Boiling the frog

Byron Vincent
Monday, February 16th, 2009

Well huzah poesy posse! I finally got my hands on a microphone. I can now tentatively present some works in progress for your critical examination, eeek! I’m not sure why I’ve chosen to post this piece first. It’s by far the longest and least comedic part of the set and therefore not exactly easy to digest. I thought I should start with something a little out of my comfort zone so that I could get maximum benefit from any feedback you’re kind enough to offer.

The poem is essentially a day in the life of a man who’s lost in the busyness of his business. He has no ownership or authority over his existence. His life is a nebulous splodge of barely repressed neurosis and self destructive diversion. The only structure being the imposed sequences of a meaningless job and the temporary escapism of toxic excess and mass entertainment. I wanted to explore the alienating cycle of work, TV, drink and drugs, and the belligerent trepidation of questioning the habits that form our lives.

It’s easy to succumb to the lifestyles that are dictated to us, most of us have at some point in our lives fallen into routines we begrudgingly accept, without ever stopping to analyze how we got there, or how we might escape.

Our lives can overtake us; we can drown in their commotion. It’s easy in this circumstance for our actions, thoughts and relationships to become perfunctory and homogenised, leaving us in a befuddled hinterland where all activities become emotionally indistinguishable from one another.

I’ve spent a fair chunk of time over the past few weeks stalking office workers and unethically eaves dropping on their conversations. Many people spoke about their lives as though they were somehow separated from them. Feelings of disaffection and purposelessness were common place.

The following is a snippet of conversation I overheard. A smartly dressed woman was discussing her existential crisis whilst sharing a cigarette with a suited man outside an office in St Pauls.

“I don’t even know what I do any more; I don’t even know what I actually do, it’s a shambles, everything’s a fucking shambles, and David Tennant isn’t Dr Who any more, and my flat mate drank all my shitting Baileys and I don’t even like moussaka”

Its confabulatory confessions such as this that inspired the poem, and I’m sure we can all relate, David Tennant was a great Dr Who.

For some reason this site won’t let me space the poem the way it is intended, so if you’d like a copy of the text, msg me and I’ll email you one. In the meantime TO LISTEN TO AN AUDIO FILE OF THIS POEM, CLICK THE TITLE LINK BELOW, THEN PRESS PLAY ON THE VIMEO PLAYER.

Boiling the frog

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Byron Vincent

  1. Emma McGordon
    February 16th, 2009

    I’ve listened to this just the once but plan to do so many more times. I love the sounds of your voice, the venom that i can almost feel you spit in some places. It reminded me of the kind of converstaion that i’ve over-heard from workers at the Sellafield Nuclear Plant which is just up the road from me. The complete dis-satisfaction with life coupled with an inhereant apathy regarding change. It’s a very masculine piece as well which gives it an edge, something that is about to boil over into anger but never does, it just boils to down to the glue of the frog that will be boiled the next day. Will you being writing from other charcter view points or do you think this bloke is going to be the narrator?

    Reply

    Byron Vincent Reply:
    February 17th, 2009 at 6:01 pm

    @Emma McGordon,

    Thanks Emma,

    The next piece will be much more light hearted. It wasn’t my original intention for it to be so acerbic, it just sort of evolved that way. I think the grim vitriolic nature of the piece could potentially alienate listeners. I guess I won’t know for sure until it gets a public outing. It definitely needs some lighter material to balance it out in the context of a 20 minute set. Hopefully I’ll be able to sugar the pill with a spot of whimsy so people don’t leave feeling too dejected :-)

    Reply


  2. Thomas Lingard
    February 16th, 2009

    This is awesome. I work in the centre of London and your diagnosis is spot on.

    Reply

    Byron Vincent Reply:
    March 4th, 2009 at 10:42 pm

    @Thomas Lingard,

    Cheers, I’m glad my hectoring misanthropy connected with you ;-)

    Have you checked out the alchemy in nowhere town vid I posted on here yet? It’s equally nihilistic and depressing, yay!

    Thanks for taking the time to check this out, I know six minutes of maudlin cerebration is a big ask from the most ardent poetry fan, so thanks. Its appreciated.

    Reply


  3. annamaria
    February 17th, 2009

    hello Bryon,
    a poem for our times..,,spent a lot of time in the St.Pauls youth hostel, in heart of city…surriunded by oyster and champagne bars and M@S Food outlets…the people who work in the places that serve the city workers often are long term residents of the youth hostel, they come from all over, seira leon, the congo, kenya, poland..you name the country…they are the hidden side of business..many have lost their jons due to crisis, the fizz of bubbles from the popping bottles strangely silent.
    could there be a moment of beauty observed by one of your business men? a small moment of redemption? to contrast to the cities cynicical machine?
    fabulous work.
    annamaria

    Reply

    Byron Vincent Reply:
    February 17th, 2009 at 6:06 pm

    @annamaria,

    I did toy with the idea of an epiphanal uplifting ending. I know it would be more a satisfying poem for it. For some reason, i just couldn’t drag myself out of the misanthropic dirge. Bah!

    Reply


  4. Geraldine Collinge
    February 17th, 2009

    This is amazing work. Dark and dirty but beautiful. For me the beauty is in the craft of writing and the humour gives some respite from the cynicism. In your description of the piece I was thinking of Ismail Kadare and his every decreasing circles of desperation. I particularly loved the Palace of Dreams. Have you read him? What antecedents are there for cynical business man? What would we turn to if it wasn’t booze, fags and tv?

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_w_h_?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Ismail+Kadare&x=0&y=0

    http://www.themanbookerprize.com/news/release/1053

    Reply

    Byron Vincent Reply:
    February 20th, 2009 at 3:44 pm

    @Geraldine Collinge,

    Thanks Gerry,

    I’ll deffo check out Ismail Kadare.

    I think the things lacking in Mr Schlup’s life are honest connections and a lack of self assessment. The relationships he has with himself, with other people and with his environment are all fairly routine and surface. I’m not trying to say this is his fault, he’s just distracted.

    In the words of Ferris Bueller

    “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

    I don’t think there’s anything that wrong with fags booze and tv. If you’ve asked yourself the question “what do I really want from life?” and the answer is, wotsits and an xbox, that’s fine. Although I suppose by their very nature these things can distract you from asking those important questions. I just believe it’s important to take a moment to reassess every now and then. It seems like such a simple thing, but its easier said than done.

    I’ll hopefully be able to cover this in the next draught of the poem.

    Cheers x

    Reply


  5. Charlie
    February 17th, 2009

    It’s funny amidst the grim acerbic lines:) Have you seen Polarbear’s show, ‘If I cover my nose you can’t see me?’ He’s a top bloke I did a writing course with a few years ago, and very down to earth still. His show has a lead character stuck in a job he hates where he confesses to pretending to need long times in the toilet for bowel problems just to escape the desk life he loathes….and how it’s not quite what he imagined for himself when he was a student as he stands there now in his oxfam tie and one pair of office trousers etc. Funny and true and brilliant. Worth seeing if you get a chance, or if anyone has a video of it you could watch – it was an Apples production I think:)
    Loved lots of images & lines here, the golden egg gets poached, lipstick on the sphincter, hinterland between work and tv, convict’s drawn to God, binful of gin/skin/violin etc/ organic wine and coldplay, or is it ‘whine’?! As I don’t know how to messenger you, could you email me the lines as text? Thanx:) Audio works well, and I wonder whose face could represent Spartacus Shlup if called – do you have any ideas? Or is he a faceless everyman? x

    Reply

    Byron Vincent Reply:
    March 3rd, 2009 at 6:49 pm

    @Charlie,

    I haven’t seen Polarbear’s show, because for some crazy reason it didn’t come to Bristol, but I’ve seen him perform loads of times and I love his stuff.

    I do see Spartacus as a sort of everyman figure, and have attempted to convey this in a re-draught by changing the last two verses so they are performed in the first person.

    Hopefully this will also highlight the fact that “I’m (just as much like) Spartacus” as everyone else.

    I haven’t got your email address but if you send me it at gadflyarts@hotmail.com I’ll forward you the text.

    Cheers

    Reply


  6. George Palmer
    February 19th, 2009

    Great writing Byron
    some fantastic images:
    “fighting eye contact
    like a trawler fights a cod
    resisting it, yet drawn to it
    like a convict drawn to God”

    I think maybe I am one of those listeners put off by the grim vitriolic nature of it. You write powerfully about how shallow his life of lattes, cocaine and tv. I would be interested to hear the voice inside himself, that he is not revealing to the outside word. The voice that feels his life is slipping away, that is worried he is not achieving his potential, that is lonely, afraid, worried what people think about him. In that piece I quoted above you say that he is resisting eye contact, but is also drawn to it. I would be interested to hear more about the side of him that is drawn to relationship

    but hell, I am a bit of a softie!

    Reply

    Byron Vincent Reply:
    February 19th, 2009 at 5:23 pm

    @George Palmer,

    I think you’re spot on George,

    As protracted as this poem is, it has another verse coming. One where the protagonist through exhaustion experiences a moment of unpolluted consciousness. A flash of tranquility and lucidity in which he connects with his some unaffected emotion. He needs humanizing; otherwise the entire piece just comes of as a sermonizing criticism, which was not my original intention. I hope this will add a bit if insight and contrast to the harsh cynical tone of the poem.

    Thanks for taking the time to listen.

    Cheers

    Byron

    Reply

    George Reply:
    February 23rd, 2009 at 4:19 pm

    @Byron Vincent,

    cheers Byron – really looking forward to the next installment!
    george

    Reply


  7. Tony Walsh
    February 20th, 2009

    Hi Byron

    I really like this piece, there’s some genius lines mate, too many to single out. There’s so much in there which sent lots of thoughts racing. If it’s any help then here’s a few of them from a couple of listens. Feel free to ignore or run with them, hope one or two of em spark summat.

    It reminded me of a few things which I realised were all very English, as opposed to British – a long tradition of bemoaning the lot of the office drone. Reggie Perrin sprung to mind, the track Smithers-Jones by the Jam, a few Blur tracks (Ernold Same, This Charmless Man) and some Kinks tracks. “I am the very model of a modern major general…” Gilbert and Sullivan, maybethere’s something there for you in the whole Blighty thing? (He is the very model of a modern minor……?)

    That word “drone” – something there maybe….droning on, busy bee, queen bee, hive, stung, honey, worker ants……

    Interesting that you chose the name Spartacus. Was that for “feel” or syllable count maybe? Or a reference to his wage slavery? Spartacus of course led an unsuccessful slave uprising but remains a revolutionary hero – not a downtrodden character. His uprising (thanks wikipedia!) was part of the Third Servile Wars. Servile – maybe something there for you and that whole “I’m spartacus” (and so’s my wife) thing?

    Is he single this guy or with a family? Either might be worth exploring more.

    The reference to frogs sent me off thinking about toads – and something from the word “toady”. Toad the line?

    Other words that I’m sure you could word-play some magic out of were ennui, buttoned-down, suburban (sub bourbon? sub-suburban? snub urban?), and subverting “bullshit bingo” phrases – grey sky thinking ( as the opposite of blue sky thinking), thinking inside the box. And the cocaine thing – Charlie/foxtrot/tango etc, Cocaine Charlie (as opposed to Champagne Charlie). Claustraphobia/ costa (coffee) phobia……Something about debt/overdraft/credit/debit/overdrawn. Something about punching the clock?

    Being a piece placed in Bristol something about escape and looking out to sea/see maybe?

    Final point, I think you’re right to reflect on how the sheer weight of your dismantling of this guy’s life could maybe be felt as a bit sneery by some people, and there’s a lot of em, who have to hold down a day job in the real world. I know you’re on to that though.

    Really interested to see the additional section that you mentioned and how this piece sits within the wider work.

    Hope some of that was of use and within the spirit of the exercise.

    Cheers

    Tony

    Reply

    Byron Vincent Reply:
    February 20th, 2009 at 3:12 pm

    @Tony Walsh,

    Cheers Tony,

    I appreciate your suggestions, they are all very useful. I wish I’d come up with some of your wordplay myself, especially “punching the clock”.

    I think you’re probably right about it being a quintessentially English poem. There is a strong heritage of this kind of disquisition in English art, especially in music:

    “You’re the same as him, you’re like tin-sardines,
    Get out of the pack, before they peel you back”

    I think this is because the middle classes, the dominant culture in England, is a culture driven by fear. Fear of change, fear of being perceived to be different. I guess it’s that latter worry that forces people to compartmentalize themselves, and if people are collectively fearful of questioning a situation then it’s easy for mediocrity to fester.

    I don’t see Spartacus as a bad person, I’m Spartacus (hehehe), most of us are. He’s just buried under this inexorable torrent of facile distraction, mechanical obligation and social anxiety. These are all things I can relate too and am as much of a victim of as anyone else. I think I perhaps made a mistake in not making that obvious in the narrative of this piece.

    Wage Slavery, begrudging rebellion and the fact that given the right circumstance there’s a revolutionary in all of us are all reasons why I chose the name Spartacus. Suffixing it with the name Schlup for me adds a sense of ineffectiveness to that rebellion. I don’t know why, its just gut reaction to the way it sounds.

    I loved “Toad the line”. I have deliberately avoided using any Toad references though, because I didn’t want the nod to Larkin’s Toads poem to be too overstated.

    I guess when I was writing it I saw him as isolated. I don’t know if that means he’s single or not. I don’t see him as having kids as I think this would give him a sense of purpose and achievement in tolerating his job in order to provide. Part of the problem is that he hasn’t got anything so noble to ground him. Do you think it’s important that the piece stresses this?

    Anyway Tony, you’ve given me loads to think about.

    Thanks buddy.

    Reply


  8. Tony Walsh
    February 20th, 2009

    Hi Byron

    Really glad if this is of some help mate. It feels a bit intrusive to do, hope that’s ok, but it’s an interesting exercise. Feel free to run with any lines that you like – that’s the idea.

    Just listened again (sober) and found a whole lot more in there. Some great stuff. I’ve used the “days ending in Y” line meself.

    Betjeman, of course, is part of the English tradition that we spoke about. That got me thinking about Slough and then the Slough of Despond that you could maybe nod to. This Pilgrim’s lack of progress.

    The alarm clock reference at the beginning chimes across to the punch the clock idea and sparks thoughts of on snooze, snooze control etc. Then, towards the end, self medicating with booze, suffering from anaesthesia, anaesthetic/aesthetic/pathetic. Sleepwalking. Can’t even be arsed to be apathetic. Maybe reference frogs to snails?

    The seal clubbing reference sent me towards cull. Maybe he works in a Cull Centre? (Oooh, I like that one.)

    I think I agree he hasn’t got kids unless he’s the tosser with the “none that I know of line”. Maybe he’s a concerned bachelor? Or a male spinster? Is there more in his loneliness? Meals for one? I have a couple of stanzas:

    “And she sleeps on eiderdownsides
    Under poly-festered covers
    That smell of cheap cologneliness
    And the promises of others

    And she wakes up to a bad dream
    And stales in bed all day
    Like a sad ghost with a bad dose
    Of hound-dog groundhog day”

    Where does he live? What does his gaff tell us about him? Could you reference your chosen area??? Something about cribs? What does he wear? I’m starting to think about JCCs It Man poem here – “middle market leesure wear…”

    I really like your concession that “I’m Spartacus, we all are.” Maybe that’s cleverly implied in his very name or maybe you could make more of that. Might make a good last line. Starts to soften your view of him, or the listener’s perception of your view.

    A really thought provoking piece that I’ve really enjoyed rummaging around in.

    Cheers

    Tony

    Reply

    Byron Vincent Reply:
    March 3rd, 2009 at 6:39 pm

    @Tony Walsh,
    Hey Tony,

    Don’t worry about being intrusive; the whole point of this project is to get people involved. Your input has been a great help and given me loads to mull over.

    I would love to pilfer some of your lines they’re brilliant, but all the material I produce has got to be self penned. I can only really take general advice about the shape, feeling and structure of the piece. All the poetry has to be original.

    Having said that, I thought I was being original with that “days ending in Y” line, gutted. I still might keep it though, if its alright with you?
    Loved the stanzas mate, what poem are they from, is it online anywhere?

    Thanks again and take care

    Byron

    Reply

    Tony Walsh Reply:
    March 4th, 2009 at 1:15 am

    @Byron Vincent,

    Cheers Byron.

    The stanzas quoted are from a piece about a woman’s life story that ends up being about the comfort she finds in books and writing and the validity, nay importance of working class and outsider stories/poetry being captured and respected as art.

    More often, I also re-cycle a couple of stanzas onto the front of a poem (with the same rhyme scheme) called Binbags about another (maybe the same?) woman’s bedsit-hopping existence.

    Jeez,no worries about the days ending in Y/why line. There’s only so many puns in the world! My use is in a piece which is basically 21 New Year resolutions for the whole world to make. “Number 3 – every day should end in Y but begin with Why Not? Number 4 – Understand that happiness is more important than pleasure.” Etc

    Look forward to seeing the piece evolve. Chuffed I’ve helped spark anything for you.

    Cheers

    Tony

    Reply


  9. Lucy
    February 22nd, 2009

    Loved it. From the beginning, and hearing the name Spartacus, imagery spoke vividly.I couldn’t help thinking about Socialism, and the value and voice it claims for workers; and how Marx said ‘capitalism will dig its own grave’. Your pace and tone somehow reflects the graveyard shift of modern society, and as much as we dislike Spartacus and all he is, and is part of I couldn’t help feeling sorry for his slavery/plight. Waiting to be boiled – we are all in the pot together. Being on the outside of the poem looking in at Mr. S.Schlepp inspires hope. Some of us, maybe, are getting out alive??

    Reply

    Byron Vincent Reply:
    March 4th, 2009 at 10:55 pm

    @Lucy,

    Thanks Lucy,

    I’ve re written the piece with an ending that is hopefully bit less sanctimonious and bit more inclusive. I’m hoping to make the next piece a little less cynical and see if I can focus on the positive. What I’ve kind of done with this poem is highlight the negative without offering any solution, which is a bit self indulgent and something I feel I should make up for. Thanks for taking the time to listen.

    Hope you’re well x

    Reply


  10. Katherine Stanton
    March 7th, 2009

    Hi Byron

    Phew, this makes for uncomfortable listening – but it’s terrific stuff, and I definitely related to it, rather scarily! I am not sure about ’sugaring the pill’, exactly. For me, its relentlessness was its strength – it doesn’t let you shy away. And the humour (’powerpointless presentations’ is a great image) lifts it … I like your idea of humanising him, though.

    Will check out your video now too. Might have to find solace in a rom com afterwards!

    Katherine

    Reply

    Byron Vincent Reply:
    March 8th, 2009 at 8:47 pm

    @Katherine Stanton,

    I have altered this a little since I posted this version, I’ve personalized the protagonist and hopefully made it less self-righteous, but hopefully without loosing any of the edge or fervor. I’ll post the revised version soon.

    I’m sorry if my incessant cynicism has cast a brooding cloud over your day. The least I can do is suggest an appropriately uplifting romcom to ease you from the doldrums.

    How about Bringing up Baby with Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn? It’s the perfect antidote to whiny northern oikishness, and Cary Grant was born in Bristol where I’m doing my residency, which in my case makes it research.

    Well that’s my evening sorted.

    Thanks again for taking the time to listen, it’s very much appreciated.

    Reply


  11. zander
    April 7th, 2009

    just a quick one – you may have found it difficult to format your post because you were pasting directly from Word

    Have a look at this page

    http://myplaceoryours.org.uk/zander/ladies-and-gentlemen/

    and scroll to the bottom to find out how to avoid this problem.

    cheers,

    zander

    Reply

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