A "Female Lou Reed": Lydia Tomkiw Lydia Tomkiw (August 6, 1959 – September 4, 2007) was an influential poet and composer, a central figure in the Chicago underground scene. She is best remembered for the duo Algebra Suicide, formed with her then-husband, guitarist Don Hedeker. Together, they fused Lydia's spoken word poetry with synthesizers, becoming a reference point for minimal wave, a branch of electronic music that emerged between the late 1970s and mid-1980s. The style is defined by the use of analog synthesizers and rudimentary electronic drums from the pre-MIDI era, resulting in a raw, minimalist, and intentionally "lo-fi" sound. Her compositions often oscillate between experimentalism and an almost hypnotic urban melancholy. Early Life Tomkiw was born in the Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago in 1959, the daughter of Ukrainian immigrants Zenovia and Teodor Tomkiw. Her father worked at the US Steel plant and her mother in various retail jobs. In 1975, gang violence and crime in Humboldt Park became unbearable, and the family moved to an apartment in Ukrainian Village, a vibrant center of the Ukrainian community. Tomkiw's creativity and aptitude earned her a place to study art at the selective Lane Technical High School. During these years, Tomkiw wrote constantly—in diaries: short stories and poems. She developed an affection for the Victorian poet Gerard Manley Hopkins. Hopkins initially intended to be a painter, then turned to poetry, characterized by striking imagery, colloquial language, and formal playfulness; the Hopkons sister, Grace, set many of his poems to music. Hopkins was known for his "sprung rhythm" and linguistic innovations, directly echoing how Tomkiw, decades later, would structure the meter of his spoken word poetry in Algebra Suicide. In 1977, Tomkiw enrolled in the fine arts program at the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle, which boasted a rigorous and extremely competitive art program. Once there, however, she almost immediately found herself outclassed by other students. Her imagination frequently surpassed her abilities, which stubbornly remained decent, but nothing exceptional. Frustrated, Tomkiw began to reassess her creative capacity. Alongside her art classes, Tomkiw attended poetry classes taught by Maxine Chernoff (born 1952). With her husband, Paul Hoover, she edits the acclaimed literary magazine New American Writing. In Chernoff's class, Tomkiw underwent a kind of conversion, embracing poetry as her primary vehicle for creative expression. She was particularly enthusiastic about the performative potential of poetry—writing to be read and speaking to be heard. Inspired and guided by Chernoff, she quickly emerged as a precocious and promising poet. In early 1978, while still a freshman, Tomkiw gathered an initial set of poems and self-published them in a booklet titled *Ballpoint Erection*. A year later, Tomkiw compiled another nineteen poems and self-published her second booklet, Obsessions. At the end of Tomkiw's first year at UIC, Chernoff suggested she transfer to Columbia College Chicago, a small liberal arts college with a long tradition in art. In particular, Chernoff believed Tomkiw would excel under the tutelage of her husband, Paul Hoover, who served as a resident professor and taught a highly respected poetry workshop for graduate students. Tomkiw arrived at Columbia College in 1978 and joined an emerging group of poets, predominantly women, who gathered around Hoover's workshops. Poetry and Music At that time, the young and promising poetry scene was socially and creatively connected to the wildly individualistic Chicago punk rock scene. A strong practical sense typical of the American Midwest reinforced the prevailing "do-it-yourself" spirit: art was not fueled and shaped by fashion and style or by the imperatives of technique and expression. Punk and poetry also shared many of the same venues, bars and clubs. Bars like O'Banion's, Tut's, and Lucky Number hosted readings between punk shows by local artists like DA, Tutu and the Pirates, and Naked Raygun, and touring bands like Dead Kennedys, TSOL, and Hüsker Dü. Within a year, Tomkiw was firmly established in both the punk and poetry scenes. And the experience of finding like-minded creators and, perhaps even more importantly, a potential audience, was electrifying. Tomkiw adapted to the classic boho-punk scene, living with her parents, studying, and working a series of unstimulating and poorly paid jobs. She lived for the nightlife, wrote like crazy, frequented bookstores and record shops, and spent her meager earnings on poetry and punk rock. The boho-punk style combines the softness of bohemian fabrics (like lace and knits) with the industrial harshness of punk (metal, leather, and studs). In Tomkiw's case, this translated into a stage presence described as "seductive and inventive," mixing the sophistication of new wave with the rawness of the underground scene. Her artistic approach—reciting poetry over minimalist electronic beats—was the embodiment of this mix. She brought the intellectualism of classical poetry (like the Victorian influence of Gerard Manley Hopkins) to the noisy and electric environment of post-punk bands like Algebra Suicide. This balance between artistic "free spirit" and urban "decadence" is what has made Tomkiw a cult figure among both poets and fans of experimental electronic music. In April 1980, Tomkiw and Sharon Mesmer, already best friends and poetic partners, held their first reading at the Paul Waggoner Gallery in Chicago. Later that summer, Tomkiw went to see the band Trouble Boys perform at Jamie's Elsewhere Lounge. After the show, she struck up a conversation with the guitarist, Don Hedeker. They hit it off, and she invited him to a reading she was giving a few weeks later. Soon, Hedeker fell in love, the romance blossomed, and they moved in together that summer. On Halloween 1981, they married, with Mesmer as Tomkiw's maid of honor. While still self-publishing, Tomkiw also submitted her work to publishers. Her poems began to be published regularly by small regional publishers, such as Another Chicago Magazine, Thunder Egg, Hair Trigger, Wormwood Review, and Permafrost. At the end of the year, she compiled her most recent set of poems into her first bound anthology, titled Popgun Sonatas. Alex