Up from the low-roofed dockyard warehouses
it rises blind and babylonian
like something out of legend. Something seen
in a children’s coloured book. Leviathan
swamped on our shore? The cliffs of some other river?
The blind ark lost and petrified? A cave
built to look innocent, by pirates? Or
some eastern tomb a travelled patron here makes local?
But even when known, it’s more than what it is:
for here, as in a Josephdream, bow down
the sheaves, the grains, the scruples of the sun
garnered for darkness; and Saskatchewan
is rolled like a rug of a thick and golden thread.
O prison of prairies, ship in whose galleys roll
sunshines like so many shaven heads,
waiting the bushel-burst out of the beached bastille!
Sometime, it makes me think Arabian,
the grain picked up, like tic-tacs out of time:
first one; an other; singly; one by one;--
to save life. Sometimes, some other races claim
the twinship of my thought,-- as the river stirs
restless in a white Caucasian sleep,
or, as in the steerage of the elevators,
the grains, Mongolian and crowded, dream.
A box: cement, hugeness, and rightangles—
merely the sight of it leaning in my eyes
mixes up continents and makes a montage
of inconsequent time and uncontiguous space.
It’s because it’s bread. It’s because
bread is its theme, an absolute. Because
always this great box flowers over us
with all the coloured faces of mankind…
A.M. Klein (1947) from The Rocking Chair and Other Poems. 1948. Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1966.
POETIC BITES (EXCERPTS FROM RESEARCH ESSAYS)
“In his poem “Grain Elevator,” Klein examines a grain elevator from a wide range of perspectives in order to achieve a deeper understanding of it. Using the transcending themes of hunger and nourishment, Klein concludes that diverse groups of people around the world are connected by their reliance on the grain elevator.”
“Caucasian Canada is asleep, unable to see what the waking world looks like. Meanwhile, others are “steerage,” stuck in a “crowded” place that is hidden from view. Klein’s use of imagery, especially in the first two stanzas, elicits a darker side of humanity; he shows that the commonwealth that rules over us is not always used for good.”
ARTFUL FARE RESPONSES (RESPONSE TO ART WORK)
“Eyres’ drawing is evocative of the lines “Something seen / in a children’s coloured book.” The deeper meaning of the grain elevator is very basic: each of these triangles is differently shaped and coloured, yet similar. These triangles are all connected, just as every human, regardless of ethnicity, is connected by a collective, fundamental need for nourishment. The portrait of a racially ambiguous person, physically composed of the future bread stored inside the grain elevator, expresses an idea that Klein cherishes: that the ethnicities that divide humanity are less significant than the fundamental similarities shared by every individual. ”
“Eyres’ use of the right panel shows his connection to Klein’s path to a better future for all people—picking up grains “one by one . . . to save life.” Eyres’ diptych brings Klein’s work into focus. A divided humanity has at its hands the material to bring all people into a higher state of being, but as the title of Eyres’ work shows, this action will take concerted effort. Yet, for those who are willing to shoulder a burden and help as they can, piece by piece, a higher existence awaits. ”
STUDENT BIOS
TYLER EYRES (FINE ARTS) is a BFA major currently studying at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. Following graduation, Tyler plans on pursuing further education within the art & film world with interests spanning drawing, painting, and digitalization just to name a few.
CRISTIAN HOBSON-DIMAS (ENGLISH) is working towards a Bachelor's Degree in English and Creative Writing as a fallback for his true aspirations of becoming a musician. Cristian is drawn toward anything that can be examined through a creative lens.
KEATON MAZUREK (ENGLISH) is a Sociology major who desires to share his imagined worlds, and stories, in written form.