Christian Wayne has made the 2022 CBC Poetry Prize longlist for Plywood for Windows.

The shortlist will be announced on Nov. 17 and the winner will be announced on Nov. 24.

If you're interested in the CBC Literary Prizes, the CBC Nonfiction Prize opens in January and the CBC Poetry Prize opens in April.

Christian Wayne is a second year visual arts student at Emily Carr University. He is from Montana First Nation, Alberta, and currently resides in Vancouver.

"Poverty, wealth, division, unity, wonder."

"A childhood friend once told me that he and his family were driving through my home reservation and had seen that most of the houses' windows were boarded up with plywood. He had joked that our reserve was keeping the glass shop in business, to which his father replied that it was more like the lumberyard.

"This story crosses my mind frequently, and it's difficult not to draw comparison from those homes to the countless glass panes that decorate the Vancouver skyline."

The homes of my reservation have been characterized by plywood
put in place to mask broken windows,
and to keep even worse-off souls safe
free, from the familiar judgments of colonized eyes
nestled nicely, deep
in the bleached skulls
of chief
& council
& citizens of Canada

The winner of the 2022 CBC Poetry Prize will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, have their work published on CBC Books and attend a two-week writing residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity. Four finalists will each receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and have their work published on CBC Books.

The 2023 CBC Nonfiction Prize will open in January. The 2023 CBC Poetry Prize will open in April.