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Walking Wheel: Novel-in-Verse
“Molly Fisk reminds us what poetry can do, put to the service of Story.”
—Molly Gloss, author of The Hearts of Horses and The Jump-Off Creek
Walking Wheel 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.
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.
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.
Captivating and accessible, by turns tender, funny, erotic, and surprising, Walking Wheel 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.
Walking Wheel 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.
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.
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.
Captivating and accessible, by turns tender, funny, erotic, and surprising, Walking Wheel 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.
160 pages, Paperback
Published April 7, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Walking Wheel (a novel in poems) by Molly Fisk
5 stars. Immersive, tender story of love and pioneering
Molly Fisk has given us a gem, a jewel of a book. I rarely use these terms in book reviews, but they are deserving here. We follow a newlywed couple, Miles and Phoebe, in the first year of marriage as they build a life together with their skills, intense labor, intimacy, and mutual admiration and respect. Several times, I had to stop reading because I was holding my breath or moved to tears. We see them up close and in detail as they build, repair worn clothing, plant, care for animals, cook, can, and bake under conditions that seem primitive and too difficult to me, someone who cooks and bakes from scratch regularly. These skills give a whole new definition to “from scratch,” with so few resources and little money to buy what they can in town: salt, sugar, flour, fabric, thread. Miles fashions handmade nails. Phoebe knits baby sweaters through her pregnancy, bakes twenty apple pies for their barn raising, and waddles, weeding the garden before the baby’s birth. In a life where catastrophe is always near, by a fall or fever or a predator, with help far away, I fell in love with and wanted the best for this young couple.
So many quotable lines:
…there’s always
more to learn about a person over time
but most of us show ourselves plain
from the first to anyone watching.
##
(of their communication)
folding one smooth idea over another, stopping to unsnarl
confusion, and in the process building their common
ground, sharing their thoughts about the world
the way they already shared labor, and food, and love.
##
(of Miles’s knowledge of her pregnancy)
it hits him all at one, the way daylight finally crests a hill—
##
(on Miles’s character)
He doesn’t borrow trouble
but sees its tracks
and knows its scent.
##
Even if you think you don’t like poetry or don’t read it, this collection will change your mind and give you hope.
5 stars. Immersive, tender story of love and pioneering
Molly Fisk has given us a gem, a jewel of a book. I rarely use these terms in book reviews, but they are deserving here. We follow a newlywed couple, Miles and Phoebe, in the first year of marriage as they build a life together with their skills, intense labor, intimacy, and mutual admiration and respect. Several times, I had to stop reading because I was holding my breath or moved to tears. We see them up close and in detail as they build, repair worn clothing, plant, care for animals, cook, can, and bake under conditions that seem primitive and too difficult to me, someone who cooks and bakes from scratch regularly. These skills give a whole new definition to “from scratch,” with so few resources and little money to buy what they can in town: salt, sugar, flour, fabric, thread. Miles fashions handmade nails. Phoebe knits baby sweaters through her pregnancy, bakes twenty apple pies for their barn raising, and waddles, weeding the garden before the baby’s birth. In a life where catastrophe is always near, by a fall or fever or a predator, with help far away, I fell in love with and wanted the best for this young couple.
So many quotable lines:
…there’s always
more to learn about a person over time
but most of us show ourselves plain
from the first to anyone watching.
##
(of their communication)
folding one smooth idea over another, stopping to unsnarl
confusion, and in the process building their common
ground, sharing their thoughts about the world
the way they already shared labor, and food, and love.
##
(of Miles’s knowledge of her pregnancy)
it hits him all at one, the way daylight finally crests a hill—
##
(on Miles’s character)
He doesn’t borrow trouble
but sees its tracks
and knows its scent.
##
Even if you think you don’t like poetry or don’t read it, this collection will change your mind and give you hope.
Review of advance copy received from Author
Such a lyrical, lush and tender story of early people moving from Oregon to California to build a young life. It is so different from Molly Fisk's previous work that I'm stunned by it and happy for her many years of gestating this work inside her.
Molly is a fine teacher and kind being who graces the world with her presence and words.
Molly is a fine teacher and kind being who graces the world with her presence and words.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
As a big reader of novels, and a novice at poetry, I didn’t know what to expect, but wow. This book, a novel in verse, was interesting, fun, historically accurate and an all around great read. Thanks to Molly Fisk and Red Hen Press for the ARC.
Review of advance copy received from Author
I loved the lyrical and precise writing in this book! It felt fresh and original to read poems that told one story. I also appreciated that there was no intense tragedy or trauma that befell the main characters. It was a feel good book without being too saccharine. Such a pleasure to read!
Review of advance copy received from Author
A fine story of a stalwart young couple's first trying years in pioneer-era California--realistic, engaging and *bonus*--each chapter is a poem.
Review of advance copy received from Author
This is a wonderful book. Gentle and insightful. The perfect antidote for where we are today.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews