I Was Working: Poems

By: Ariel Yelen

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Synopsis: A remarkable book of poems that mixes humor about the absurdities of office life with moments of Zen-like wisdomSeeking to find a song of the self that can survive or even thrive amid the mundane routines of work, Ariel Yelen&’s lyrics include wry reflections on the absurdities and abjection of being a poet who is also an office worker and commuter in New York. In the poems&’ dialogues between labor and autonomy, the beeping of a microwave in the staff lounge becomes an opportunity for song, the poet writes from a cubicle as it is being sawed in half, and the speaker of the title poem decides &“to quit everything except work,&” sacrificing her life and loved ones to bury herself in her four jobs, striving at any cost to find relief from the attempt to both have a life and be a good worker—&“No one was happy to see me, and so / at last I could work. No one said it&’s okay. It wasn&’t / okay, thus my work flourished.&” Despite such discontents, I Was Working finds humor, play, and even joy in its original and compelling search for the possibility of self-liberation.