Most people are probably familiar with Le Guin's novels. But she was also an extraordinary poet in her own right. Her work is ephemeral, concrete, simple, and lovely. In many ways she explores every-day topics, household objects, the human struggle with sleep, death, and life. But she also manages to capture broader, less-tangible issues in sweeping strokes. I believe everyone should read Le guin's poetry. ( )

For decades, Ursula K Le Guin has written some of the best sf/f in the world. Unbeknownst to me, she also writes poetry and has published 11 other collections. This is a collection of the "best" poems she published between 1960 and 2010.

Her early work reminds me of a cross between ee cummings and Mary Oliver, but it didn't particularly inspire me. The first poem I loved in this collection was "The Aching Air," about a "beautiful horsechestnut" that "held up deep branches/in a cathedral/full of wings and voices/and a golden light" that is cut down in the interests of cleanliness in a series of harrowing stanzas and ends
"No fall,
all fall.
All clean.
All bare.
Only the tall,
tree-shaped, empty,
aching air."

Another poem I loved concerned an ornery black cat who lives on the porch and won't leave or come in, and ends:
"I leave the door wide.
She does not come in.
Self-contained, but never placid,
she crouches near her refuge chair,
even in her sleep alert, aware.
I can't judge if she is or is not unhappy.
She's certainly unlucky,
less so than many cats.
She accepts, she does not beg.
She is wholly respectable.

While I'm here to feed her twice a day
she has some ease. When I'm gone,
if the next tenant doesn't,
well, she'll get bone-thin again,
get lame again, get sick and hide and die.
Or a car or a dog will kill her.

Turn as we may in our wonderful ease-making words,
we cannot co-opt her freedom.
We can live with her
only on her hard terms."

But I think my favorite poems are at the end of the collection, which mostly concern old age, death, and what is left behind. In that section is where I found the eponymous poem, "Finding My Elegy," which contains these lines:
"Numbers are easier. So the men of money say
numbers, not names. Grief's not their business.
But I think it may be mine, and if I have
a people any more, I will find them in tears." ( )

Finding My Elegy: New and Selected Poems
Ursula K. Le Guin
Trade Paperback
208 pages
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication Date: September 18, 2012
ISBN-13: 978-0547858203
Advance Reader’s Copy – Uncorrected Proof

In her eighty-third year Ursula K. Le Guin may very well be searching for her own elegy but her newest collection of poetry is by no means a swan song. If we define elegy as a funeral song or dirge then perhaps Ms. Le Guin has published Finding My Elegy as a memento for future generations. I think this extremely unlikely, however. In fact, if we define elegy as a composition of poetry (it’s sister meaning) then I believe Ms. Le Guin, as seasoned a writer as she is, simply continues her writing process by searching for her own unique, poetic voice. Only a true poet would carry on the quest for lyrical inspiration well into their eighth decade. The muse is a moving target and as every writer knows that voice, the essence, is always in motion and must forever be pursued. It can never be accepted as is since it is evolving, ever-changing, and frail to the touch.

There’s no question that Ursula K. Le Guin is one of our most gifted authors and while I have always appreciated and loved her body of fiction I know that it takes a certain amount of courage, even by an established legend, to write and publish poetry. Those singular glimpses into the personality and soul, however fleeting, is something most writers would rather not expose. I wish other celebrated Science Fiction writers would follow suit. What would the biggest names in the genre today have to say in the short poetic form I wonder? Mieville, Hill, Gaiman, Atwood, Scalzi, Walton, Stephenson, et al. consider that a challenge, if you will. What might we have learned if Clarke, Asimov, Heinlein, or Pohl had written poetry from their distinctive perspectives? I for one want to thank you, Ms. Le Guin, for your thought-provoking work, your daring, and for giving us your little book of collected poetry and for providing us a much too-short glimpse into your heart of hearts.

4 ½ out of 5 stars

The Alternative
Southeast Wisconsin ( )