The Girl with Bees in Her Hair

by Eleanor Rand Wilner

Eleanor Wilner’s sixth collection creates a mythology that sees a planet too small and a universe too immense to support humanity’s illusions of importance. Her poems become a “choral work of the imagination” in which science is re-envisioned, gender assumptions challenged and beliefs rigorously questioned. As the old gods are reabsorbed into the modern world, Wilner discovers new insights into culture and the human psyche. “I have always treasured Wilner’s poetry for its visionary amplitude and revolutionary intelligence.”—Alicia Ostriker Eleanor Rand Wilner is the author of six books of poetry and the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship. She lives in Philadelphia, teaches at Warren Wilson College, and is a lifelong activist for civil rights and peace.

Genres: Poetry

110 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2004

Reviews

[Kaye]

Wilner has an obsession with the motif of dead and forgotten Gods, and it shows up in weird ways in her work. Some of the poems feel forced, while others are very good. I liked "Nebraska Hymn to Demeter", "Winter Conception", "The Apple was a Northern Invention", "The Fossil Poet: A Post-Pastoral" (very specfic), "Found in the Free Library", and "Mnemosyne (Memory)" because the imagery was beautiful and the poems had a solid feel to them.

[Chris]

I am grateful to Dennis Patrick Slattery, one of my Mythological Studies professors at Pacifica Graduate Institute for recommending ERW's poetry to me (us actually, there were 30 in my cohort). These poems are full of science and mythological imagery: the Big Bang, the first Moon landing, the precession of the Earth, Orpheus, Mnemosyne, Narcissus, Sappho, Dante, paleontology, Demeter, Pandora, human evolution and Eve. The poem, "Everything Is Starting," connects cosmogony and creation mythos, "A Short Poem About the Cosmos" weaves night sky imagery with that of Homer, and "Just So Story" connects the Moon landing with Moon folklore. Science and mythology both explicate the world of meaning and our place in it, often at complete odds with each other. I have found that poetry is one of the few places where the two can come together in a way that is more of a conversation, less of a confrontation. ERW shares that conversation with us in this book, and does so with a sense of wonder.

"Afraid of the dark, we play with fire.
We burn, and burn."
-- from "Species-pity"

[Kristine Thurston]

A beautiful and moving collection. I look forward to her upcoming publication this April.

[sarah]

I only liked three and a half poems in this collection. (Transactions in a Field That's Overgrown, New Mexico Moon, The Girl with Bees in Her Hair, & 1/2 of A Short Poem About the Cosmos). It seems Wilner saves the striking moments, because they're rare and peppered about. I found myself growing bored of her style quickly as it's too straightforward for what I usually read. There were times I just wanted the poem to end, times the poem should have ended, but I would turn the page and there would be another two stanzas or so. I don't mind long poetry and I do like being able to follow along with the poet, however this collection didn't pose a challenge for me. There are places and certain lines where the a poem would almost catch my be surprise, but then fall flat. Not to say that Wilner isn't a talented writer, I just found I wasn't interested enough to read most of these again-- which in my mind is one of the most important things about poetry... being struck by the light of a poem in such a way that you must save it for later, and unfortunately that's not how I feel about 95% of these.

[Michael]

Wilner has a nice sense of line, a rhythm and flow that push back the quotidian walls and invite the bees to swarm. Her imagery is neither as down-to-earth nor as transformative as Roethke's, but she aspires to his magical, dancing delivery. Some of the poems are obviously written for other poets and sacrifice thereby their claim to a universal audience. That seems an increasingly common trend as poetry continues its long retreat from living art to museum pieces for the cognoscenti, which is a shame in Wilner's case, because she obviously has what it takes to make poetry live. I especially like "A Moralized Nature is Like a Garden Without Flowers," "Found in the Free Library," "Sidereal Desire," "Nebraska Hymn to Demeter," "Attic Light," and "A Short Poem About the Cosmos."

[Barb]

I like about half her poems but many are academic and not terribly interesting to me.

[Mills College Library]

811.54 W744g 2004

[Ann]

The closing poem, "Be Careful What You Remember," is genius. I just wish I had thought of it first.