Trailblazing poet, author, musician and media artist Heather Haley pushes boundaries by creating across disciplines, genres and media. Author of collections Sideways and Three Blocks West of Wonderland, her poetry has been published in numerous journals and anthologies, her videopoems screened at dozens of international film festivals. An engaging performer, Haley most recently toured eastern Canada and the U.S. in support of her critically acclaimed AURAL
Heather CD of Spoken Word songs, "Princess Nut."

Three Blocks West of Wonderland

The murders mattered
only because they went down
in my sweet pea-with-a-bent-stem friend
Daisy’s neighbourhood. We could be sisters,
sharing obscure origins in la belle province. I foisted,
Daisy adopted, blossoming into a blonde
Jewish princess. Beguiling kook. Fatal Brooklynese accent.
Two transplants to Los Angeles. I dipped in Silverlake.
Solo act. Daisy regal atop Lookout Mountain Avenue,
three blocks west of Wonderland. Aspiring director boy toy
in tow. No gun clubs on their map of LA. Leery elkhounds
patrolled the property. Litter box kitties safe from coyotes,
rabid coons. One morning LAPD prodded creeping sage
ground cover. Rats? No. We’re searching for body parts.
Clues. Wonderland, the movie based on a true story.
Val Kilmer till too hunky to play geeky
John Holmes, decidedly Joe Blow as appearances go.
Might explain his appeal though.
Everyman identified, despite the grotesque cock.

Coppola wannabe split. Mattress and pillow a prairie of down. Daisy bought a Colt. 45 to dream on. Statistics, shamistics.
She had a plan to scare off intruders, to shoot up
into the rafters where the petrified red rosebuds hung.