I Was Working Poems
I Was Working Poems by Ariel Yelen is a collection of 80 pages published by Princeton University Press on October 8, 2024. This book presents a unique blend of humor and wisdom, exploring the absurdities of office life through the lens of a poet navigating the challenges of work and personal identity in New York. Yelen’s poetry reflects on the tension between labor and autonomy, capturing moments that transform mundane experiences into opportunities for self-expression.
Readers will find a thoughtful examination of the poet’s dual existence as both an office worker and a creative individual. The poems delve into the complexities of balancing professional responsibilities with the desire for personal fulfillment, using vivid imagery and relatable scenarios. Yelen’s work invites contemplation on the nature of work and the quest for self-liberation, all while maintaining a sense of playfulness and joy amidst the discontents of daily life. This edition offers a fresh perspective on the intersection of poetry and the modern workplace, making it a notable addition to literary collections focused on American poetry and women authors.
Official synopsis Publisher
A remarkable book of poems that mixes humor about the absurdities of office life with moments of Zen-like wisdom
Seeking 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.
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