{"product_id":"i-was-working-poems-paperback","title":"I Was Working: Poems - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eAriel Yelen\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA remarkable book of poems that mixes humor about the absurdities of office life with moments of Zen-like wisdom\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSeeking 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, \u003ci\u003eI Was Working\u003c\/i\u003e finds humor, play, and even joy in its original and compelling search for the possibility of self-liberation.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAriel Yelen\u003c\/b\u003e is a poet whose work has been published in \u003ci\u003ePoetry Magazine, BOMB, \u003c\/i\u003ethe\u003ci\u003e American Poetry Review\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e Washington Square Review\u003c\/i\u003e, and other magazines\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 80\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.19 x 9.21 x 6.14 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e October 08, 2024\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47333902942457,"sku":"9780691264066","price":17.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0789\/2782\/3097\/files\/G-fqILd4hE9780691264066.webp?v=1769642255","url":"https:\/\/bookscloud.io\/products\/i-was-working-poems-paperback","provider":"BooksCloud Book Dropshipping","version":"1.0","type":"link"}