‘Lose Some Sleep’ by Fauzia Rafique

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Losing sleep over my
black silk niqab, harper

try to lose it over
missing murdered red
brown women
of this fast-fracking
land, harper

Losing sleep over my
black silk niqab, harper

Lose it over
homeless jobless
multicoloured people
of your C51-aspiring
brand, harper

Losing sleep over my
black silk niqab, harper

Lose it over
spilled oil minimum wage
toil poisoned soil
of your tarsands-producing
wasteland, harper

By morning
perhaps we’ll see the
bright BARE face
of a composite order for a
national inquiry just economy
sustainable development
UN-VEIL
and
RE-VEAL
itself on the
parliament hill
in your soft pink
hand, harper.
A not-for-profit
stand, harper.

On the National Day of Action Against Bill C-51, 14 March 2015

Art work: From a painting by Rubya Mehdi

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