 "Photo: Shannon Longmate")
Tod Marshall, associate professor of English, does not meet his requirements for weekly office hours, in fact he only sees the inside of his office in Robinson House about every three weeks.
This is because he is taking the 2009-2010 school year on sabbatical and is using part of this time to promote his second published selection of poems that was released in April , after seven years of writing.
He has already finished three readings around the country, at University of Iowa and at University of Michigan, some of the top creative writing schools in the nation. He also just had a reading in Seattle at Open Books, a poem emporium, and expects to do 15 to 20 readings throughout the year. He will continue touring around the country in Oregon, Oklahoma, again in Iowa, the Bay Area, possibly Baltimore, and Marshall will be the Gonzaga representative for the Visiting Writer’s Series.
The collection is called “The Tangled Line.” Marshall said that there is an ongoing joke about how all is poetry is about fishing, but the title “The Tangled Line” has nothing to do with fishing.
“Tangled lines refer to poetic lines,” Marshall said.
The poetic lines of the collection form 24 poems, each different from the last in terms of shape, sound and structure. There may be 24 poems on the pages, but Marshall would like the readers to remember that there is one more poem. It is the book itself and although the poems differ in content, he attempted to create cohesion in the production of the book, which is an idea Marshall took from Robert Frost.
Frost is not the only poetic influence on Marshall. Poets such as Robert Hass, Emily Dickinson, Jack Gilbert and especially Henry David Thoreau have influenced the writing of Marshall.
Thoreau is a great influence because Marshall also finds inspiration in nature.
“Silence and solitude is paramount to writing,” Marshall said. “Voices come from the inside and finding a quiet place where you can hear them is key.”
Marshall started as a philosophy major in his undergraduate study because he “thought that’s what smart people would do.” He fell in love with literature after an inspiring class on Faulkner despite opposition from philosophy professors.
“I became intoxicated with the sounds and rhythm of language,” Marshall said. “Once I made that switch there was no going back.”
Since that transition Marshall has spent a good portion of his life reading, writing and teaching the language he is passionate about.
Beth Cooley, English professor and colleague expressed her amazement at all he manages to accomplish: teaching, managing the Writer’s Series and continuing to “be devoted to the craft [of writing].”
“He’s very generous with this time. You never feel like you’re infringing,” Cooley said.
Cooley has read a number of Marshall’s poems and praises their original use of language.
“I think he’s a very accomplished poet,” Cooley said. “Some of his work is quirky and a little strange, but ultimately accessible.”
Cooley believes his knowledge about contemporary poets helps his writing, but more importantly helps his teaching.
This is positive for Marshall because he thinks that something is lost after childhood in the love of poetry and he believes it is due to the teaching of poetry. Marshall argues that poetry is not solely about finding the hidden meaning.
“Poetry is about a bodily experience,” Marshall said. “We can taste those words.”
The book is another way to promote his passion and Marshall is pleased with its success. He realizes success in poetry differs highly from success of novels, but he is not writing for the money.
“The Tangled Line” ranked 21 in the May/June Small Press Distribution Poetry Bestsellers list. Marshall also believes that the first edition will sell out, calling for a second edition of the collection.
One of the most exciting things for Marshall is that a professor at Brown University will use “The Tangled Line” for his Ecopoetics class.
Marshall continues to write, hoping that his next collection will take a shorter amount of time to produce.
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