{"id":4490,"date":"2016-05-17T15:04:21","date_gmt":"2016-05-17T15:04:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/?p=4490"},"modified":"2016-05-21T03:31:08","modified_gmt":"2016-05-21T03:31:08","slug":"gulf-islands-gothic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/?p=4490","title":{"rendered":"GULF ISLANDS GOTHIC"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"1916547_172310907037_5011125_n\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Born back east<\/em>, in Quebec, I have resided on the left coast so long, I’m practically a native, most at ease surrounded by ocean. Here are two more poems from the forthcoming untitled book.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

WILD WEST\/COAST<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

No lotus eaters we<\/p>\n

Swelter pepper,<\/p>\n

Swig beer and bitch.<\/p>\n

Cook up the rent.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

barbecue \/ cauldron.<\/p>\n

steak \/ prize.<\/p>\n

gavel \/ tenderizer.<\/p>\n

We grow enormous,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Righteous, meting out<\/p>\n

Beach justice, from our camp,<\/p>\n

Our point. Our peninsula.<\/p>\n

With less mitigation<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Than an island, its<\/p>\n

Star gardens, clarity<\/p>\n

Of marine life, surround<\/p>\n

A Sound of silent crime.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

THE HUMBLE MURALIST AND THE REPROACHFUL BUDDHIST<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Island roads are only as long as the island,<\/p>\n

invariably leading to the vortex every island hosts,<\/p>\n

the village or burg hugging the cove or bay,<\/p>\n

the place where sweaty, unrepentant<\/p>\n

cocaine and alcohol consumers<\/p>\n

wind up, gurgle down, to rub<\/p>\n

elbows with the vigorous Tilley-hatted,<\/p>\n

swamping the gentry<\/p>\n

with their nasty habit stench.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Island roads rove lowly<\/p>\n

through swaying grasses, expansive elms,<\/p>\n

lambs, cows, horses, llamas.<\/p>\n

Do not be lulled.<\/p>\n

Anxiety stalks the dales and hollows,<\/p>\n

tamped down, concealed behind neat<\/p>\n

rustic wooden fences,<\/p>\n

skulking in the cottages<\/p>\n

despite a glut of acupuncture outlets,<\/p>\n

yoga, meditation and pottery classes.<\/p>\n

Here there is much intestinal discomfort,<\/p>\n

ceaseless aspiring, straining<\/p>\n

toward the light.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dolly for example is the biggest Buddhist,<\/p>\n

baddest, blackest sheep<\/p>\n

herder on Paisley Island,<\/p>\n

happily bending over<\/p>\n

for regular shearing<\/p>\n

as long as the taxman<\/p>\n

is tranquil about it<\/p>\n

and she\u2019s back at the ranch in time<\/p>\n

to inject herself<\/p>\n

into the t\u00eate-\u00e0-t\u00eates.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Her resident good egg Greg studies<\/p>\n

the recommended sutras,<\/p>\n

working on his anger,<\/p>\n

moving past it, out<\/p>\n

of his townie flat to create<\/p>\n

murals in the great outdoors.<\/p>\n

Grandiose depictions,<\/p>\n

towering trompe l\u2019oeils<\/em>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ostentatious? Yes,<\/p>\n

but they have provided<\/p>\n

our meek hamlet with an angle,<\/p>\n

a tourist attraction.<\/p>\n

Indeed, they sustain us.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Born back east, in Quebec, I have resided on the left coast so long, I’m practically a native, most at ease surrounded by ocean. Here are two more poems from the forthcoming untitled book.   WILD WEST\/COAST \u00a0 No lotus eaters we Swelter pepper, Swig beer and bitch. Cook up the rent.   barbecue \/ […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4490"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4490"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4490\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4498,"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4490\/revisions\/4498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}