A self-described \u201ccompany hack,\u201d Gell immerses readers in a startup scene, where colleagues waste time with Nerf guns and pingpong battles. He judges his boss for chowing down on Lucky Charms while lecturing him about quotas in \u201cThis Man\u2019s in Charge?\u201d \u201cThe Value of a College Education\u201d critiques the predatory nature of student loans and universities\u2019 failure to share which majors generate \u201cserious\u201d income. Readers learn in \u201cWho Is Your Master\u201d that an MBA only makes one overqualified and underpaid. \u201cWorking Stiffs\u201d finds the speaker reminiscing about his college days and longing for a greasy spoon called the Breakfast Buzz where \u201cWhen the bill comes, \/ you only owe $27 \/ and you can\u2019t feel your fucking legs!\u201d The speaker finds some relief in a cabin in the redwoods in \u201cWest Marin, In Us All,\u201d taking pleasure in \u201ca hot shower, \/ a strong gummy, \/ pizza, \/ some good red.\u201d Aging concerns arise in \u201cLines\u201d when wrinkles appear and his beard starts graying. In \u201cSlide Through Your Hands,\u201d a divorce prompts the author to conclude \u201cLove is cruel, \/ love is elusive,\u201d yet he later ponders who his next love might be in \u201cThe Search Continues.\u201d Gell deftly takes down corporate culture in this incisive poetry collection. Depictions of open-office hell are relatably conveyed, including overenthusiastic middle managers, pointless meetings, and the feeling that \u201clunch is always too short.\u201d \u201cCorporate America #2\u201d is an entertaining list of oft-repeated workplace phrases, such as \u201cYou\u2019re on mute.\u201d However, some poems, like \u201cPreventative Health,\u201d about the author\u2019s self-care strategies, seem outside of the book\u2019s theme, while others (\u201cStop Trying So Hard\u201d) read like stand-alone rants. Ultimately, Gell\u2019s vulnerability humanizes the narrative, like a divorce poem in which, \u201cThe tears finally come\u2014 \/ a soft patter on the hardwood \/ of the soulless bedroom \/ that once had \/ hope.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A self-described \u201ccompany hack,\u201d Gell immerses readers in a startup scene, where colleagues waste time with Nerf guns and pingpong battles. He judges his boss for chowing down on Lucky Charms while lecturing him about quotas in \u201cThis Man\u2019s in Charge?\u201d \u201cThe Value of a College Education\u201d critiques the predatory nature of student loans and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":3854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3853"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}