a "Working Life"

By Eileen Myles

From “one of the essential voices in American poetry” (New York Times) comes a rich new collection of expansive, light-footed, and cheerfully foreboding poems oddly in tune with our strange and evolving present

The first new collection since Evolution from the prolific poet, activist, and writer Eileen Myles, a “Working Life” unerringly captures the measure of life. Whether alone or in relationship, on city sidewalks or in the country, their lyrics always engage with permanence and mortality, danger and safety, fear and wonder.

a “Working Life” is a book transfixed by the everyday: the “sweet accumulation” of birds outside a window, a cup of coffee and a slice of pizza, a lover’s foot on the bed. These poems arise in the close quarters of air travel, the flashing of a landscape through a train window, or simply in a truck tooling around town, or on foot with a dog in all the places that held us during the pandemic lockdowns. Myles’s lines unabashedly sing both the happy contradictions of love and sex, spill over with warnings about the not-so future world threatened by climate change and capitalism, and also find transcendent wonder in the landscapes and animals around us, and in the solitary and collective act of caring for one another and our world.

With intelligence, heart, and singular vision, a “Working Life” shows Eileen Myles working at a thrilling new pitch of their poetic and philosophical powers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Grove Press
• Release date: Apr 18, 2023
• ISBN: 9780802161901

Eileen Myles

Eileen Myles (they/them, b. 1949) is a poet, novelist, and art journalist whose practice of vernacular first-person writing has made them one of the most recognized writers of their generation. Pathetic Literature, which they edited, came out in fall 2022. a “Working Life,” their newest collection of poems, is out now. They live in New York and Marfa, TX.

Book preview

For My Friend

Nothing

better

for people

than dogs

nothing better than ma

king

you scream

here. There were

two super

new cars

and then

some pink

chicken

filets

I guess

there were

berries

for sale

in Scandinavia

a man in

a plaid

shirt &

cookies

also they

are

working

in the ceme

tery

I can see

their blue

ladder

from here.

A man

has written

a book

about many

deaths

or many

things to do after.

Read it

read it

they say

but what

comes

after

is a small

idea. Now

is large

rainy.

Amy I wish

you luck

The Preface

some landscape for joan

My vanity

all kinds of roads

looking out

at the blue

black mountains

and so many

houses down

among the floor

the crime

of so many of us

big bold stripe

overhead

but it’s

different

too

it’s not how

the dinosaurs

saw

one volume

held what turned

out to

be the window

of my

life

I keep plunging

you just have

to wait

till it sees

you again

only that

one lens

to be

enough to the father

of the day

and her sound

it’s layed

out so regular

like god

and you just

pick out

your business

and land

on the land

the stripes

the crawling

ants; look what we’ve

done

the other

window

darker pony

I’m such

a mess

finally seeing

the end of

it thank

god is always

the mountains

and that’s

why we call

them friends

that’s my limit

and here’s the plane

now and the

town bump

Page America Myles

I have a land

line so in

a state of

emergency

I can make

a call.

So you should

get a

landline

so I can

call you

that’s what

I meant

to say to Erin.

there’s a lot

of suffering

here in this

room. I meant

to connect to a therapist.

That’s what

I planned

to do in

the city.

I’ll do that

this week.

In that

case this

means

next. It’s

like my

body’s

pointing w

time full

of time.

That’s

what I meant

to say

to you

let’s have

some.

First Poem

every

experience

of being

& day

awakens

me to the dif

ficulty

I change

my socks

I see

my feet

you don’t

so much

mind my flaws

I think

at the

world

when I

go out. women

in chairs

& couch

one of both

a tender

dog & actual

tears. today

it snows.

we go

live

Mary Queen of Scots

The whales

breaking

the surface

are the

ocean

no other

name. Then

I knew

that I

became

ocean

too. The black

and white

mother

knows her

baby becomes

knives

she misses

the restaur

ant. And

honey

runs out

and takes

a bite

of Butters’

head

the owner

is nice

that forest

in Scotland

whipping

by. Yes I

think this

country

should

become

free. Solaris

is the

interior

of my sexual

fantasies

I’m part

plant

eaten

by movies

for years

the veal

of snow

curves

as she drags

her pile

of trash

on the train

this is

any

butter

the lightly

screaming

train &

I’m excited

to see

you. Black

barns

hold my

content

ment. Dana

Ward and

Mira

Gonzalez

and those

small tubby

rolls

in the grass

are relevant

yellower

grass. It’s

hay. Hedge

ends

the property

my this

is not

struck

by the gun

of a moment

but this

tumbling

green

long unseen

tiny recollections

exchanging

thwang

the release

of a bow. Honey’s

safe and

butters

safe. The crown

of a tree

see through

poking

over a hill

and I

want

my hands

on the font

I want

I want

Friday Night

I don’t think

I can

live without

taking pic

tures. The peach

second

sun made

a move

on the right.

No clouds

shifted

Reviews for a "Working Life"

[pomo58 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

a "Working Life" by Eileen Myles is a collection of poems that can startle you just as easily as they can soothe you.Collections of poetry are like collections of anything else, some pieces will connect more emphatically while others may not speak to you at all. In the case of poetry, a bit more of the emphasis is on the reader than with short stories or essays, to cite a couple examples. Reading and analyzing/understanding a poem is a creative process. Not as creative as writing it, and certainly of a different type, but creative nonetheless. And in order to understand one is, by definition, analyzing. Not in an academic manner, unless you're an academic, but in a personal manner. What is being said? How is it being said? Does a line break here make the meaning different than if it were in a more "prose" place? If I read it ignoring, or at least deemphasizing, line and stanza breaks, does it mean something different than if I read it with them? Then bring in all the personal life experiences we all have and each poem can take on a multitude of meanings.Myles' poetry has always been something I like to take my time with. Their line breaks and (usually) short lines give me a lot of space to both try to understand what they were saying as well as what I might takeaway from it. There are quite a few poems here that spoke to me, though admittedly often not on my first reading. But who just reads a poem through and expects to get anything from it? Okay, some very basic but very good poems can be read that way, but they are largely narrative and the meaning is derived from thinking about why what happened, happened. But most poetry asks the reader to be an active reader, something we all have trouble with at times.I would recommend this to those who already like Myles' poetry as well as those who enjoy reading a single poem at a time, thinking about it, playing with how you reread it, then think about it some more. Make it your own, try to figure out what they meant, or both.Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.