Middle Creek Publishing & Audio Announces ‘ECHOLOCATION,’ the Debut Poetry Collection by Field & Stream Writer Sage Marshall
“These poems teach us how to live in a violent world with grace, compassion, and curiosity.” - Michael Garrigan, author of River, Amen & Robbing the Pillars
“This is a sacred call and response between a writer and all the environments he inhabits.” -Alexander Shalom Joseph, author of Our Mother, The Mountain
“Observations and revelations made while navigating boyhood to manhood with grit and grace.” -Steven Law, host of KNAU’s PoetrySnaps!
June 24, 2024 – Middle Creek Publishing & Audio proudly announces the upcoming release of longtime Field & Stream writer, editor, and outdoor journalist Sage Marshall’ [1]s debut poetry collection, Echolocation [1]. “Echolocation is to see without sight, to sing or scream the seeing into being. Echolocation is the act of calling out into a great void and knowing that something will respond, and contained in this response will be your whole world mirrored and bright,” says Alexander Shalom Joseph, author of Our Mother, The Mountain and Broken Light in a Burning Wood. This sonically charged presentation, which intricately weaves the landscapes and ecologies of the American West against themes of violence, adolescence, and beauty, is now available for pre-order, with a publishing date set for October 1, 2024.
Marshall’s critical yet compassionate examination of the brutality of boyhood and prevailing notions of masculinity offers a vital perspective on gender issues in today’s world. His deep attunement with the natural world infuses the collection with moments of clarity and grace amidst the reality of violence and pain. He questions contemporary social conventions while delving into timeless themes of grief, growth, and human connection. Marshall’s evocative language serves as a balm for the pain and confusion that permeates the collection, offering readers a chance to reflect and heal. Echolocation provides a profound and essential perspective on contemporary masculinity, eco-poetics and Western literature.
This book has already garnered high praise from poets and critics:
* Noah Davis, author, Of This River, winner of the Wheelbarrow Books Poetry Prize: “the collection is built by poems of the body and the intensely physical world.” * Michael Garrigan, author of River, Amen & robbing the Pillars: “To read Sage Marshall’s poetry is to step into a beautiful place of ‘dank twisted love’ that deftly navigates both our natural world and the one of ‘boys learning to collide.’” * Steven Law, host of KNAU’s PoetrySnaps! and author, Polished: “the collection reads like a series of beautifully written dispatches from the field.”
Pre-orders are now open, and both digital and physical review copies are available. Don’t miss this poignant debut from a young poet willing to tackle the challenging issues of toxic masculinity and the search for grace in a violent world.
About the Author
Sage Marshall a renowned, longtime contributor and former editor of Field & Stream. He has written for other well-known publications such as Men’s Journal, Outdoor Life, and Westword. His longform journalism has been praised for its ability to blend elucidate environmental concerns and social issues. This collection derives authenticity from his years of experience exploring the West’s natural places as a journalist, as well as a hunter, angler, and adventurer.
Marshall’s creative work has been featured in publications such as The Missouri Review, Sport Literate, Catamaran, and elsewhere. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Wesleyan University and is a Master of Fine Arts candidate at the University of Montana.
Originally from southwest Colorado, Sage has lived across the U.S. and currently resides in Western Montana, where he explores the rivers and mountains around Missoula with his partner Bela and their adopted bird dog, Gunney.
Full Reviewers’ Advance Praise
Sage Marshall’s [1]Echolocation [1] is built by poems of the body and the intensely physical world. For Marshall, everything is supported by blood. From the obvious hunting and fishing to the locker rooms after hockey practice to hiking mountains to walking home from the bar late at night. But even within the momentum of this collection, which often feels as if it’s careening toward collision, Marshall delivers moments without violence where the quiet offers a space to glimpse the relief when a cheek goes unpunched or a duck makes it to the horizon unscathed: “I have fired before / and will again / but today / I stole nothing from the sky.”
Noah Davis, winner of the Wheelbarrow Books Poetry Prize and author of Of This River
To read Sage Marshall’s poetry is to step into a beautiful place of “dank twisted love” that deftly navigates both our natural world and the one of “boys learning to collide.” These poems teach us how to live in a violent world with grace, compassion, and curiosity.
—Michael Garrigan, author of River, Amen & Robbing the Pillars
Sage Marshall has captured snapshots of nature’s splendor from an adventurous, contemplative life spent outdoors. Observations and revelations made while navigating from boyhood to manhood with grit and grace. _Echolocation_ reads like a series of beautifully written dispatches from the field.
—Steven Law, host of KNAU’s PoetrySnaps! and author of _Polished_
The act of echolocation is to make your very vision out of conversation with your environment. Echolocation is to see without sight, to sing or scream the seeing into being. Echolocation is the act of calling out into a great void and knowing that something will respond, and contained in this response will be your whole world mirrored and bright. These definitions, this synesthetic perception, this bellowed breathing into some abyss with a hope that in your efforts, you will soon see in the dark; these are the poems of Sage Marshall’s _Echolocation_. In this series, the body and the landscape are one, the night as well as our bodies are bruised; the fire on the hillside, which is watched like a drive-in movie, ends with ash in our mouths; the forgiveness we have swallowed turns to swallows bursting from deep thickets of grass. This is poetic echolocation. This is a sacred call and response between a writer and all the environments he inhabits, and we the reader get to view a world between and within the two. “Everything is beautiful. Everything hurts.” There is only this very moment and there is also forever. Call into the dark and pick up this book and see how the dark calls back.
—Alexander Shalom Jospeh, author of _Our Mother, The Mountain and Broken Light in a Burning Wood
About Middle Creek Publishing & Audio: Middle Creek Publishing & Audio is committed to bringing powerful and transformative literary works to readers around the globe. With a catalog that spans all genres, Middle Creek continues to foster a community of passionate readers and writers.
For media inquiries, contact: Middle Creek Publishing & Audio Email: info@middlecreekpublishing.com. Phone: (719) 369-9050
LIBRARIANS: Pre-order "ECHOLOCATION" today to ensure you don't miss this significant literary offering.
