God I Feel Modern Tonight

Catherine Cohen, the one-woman stand-up chanteuse who has electrified the downtown NYC comedy scene in her white go-go boots, has been posting poignant, unfiltered poems on social media since before Instagram was a thing. A self-proclaimed self-obsessed millennial on the prowl with her beaded bag, she ponders guys who call you dude after sex, English-major dreams, true love during the pandemic, and other weighty matters in these captivating short lyrics. I wish I were smart instead of on my phone, 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, this poet and rising megastar is 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.