I am usually someone who prefers lush, flowery prose, dancing around the point— Myles’ is blunt and right to the point. When I read the first poem in this collection I was filled with the dread of ‘oh no, I don’t like this.’ But I kept reading, and slowly the magic of Myles’ writing was unveiled for me. 

The writing style is unique and perfectly suited to the abstract tapestries Myles is building, showing an elegant and deep understanding of the craft. As soon as I read Friday Night, I knew this poetry collection would be a standout for me for years to come.

I liked individual lines or segments of poems more than the poems overall. The poems about politics struck me as a little cliche based on others from the time, but I understand the feelings and emotions that living in the Trump era brought forth. 
I think this collection will strike a chord with millenial and gen z women, lines like "I don't think / I can / live without / taking pictures" put words to feelings I know but never articulated, as did "I'm just/ doing/ everything/ all over/ again/ drinking/ coffee/ and being /alone." I wish the collection had a unifying theme or characters, because a lot of people, lovers and exes are mentioned but not explored in detail.

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.

The first Eileen Myles work that I’ve read. Maybe the wrong choice? I have been exploring a whole host of poetry over the past few weeks, mainly because of my busy schedule and relative inability to get into meaty books, like tougher poems or classic novels. Most of the poems here were bite-sized, one or two words a line. Unfortunately, they didn’t suit me. At all. I hope others will enjoy this collection by Myles when the book is out.

Thank you to Grove Atlantic for the ARC.

Really enjoyed this quick and thoughtful collection - there is something perpetually familiar about the way Myles writes and I find it comforting! The way sentences and even words were broken down into fragments made quite moments sharper and brought a disjointed stream of consciousness to the whole body of work.

Personally this wasn’t for me. I enjoy poetry collections but the spacing of these poems made it very difficult for me to read. I’m sure there are people that will get into this but unfortunately I wasn’t able to get through it.

I loved some of the imagery in this, and how abstract it was. However, the use of hyphens, white space, and misspellings or alternate spellings made this difficult for me to read at times. The poetry is unique and something that I would recommend to a lot of people I know who would love this, it just isn’t for me personally! Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher!

Ah, I am so thankful to have been granted access to this beautiful work of art from Grove Atlantic, NetGalley, and Eileen Myles before it's set to publish on April 18, 2023.  This was the perfect book of poetry to just pick up and put down on slow or busy days, as a reprieve from the chaos. A simple inhale and exhale to bypass the bullshit.  Its vertical formatting made for easy reading and simple flow and Ioved that.

Myles' poems included in "a 'Working Life'" are definitely a product of their time, relatable, delicate and sincere.

It took me a while to get used to their minimalism and abstraction, but I can to really enjoy this collection. The poems oscillate between description and abstraction, details and epics, and when they hit the right combinations, Myles' talent shines.

A Working Life was very hard for me to get through. The lack of punctuation and word-splitting (starting a word on one line and finishing it on the next with no hyphen) had me struggling with rhythm in my head. The writing is very choppy, sometimes with just one word on a line, and it often felt like it was just a grouping of unrelated words, rendering it really unapproachable.

I’m not a poetry expert so I’m sure this is a writing technique, but it was extremely distracting to me.

There were some very timely and important themes explored such as the pandemic, refugees and immigration, the patriarchy and climate change. I think the message is vital but the execution was lacking for me. I just didn’t get it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for the opportunity to review this book.

I'm something 
unreliable 
and this
is a day for 
poetry.

I'm trying to understand why I liked this book so much and I don't have answer. There are just some really wonderful moments that pull you in and honestly Eileen Myers is so much fun to read out loud! 

My personal favourites from this collection are April 15, Beloved Train, Love Song and September 7.

This poetry collection is scattered and a bit nonsensical, which I personally loved. It reads like Notes app ramblings. I would recommend it for people who are already fans of Myles' other work, as its not really the best introduction to them, but it is fun. Extremely fun, a little goofy, very weird. Felt like deleted scenes from a favorite author's work — exclusive in an exciting way. 

Just wanted to note that ~a "Working Life" by Eileen Myles~ doesn't seem to have a Goodreads page yet, so I'll be using a placeholder for that review. I'll move it when it's updated.

Unfortunately not my thing. Repetitive, tons of extra white space, and just not particularly thought-provoking. Not the worst poetry anthology I've read, but certainly not one I'd recommend.

Such a captivating poetic structure. Longer collection than I’m used to but remained in tranced in its entirety.

Recommended if you enjoy swift, disjointed poems. Linking everyday elements in a rapid cadence. This collection wasn't quite the rhythm I enjoy, but I recommend it to others.

Sadly, this poetry collection didn't resonate with me. That's nothing out of the ordinary, as poetry is probably the most subjective and tailored medium of all. That's what makes it so earth-shattering when it finds its intended audience. The only thing I prize more in poetry than its vivid imagery is emotion. Unfortunately, my interactions with this collection were purely logical, with no note managing to penetrate the exterior. But there are readers who will enjoy it, of that much I'm certain.

This was my first time reading anything by Eileen Myles and I wish I could say it was I had enjoyed it but unfortunately, it just didn't click with me. There were a few poems throughout this that I did find myself liking a lot but for the most part everything else was just really lost on me. Maybe this is a form of poetry that isn't my preference and it definitely won't stop me from giving Eileen Myles another chance by reading something else by them in the future!

It's really quite wonderful. 
For me, it's incredibly exciting when I discover an author new to me who rocks my literary world and makes me want to immerse myself in their literary world. This is what happened with a "Working Life" as I finished the book and instantly began plotting my journey through the 20+ volumes of poetry produced by this extraordinary talent and Lambda Literary Award-winning author whose work I simply can't wait to absorb over the coming months.

This is the first poetry collection I have read by Eileen Myles and I am impressed! The poetry is moving and captivating. I would definitely recommend this book to others.