In this debut poetry collection, Joshua Dole¸al traces one summer as a ranger in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness of north Idaho, where trail maintenance provides a touchstone for childhood, American history, and masculinity.
Someday Johnson Creek takes its name from a real place and also honors Connie Saylor Johnson, who devoted more than forty years to wilderness conservation. Dole¸al worked with Johnson for several summers while studying poetry and creative nonfiction with Ted Kooser at the University of Nebraska. Poems in this volume first appeared in magazines such as Hudson Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, RATTLE, and Third Coast.