Callie Garnett's poetry collection, *Shit Hike*, published by The Song Cave in 2026, employs mundane observations to explore philosophical themes, particularly the experience of midlife. The collection opens with a poignant line reflecting on the passage of time: “ONE WAY TO love something is to turn away.” This theme recurs throughout the poems, illustrating a reckoning with aging and the body as Garnett addresses the trivialities and profundities of everyday life.
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In the titular poem, Garnett personifies snow to examine deeper insights, transforming a common hiking experience into a reflection on self-awareness. Lines such as “As nature does, so must we / Achieve not comprehension but / Something like readability” encapsulate the tension between understanding oneself and the complexity of existence.
Garnett’s style evokes Gertrude Stein's relational poetics, where simple observations can spark profound existential questions. The poem “Regret Poem” illustrates this by anthropomorphizing regret, making it a separate entity that the speaker can analyze and reflect upon. Contrasts between the clarity of understanding and the discomfort it can create are manifested in lines like, “Because I’m grown I listed the Pros: deepen / And the Pros: deepen / And the Cons: pain.”
Marriage also features prominently in Garnett's work, where pain is an intrinsic part of the partnership, as reflected in “Poem Beginning Watch Him Lift.” This sentiment resonates widely, suggesting that the difficulties of relationships mirror the complexities of life itself.
Despite their heavy themes, Garnett's poems maintain a lightness and humor. In “Free Bridge,” she writes, “If melodies be air / Words are / Birds, of course.” Humorous contrasts, like the juxtaposition of a serious quote with a child's innocent question in “Breaking Down Sugars Poem,” reveal Garnett's ability to intertwine wit and thoughtful reflection.
Garnett’s keen observational skills, honed through her urban upbringing in Brooklyn, allow her to capture the seemingly mundane, such as air travel nuances, in ways that feel significant and relatable. The poems incorporate everyday language while delving into profound truths about selfhood and identity, suggesting that midlife can serve as a second adolescence fraught with its own challenges and possibilities.
Ultimately, *Shit Hike* showcases Garnett’s unique ability to blend wit with deep introspection, presenting a layered understanding of love and the human condition. The collection affirms that to truly appreciate and understand both the world and ourselves may require moments of stepping back.