Ferris State University Assistant Professor of English, Literature and World Languages
Garrett Stack displays his recently published poetry collection, "Yeoman's Work."
Bottom Dog Press, based in Mason, Ohio, has nominated Stack's work for inclusion in
the Pushcart Prize "Best of the Small Presses" 2021 edition.An eight-year creation and perseverance process is complete, as Ohio-based Bottom
Dog Press recently published Assistant Professor of English, Literature and World
Languages Garrett Stack’s poetry collection “Yeoman’s Work.”
In his fourth year on Ferris State University’s faculty, Stack said he started writing
poems in 2012 to relieve the stress of his academic and scholarly pursuits.
“It helped me to deal with the demands of producing a thesis, then my dissertation,”
Stack said. “As I built up my portfolio, I went from San Diego State University to
Carnegie Mellon, in Pittsburgh. I was successful in earning my Ph.D. in Rhetoric by
completing my dissertation, ‘The Sierra Club and the Rhetorical Sublime,’ while adding
to my roster of published poems.”
Stack has various responsibilities on the Ferris campus, teaching Journalism and courses
in Technical Writing and Creative Writing. He is also the adviser for the Ferris State
Torch, the university’s student newspaper. As the COVID-19 pandemic advanced in early
2020 and brought about the end of face-to-face instruction on campus, Stack’s family
grew with the birth of twin boys.
“Creating this compilation served as a welcome distraction from my quarantine at home
in Rockford and the diaper duty that my sons presented,” Stack said. “Writing poetry
is a great release and having ‘Yeoman’s Work’ accepted for publishing is a wonderful
development. I have found this to be a labor of love, which does not require a level
of involvement that would impact my teaching and my family responsibilities.”
His poetry submissions offered for consideration by academic and literary journals
began several years ago, and Stack said he was aware of the level of activity required
to achieve his goal.
“It is a hurdle that must be cleared, which meant amassing inclusion in around 25
journals, prior to making my submission with Bottom Dog Press,” Stack said. “I corresponded
with hundreds of publications over the years to reach that point.”
Early this summer, Garrett received confirmation that “Yeoman’s Work” had approval
for publishing.
“My publisher likes to focus on works pertaining to ‘blue-collar’ issues,” Stack said.
“I am proud to be part of their Working Lives series.”
The continuing pandemic has altered what would be the typical activity for a new author’s
presentation of his work. Yet, his efforts have a focus.
“I am not in this as a commercial endeavor,” Stack said. “This is a way for me to
express my insights and empathy, which I think is very important at this time. I did
have a Facebook live reading and discussion of my work with Rockford’s Epilogue Books,
a store in my neighborhood. I would be very happy to work with Ferris’ University
Bookstore if the situations allow.”
Stack has also had two short stories published and continues his work on a novel,
“The Duke of Ash Avenue.”