The Cycle to Work Scheme is poetry built from resounding frustration at the pace of life that comes out of our collective nine-to-five existence.
The project, produced by The JARG Collective Press, is described as a workers’ electronic opera, and it feels like it. The vinyl is probably the most polished piece of the project, with the film featuring thumbs over camera lenses, and jumps from portrait to landscape – throwing the honest energy of the cycling commute into the spotlight.
We’ve wanted to work with JARG for a while, and entirely due to Art in Liverpool’s flakiness, it hasn’t happened. This is a, kind of, mid-way to that, but you should know about what they do, because you live here, and because you live the life they present.
Over the next few issues, we’ll be sharing the poems from The Cycle to Work Scheme on our middle pages. Starting with Monday and Tuesday, to the gruelling Sunday commute (probably sometime in May).
What’s worth noting too, is that there’s an anonymity to the poems. They are, for all intents and purposes, offering the workers a voice to air their grievances. It’s not aimed directly at one employer, but at the system most of us work within.
So this introduction isn’t a review, it’s a kind of welcome, from us at Art in Liverpool, to them at JARG, into their world of anti-capitalist, anti-corporate, anti-day-to-day, wall-to-wall, hour-to-hour living standards.
Over to them.
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Madelaine Kinsella is the editor of The JARG Collective Press.
You can buy the vinyl package via jarg.bigcartel.com and find out more, including back issues of JARG Zine at www.jargmagazine.com
MONDAY
I WORK THE EARLY SHIFT
BECAUSE I SELDOM SLEEP THROUGH
NO IT WASN’T SUPPOSED TO BE LIKE THIS NO
YES I’LL SIGN THE PETITION
YES I’LL SHARE IT AS WELL
DEATH TO CAMEL-COLOURED OVERCOATS
THE UPWARD FAILURE OF THE WELL-HEELED
THE UPWARD FAILURE OF MEN
GOD FORBID YOU’D INCLUDE THE ATTACHMENT FROM THE ORIGINAL EMAIL IN YOUR REPLY
BANK ROBBERY DAYDREAM
SUPERMARKET STATE OF MIND
WE DIDN’T CLAP WE’RE TERRORISTS NOW
THAT HEDGEFUND CONFIDENCE
HOT SMOG
LEASE CARS
GOLDFINCHES
A LIST OF LISTS
DEATH TO LANDLORDS
DEATH TO LANDLORDISM
DEATH TO WHITE LIBERALS
WHAT IS PROGRESS ANYWAY?
TAKE CARE OF YOUR FEET
EAT BETTER EAT WELL
SHORT-TERMISM
MYOPIA
RID THE EARTH
HALF-DAY-HERE-AND-THERE
PROHIBIT DISENGAGE
IS THIS ON THE NEWS?
WALL-TO-WALL DEATH DEATH WALL-TO-WALL
DON’T THINK THEY HAVE THE BUDGET FOR IT
BAD BACK CAN’T LIE FLAT
THE LOOSE TIMETABLE OF THE 61A
THAT TUPPERWARE BOX IS LEAKING
DARK HEGEMONY
NO PAPER TOWELS
PRESCRIPTION SUBSCRIPTION
HOW CAN I BE ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT SUCH A LOW WAGE?
THIS JUST ISN’T ON
HALF-AN-HOUR-DINNER
THAT MICROWAVE IS OVERWORKED
NEW INCIDENT LOGGED
CLANDESTINE MANAGERIAL BRIEFINGS
HOW DOES IT MAKE YOU FEEL?
I’M STILL TRYING TO MAKE AMENDS
HERBAL REMEDIES INTER-DEPARTMENTAL ENVY DUE DILIGENCE
PANIC BUT DO NOT DESPAIR *1312*
TUESDAY
BUS STOP SMASHED UP GLASS EVERYWHERE
BORN COPE CHANGE
I WEAR MY LIFE ON MY FOREHEAD
STATE-SANCTIONED MANIPULATION
NEVER PLACATE THE COURT
WE WON’T SUCCUMB TO THE COLD
ARGUMENTS IN HOME AND BARGAIN
RADICALISED BY POVERTY
ANSWER THE PHONE
DEATH TO THOSE WHO MEDITATE
A FISTFUL OF KALE
BOOM AND BUST
FREE MARKETS
IT IS ALL HOMOGENISED
ARE YOU SELF-POLICING?
IF YOU BRING HOPE THEY’LL KILL YOU
IF YOU BRING PEACE THEY’LL KILL YOU
YOU’RE A STRIKEBREAKER
YOU’RE A CCTV CAMERA
YOU’RE A FAN OF HR
TRANSWORLD PRECARITY
DEATH TO WELLNESS
KIND REGARDS
AN HOUR FOR REFLECTION
WHAT IS WORK NOW?
DEBT THIS IS THE HOUSE THAT
NEOLIBERALISM BUILT OUR FUCKING LIFE
OUR LIVES
NO SUGAR NO MILK EITHER
THANK YOU