{"id":7325,"date":"2021-03-19T16:54:18","date_gmt":"2021-03-19T16:54:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/?p=7325"},"modified":"2021-03-19T16:54:18","modified_gmt":"2021-03-19T16:54:18","slug":"the-last-ping-itching-to-collaborate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/?p=7325","title":{"rendered":"THE LAST PING-Itching to Collaborate!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I haven\u2019t produced a videopoem since 2012, since moving back to the Big Smoke and starting a business. Gots to pay my (astronomical Vancouver) rent. Like many people, I have more time these days; perhaps it\u2019s a good time to adapt this poem, The Last Ping<\/em>, to the moving image as friend and colleague Fiona Tinwei Lam is encouraging. It has mutated into song, in collaboration with guitarist pal Keir Nicoll. We\u2019re discussing this next step, anxiously anticipating meeting up again as soon as possible, continue music-making. Is it just me or is the wait excruciating? The end of a marathon is the most daunting though and requires discipline. We’ve come this far with health intact, I\u2019m determined not to blow it now. (Knock on wood!) Rock on and remain well my pretties!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

THE LAST PING<\/strong><\/p>\n

After the girl is gone,
\nlong gone, out of character,
\nstatistical, presumed dead,
\nthe verifying department
\nhops to it, sniffs out
\nthe revelers, especially
\nthe life of the party,
\nhis liquid engine of beer.
\nAnyone with information,
\nto confirm names and addresses,
\nsubstantiate stories.
\nThey watch your gestures.
\nRead your face.<\/p>\n

Last seen wearing a blue ski jacket,
\nwhite blouse, black jeans,
\nPhoenix tattoo ascending
\nfrom the right hip.
\nBright, unintentional dropout,
\ninadvertently delinquent.
\nBoyfriend person of interest
\naccording to the RCMP.
\nAlways. Constable passes the flyer.
\nHer cell phone may be dead,
\nlast ping traced\u2014pinpointed in fact\u2014
\nto here. Right here. Last known location.
\nRight where we\u2019re standing.
\nThis town. Your pretty little town.<\/p>\n

Fucken eh.
\nCheck your property,
\nyour shallow ditches,
\nSo petite, she takes up little space
\nin one\u2019s psyche;
\nturkey vultures leading us
\nnot to her
\nbody but to a deer carcass.
\nParents pray
\nto repair the squabbles. Home.
\nLocal kids clam up,
\nweighting the secret with smoke.<\/p>\n

A teenaged girl can forget
\nshe\u2019s graduated
\nthe fenced-in yards of childhood
\nto this vast plain
\nwhere condoms provide safety,
\nsympathy muttered. Crocodile.
\nShe forgot
\ntownies find transcendence in fury,
\none vaguely recalling
\nEminem shouts,
\na catfight in the backyard.
\nShe looked kinda posh,
\nsmashed herd fumbling,
\nfawning, pushing.
\nOver. Under.
\nDancing.
\nSending her sailing.<\/p>\n

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

I haven\u2019t produced a videopoem since 2012, since moving back to the Big Smoke and starting a business. Gots to pay my (astronomical Vancouver) rent. Like many people, I have more time these days; perhaps it\u2019s a good time to adapt this poem, The Last Ping, to the moving image as friend and colleague Fiona […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7325"}],"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=7325"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7325\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7329,"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7325\/revisions\/7329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}