Geist Magazine features Todd Wong's photographs of Vancouver Library workers' strike Haiku poetry
During the Vancouver library strike, there was one morning when picketers put down their pickets, picked up a pen, and wrote Haiku poetry.
This was the 1st strike in CUPE 391's 77 year union history. What do librarians and library workers do on the picket line? Continue being the information and cultural gatekeepers that they are when they are on the job.
This was a historic strike that was the most creative that the City of Vancouver had ever seen. Library workers engaged the public and the media in positive ways that had never been seen before. Haiku strike poetry only happened one day. At the end of the day, the poetry was collected and sent out to various media outlets.
Click on www.geist.com to see a feature link article about the photographs that I took on the strike line, and also a short bio about me.
Last
summer, Vancouver Public Library workers composed Strike Haiku during
their 88-day job action. Some wrote in the traditional 5,7,5 syllable
pattern and some wrote lines of 3,9,1 syllables to represent their
local union, CUPE 391.
Striking Haiku
»»
Read the Striking Haiku here.