet. I feel inspired by her and the environment she facilitated. I love poetry even more now. I can't say enough good things."

    Hannah’s Student

  • "This was the best workshop teacher I have ever had! Hannah is not just nice, but helpful and constructive. I am starting to think out of the box, focus on sounds & line breaks, and understand more about how to write good poetry. My writing has gotten better, more specific, and stranger."

    Hannah’s Student