Wild Oats and Fireweed: New Poems

Poetry #5

by Ursula K. Le Guin

Poems consider farm life, travel, highways, beaches, sex roles, the poor, hunger, family, marriage, and writing

Genres: Poetry, Nonfiction

90 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Ursula K. Le Guin published twenty-two novels, eleven volumes of short stories, four collections of essays, twelve books for children, six volumes of poetry and four of translation, and has received many awards: Hugo, Nebula, National Book Award, PEN-Malamud, etc. Her recent publications include the novel Lavinia, an essay collection, Cheek by Jowl, and The Wild Girls. She lived in Portland, Oregon.

She was known for her treatment of gender (The Left Hand of Darkness, The Matter of Seggri), political systems (The Telling, The Dispossessed) and difference/otherness in any other form. Her interest in non-Western philosophies was reflected in works such as "Solitude" and The Telling but even more interesting are her imagined societies, often mixing traits extracted from her profound knowledge of anthropology acquired from growing up with her father, the famous anthropologist, Alfred Kroeber. The Hainish Cycle reflects the anthropologist's experience of immersing themselves in new strange cultures since most of their main characters and narrators (Le Guin favoured the first-person narration) are envoys from a humanitarian organization, the Ekumen, sent to investigate or ally themselves with the people of a different world and learn their ways.

Reviews

[Gabby Gilliam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I want to give this 3.5 stars, but that's not allowed. I loved half of these poems, but the other half didn't do much for me. It didn't feel like a cohesive collection. It's definitely worth a read though if you're looking for anything like her sci-fi or fantasy stories, this poetry collection is not going to satisfy you.

[Mark Oppenlander · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poetry collections are hard to review, because (a) some poems may be great and others not so much and (b) our reactions to poetry are supremely subjective. In this volume, Le Guin attempts to tie the poems together by creating sections within the book: Places, Woman, Words, and Women. It proves to be a helpful taxonomy, although I imagine some critics might argue for other organizational structures. Nonetheless, this roadmap provides some insight into what was on Le Guin's mind when writing.

Places are often important in her writing, offering a sense of grounding. Many of the locations she describes in this book are on the western coast of North America, a place with which I too am familiar. These pieces are lyrical and haunting, although not as affecting as those by other poets I admire; there is almost something too distant about her elliptical phrasing. I feel as though Le Guin is having a personal experience of place, but not inviting me in.

Her poems about Words are fun, but not revelatory. We know her affection for language, given her occupation as a writer. These are personal pieces, but again, not necessarily something that will grab the wider audience. Or maybe they weren't the right thing for me, right now.

Where the collection comes alive are in the sections called Woman and Women. Here, Le Guin wrestles with the idea of what it means to be female in a world where gender roles are evolving. Some have described Le Guin as a feminist, and while that is undoubtedly true, she also had a deep affection for the domestic life traditionally associated with women - keeping house, raising children, gardening, etc. You can find this affection displayed in interviews she did, and the tension between the domestic instinct and her feminism peeks out in some of the poems too. She also digs into what the collective role of women is in society - as peacemakers, activists, life-bringers, temptresses, and more. Some of the poems appear to be tributes to specific women in her life - ancestors and children.

Some of these poems worked for me, while others were less interesting. Some of that may be choice of subject matter, and some of it may be in the execution. I enjoyed the feminist leaning pieces, but where I found most common cause with Le Guin was in her reflections on aging - for example in the poems "Tenses" and "Inventory." In the latter, she compares the visible veins of an aging woman's legs to the Amazon river, a map of a life history played out in flesh. It's a compelling metaphor, and shows what Le Guin can do in the poetic form when at her best. Overall though, the collection is still a bit too uneven for me, and very few of the pieces will remain in my memory for long.

[Joe Hay · Rating 3 out of 5]

An overall good collection, more ambitious and confident than Le Guin's previous one, Hard Words, but maybe less impactful, too.

I liked the focus on Mt. St. Helens, and on women, and on womanhood, and the meaning of womanhood, and the meaning of Mt. St. Helens' womanhood. There's a nice coherence to everything.
I will probably return to this collection in the future as a treasury of feminist insight.

But I think a lot of it was merely interesting and not arresting. I admire the act of mining and where she went with her pickaxe, but I don't feel compelled to find every rock breathtaking.

[Stacie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ursula can write anything. And she knows about being a woman. Rest In Peace.

[andré crombie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The red weed by roadsides
flowers, in clearcuts and burns
and the wastes of St. Helens,
a tall, feathered dancer,
casting its ash-seeds.

[Myla · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked Meditations on a Marriage. That’s it

[Jennifer Collins · Rating 3 out of 5]

These poems are probably of the most interest to readers who already enjoy Le Guin's works of fantasy. Many of the poems are grounded in the natural world, but have an otherworldly tone that gives an impression of the supernatural. Feminist themes also run throughout the word, and the most successful poems in the collection fuse a sense of the elements with feminist voices, creating a lasting impression of permanence that serves to strengthen the work as a whole. For the most part, this is also one of those collections where the poems work together to create a greater whole, but would not necessarily mean so much when taken separately.

[James Payne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, uneven.

[Carole · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was nothing here that really spoke to me, but I am not the biggest fan of poetry.