the day they stole the coach house press

Coleman was the editor-in-chief at Toronto's Coach House Press in its early, counterculture days. Coach House was known for its cutting-edge technology and commitment to avant-garde Canadian writers. In the late 1980s and into the 1990s, shifts in government funding and internal pressures caused disruption, resulting in the publishing arm being sold and reorganized into a mainstream corporate model. The first poem, also the book title, presents a sharp critique of the corporate takeover and restructuring of the celebrated press, specifically targeting the interlopers who—in Coleman's view—hungrily attempted to convert the passionately independent, artist-driven entity into a conventional, grant-focused corporate body. Hence, the title reflects Coleman's indignation over the Coach House literary legacy being "stole" by executives in suits who prioritized profit over poetry.