Tuesday poem #103 : Stephen Cain : Poem for CUPE

Streaming across the eyes

Will the circle be unbroken

Still solidarity in saying

Shame, strength, security

Cold coffee, wet boot

Less cries to Camaros

Barricades barcodes & bargaining

Busted by bourgeois belittlement

An index of action

To tuition, tenure, senators of sinecure

This is your time

Adversity, disparity, precarity

And this is the creation of communitas

You will never forget the smell of the fire barrel

Stephen Cain is the author of five books of poetry, including American Standard/ Canada Dry (Coach House) and I Can Say Interpellation (Bookthug). He recently edited bp: beginnings (Bookthug), a collection of bpNichol’s early long poems, and he is currently an Associate Professor of English at York University where he teaches avant-garde and Canadian literature. From 1995-2002 he was a member of CUPE 3903 and he was on the picket lines during the strike of 2000-2001.

the Tuesday poem is curated by rob mclennan