Walking Wheel

<p><strong>“Molly Fisk reminds us what poetry can do, put to the service of Story.”</strong><strong><em>—Molly Gloss, author of The Hearts of Horses and The Jump-Off Creek</em></strong></p> <p><strong><em>Walking Wheel </em></strong><strong>is a tender, lyrical portrait of pioneer love and labor that revives the quiet heroism of everyday life in 1875, where intimacy, resilience, and devotion shape the story of home.</strong></p> <p>In this rich new collection, Molly Fisk braids together the ordinary tasks of love and work in 1875, a century we''ve almost forgotten but whose human concerns are universal and timeless.</p> <p>Fisk describes the journey of newlyweds Phoebe and Miles Imlay from their birthplace in central Oregon to California''s Surprise Valley. These are quiet, lyrical poems building a private world of intimacy and effort in alternating voices. From sawing timber, turning the heel of a sock, and measuring a pie''s baking with verses of a song, through sex, pregnancy, and childbirth, the couple''s first year of marriage working side by side is offered to us in resonant, unexpected detail.</p> <p>Captivating and accessible, by turns tender, funny, erotic, and surprising, <em>Walking Wheel</em> chronicles a self-sufficient era that some only half-remember and many find hard to believe. With these linked poems, Fisk brings a measure of balm and solace to our often fraught, overwhelming times.</p>