God I Feel Modern Tonight: Poems from a Gal about Town
Published February 2nd 2021 by Knopf Publishing Group, Hardcover 80 pages
Poems of heartbreak and sex, self-care and self-critique, urban adventures and love on the road from the millennial quarantine queen and comedy sensation.
in L.A. we got naked and swam in the ocean
we ate cured meats and carrots
& sat in the back of a red pickup truck
like we were in a film where two old friends fight
& wrestle their way into a hug
heave-sobbing as the dust settles
I want to be famous for being the first person
who never feels bad again
In these short, captivating lyrics, Catherine Cohen, the one-woman stand-up chanteuse who electrified the downtown NYC comedy scene in her white go-go boots, and who has been posting poignant, unfiltered poems on social media since before Instagram was a thing, details her life on the prowl with her beaded bag; she ponders guys who call you dude after sex, true love during the pandemic, and English-major dreams. I wish I were smart instead of on my phone, Cat Cohen confides; heartbreak, / when it comes, and it will come / is always new. A Dorothy Parker for our time, a Starbucks philosophe with no primary-care doctor, she's a welcome new breed of everywoman--a larger-than-life best friend, who will say all the outrageous things we think but never say out loud ourselves.
User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
Library -overdrive -audiobook...read by the author. Forty minutes long.
This was my first experience with Catherine Cohen. I found her very likable.
Hilarious was the first word I thought of when sitting down to write ‘something’ to share about what I just listened to, though.....
....not hilarious in a haha way...
rather I say ‘hilarious’ to contextualize....
shameless, porny, incorrigible, raunchy visual lyrics about sex, food, the body, work, obsessions, anticipations, pride, innocence, love, and other sensations of self-inquiry....
contemporary conventional modern day musings!
I enjoyed it.
Didn’t feel like poems....
It felt like listening to a woman share not terribly shocking-things — but it did lurk considerable complexities-
things not often spoken out loud —
so, that made it as funny as it was twisted.
Unfiltered, jocular.....
and, I liked it!!
Would listen to Catherine Cohen again!
Rating: really liked it
you're surprised when I tell you I pray
but I like the idea of wanting something
all the way
into space
(from "poem I wrote after I took a photo of my tits with a self-timer alone like an adult")
this was meant to be my last read of 2021, but instead it's my first of 2022! and what's more, i read it on my phone. how modern of me, right?
I'm in the kitchen alone, which is romantic in a way
anything can be romantic if you sigh a lot
(from "poem I wrote after I masturbated while wearing airpods")
it's a collection of sometimes dark, sometimes funny, often relatable poems about being filled with the existential dread of the times. the titles are memorable and quirky, but i do wish the titles tied in more closely with the content poems. sometimes they make sense, but sometimes they feel completely unrelated. and sometimes the poems feel like a smushed combination of three random events / feelings / observations; and again, i wish they vibed with each other better.
jealousy is cool because it is like swallowing a house
that you just set on fire
(from "poem I wrote after I asked my personal trainer if he believed in god")
nonetheless, a lot of them resonate with me. if you find these poems unrelatable, then you will likely hate them. if you can relate, then hopefully you'll enjoy.
I felt so serious spelling out I Love You.
(and putting a period at the end)
so you would know I really meant it
I only meant it because I was lonely
but I don't see at all why that wouldn't count
(from "poem I wrote after you told me 'I don't think you're as amazing as you think you are'")
Rating: really liked it
“I can’t tell if my therapist is cool or just has short bangs”
Rating: really liked it
It’s hard to review this book. She’s clever and funny but this collection is basically the fleshed out tweets from a smart, young, beauty-privileged woman. I’m very over the “conventionally attractive person feels cold towards the world but also can’t stop telling us how much sex they have with strangers,” but I guess that still translates as literary in some circles.
Rating: really liked it
At first, I thought it was funny, like a comedy routine. Then I thought it was surprisingly good, like poetry. Then it got to be a bit much. I was left with the feeling that I would not want to be a young woman today, and that living in New York City seems like kind of a crazy thing to do.
Rating: really liked it
I haven't disliked a poetry collection this much since Rupi Kaur. Cohen tries way too hard to provide #relatablecontent and it comes off as just random babble. These are meant to be comedic, but I don't think I laughed or chuckled or even smirked once. I don't want to say it was a complete waste of my time but...
Rating: really liked it
Catherine Cohen, a well-travelled Princeton graduate, is not what came to mind when I read "a welcome new breed of everywoman." Do you know how unrelatable Paris trips and a fine arts education are to most women?
Anyway. That bit of criticism to her marketing team aside, this is certainly a collection that will speak to the horny-30-something-white-millenial woman. A lot of this was even funny and clever, just not particularly worthy of 80 printed pages.
Rating: really liked it
oh no the handsome guy is trying to do comedy??? oh no the polyamorous couple is taking a cooking class??? ultimately and unfortunately when a woman makes really specific observations about being in your 20s sometimes in new york i think it’s brilliant
Rating: really liked it
poem I wrote after reading God I Feel Modern Tonight
I think I liked most of the poems
isn't it funny how women always say "I think"
before saying what they know is fact?
I especially enjoyed the poem about dieting
did I log in my Weight Watcher points today?
how is Kirkland's single-serve hummus five points but
I can eat all the eggs in this carton and still be at zero?
how I feel when reading well-written poetry
and bring out my old red pencil that I stole from
a crush in fifth grade and attempt to write
on a blank journal page
If all these mentions and reflections are true,
then Catherine Cohen has lived an exciting life.
Rating: really liked it
This collection of poems is so sneaky and clever and made me want to write, which I think is what good books do to me. I love the big feelings of messiness and emotion and figuring it out and being unhappy and also just the way it feels to be ~alive~ as described in these poems. It made me desperately miss “normal,” and like, walking to the subway on a humid summer eve after work or running around and feeling weird at parties. If you like to laugh and also simultaneously be touched by poignant turns of phrase then this book of poems may be for you.
Rating: really liked it
Reading this made me wish I was illiterate
Rating: really liked it
"you're surprised when I tell you I pray
but I like the idea of wanting something
all the way
into space"
There are some really funny and earnest jewels like this one sprinkled throughout the collection, and I enjoyed the read.
But.. I don't know if it's fair to judge a book or author by the intro and blurb, but I really hate when a person who went to Princeton and talks a lot about Paris is described as an "everywoman".
Rating: really liked it
Full disclosure that I'm still trying to find my niche/preferences in poetry and am in no way an expert.
That said... I didn't love this collection. She may be described as a (the) voice of this (Millennial) generation but she's not my voice. I had a hard time relating to her experiences (at least as told in this writing style). I did like a few poems - usually a few lines that made me laugh or connect with her (we're close in age) or that were really well crafted. But mostly I found it basic and the poem content disjointed from its title, which focuses on the cause/context of why she wrote the poem and not to the content of the poem itself (again not my preference).
A lot of poetic musings and commentary on Millennial life in Brooklyn/NYC with her fuck-ups, hook-ups, and anxiety about what people think of her. However the few poems that were written during/focused on the pandemic I really appreciated and related to.
Overall not my cup of tea but I can see a lot of 20 and 30 somethings really connecting and enjoying her poetry.
Rating: really liked it
I liked about 4 of the poems in this collection. The rest were about fingering, yeast infections, and Instagram. Gag.
Rating: really liked it
Obsessed with prose that reads like Tweets but couldn’t relate except when she talks about her vagina and also crying in Europe listening to Lana Del Ray. Would give 3.5 stars if I could but I followed the author on Instagram which I feel she would appreciate more
